Richard Peacock

I hate this time of year; Christmas and New Year are over, yet the warmer, brighter and lighter weather seems a long way off yet. Paying the repair bill this morning has done nothing to lighten my mood either - on the plus-side, the van sailed through another MOT with only an advisory on the rear brakes in the next 8-10K miles (hopefully that's another year away yet).

As you'll recall from previous posts we were hoping that the bill would be partly covered by the AA's Parts & labour insurance - unfortunately not the case. Since our issue with the driveshaft we had the van reclassified from Van to Motorcaravan - guess what the AA don't cover...? Motorhomes and campervans!

Our friendly AA man had (quite rightly) written T5 Camper on his paperwork so there was no way of talking our way out of it. And it wouldn't be fair to drag the garage into wranglings with the AA if we fraudulently tried to claim it as a van - so hey-ho, suck up the (almost £900 with service and MOT) costs and move forwards!

So if you're reading this thinking 'I've always wanted a T5 Camper' remember; big vehicles can often mean big parts and big bills.

Roll on the lighter nights, warmer weather and Dubfreeze, there's another camping trip on the cards too, just before Valentine's weekend - plenty to look forward to. In the meantime, here's a couple of pics I found on the internet while looking at show photos from last year...

After the previous weekend and it's electrical problems we were pretty relieved to get home. Annoyingly, we probably relaxed a little too much, parked the van down the side of the house as usual, went inside and tried to forget about it for a day or so.

Some helpful feedback from users of the Brickyard forum pointed us towards possible problems - it's usually at this point you start to see pound-signs!!!

With the van booked in for an MOT at the end of the week we left it, knowing that we'd only have to limp it half a mile down the road to Aire Valley Workshop. Not so easy... a quick check of battery status on the electrical control panel in the van read; Leisure Battery 13.2v, Vehicle Battery 0.8v. No flashing red light on the door top indicated a stone-dead battery, no alarm, no central locking.

Time to call out the AA. Once again another great show of customer service; from initial phone call and text message updates, to the chap arriving with a friendly smile and a love of T5s, the experience was faultless. On a side note he did mention that he'd just come from another T5 - broken driveshaft! That brought back some memories.

With the help of a heavy-duty jump-starter he had the van up and running straight away and with the help of a multi-meter spotted the alternator was delivering 16v to the van battery. He kindly followed us 'round to the garage and brought us home again, with a helpful description of the problem for further investigation - and handy paperwork to claim back on the AA Parts & Labour cover.

A phone call the next day from the garage reveals it is the voltage regulator and alternator at fault. A new battery will also be fitted. Then MOT and service. We should have a healthy van back within the next couple of days.

Just after New Year seems a great time to grab a quick weekend away - the campsites are quiet, cheaper than normal and the pubs and restaurants don't seem to be as manic as over the Christmas period.

With a weekend in York on the cards, certain things can be taken for granted; good company, good food, and a good night's sleep. But this time things took a turn for the worse - it seems we invited some electrical gremlins along for the weekend too...

...and a happy 2012!

So the Lupo went and has been replaced with something infinitely better; a tasty 59-plate VW Caddy TDI in Raven Blue with only 19.5k miles on the clock, still under VW warranty.

I've never really sat comfortably with the name 'Transporter', there has always seemed to be something work-a-day about it. And the last thing I want to think about when I'm away in my van is work - we're not really 'transporting' anything, are we?

In true tradition of saving the best 'til last I had decided the final route out of Wales, towards home, would be the most scenic yet.

Ready for the off:

If you've been reading the previous posts about Vanfest and the week in Wales, you'll have noticed the bike has been on the back of the van for most of the time. I knew I'd only realistically get two biking opportunities; the Malvern Hills and today in the forest at Beddgelert.
Before setting off I had downloaded a handy map which showed some reference points (the campsite) and some viewpoints (much higher up) linked by forest tracks that had been cleverly numbered with marker posts. Simple, follow the numbers and find your way around.

Or not so simple. Since the numbering of the posts on the map in my pocket the Forest Enterprise have been around a renumbered them according to their own map - and the two don't tally up!

I soon worked out that if I was heading 'north and up' I was gradually getting further from the campsite, thus heading 'down and south' I would return towards the campsite.

I'll let the pictures do the talking of how quiet, spectacular and beautiful the forest was that morning:

So we're pitched up in the forest, right next to the Welsh Highland Railway that runs from Porthmadog up to Caenarfon over some fairly dramatic terrain. Looking at their website before setting off on holiday I was expecting the occasional, out-of-season diesel engine to trundle past. Then out of the trees...

With the morning it was time to leave the sleepy town of Builth Wells behind, and as the mile count begins to rise, so does the terrain around us. Having chatted with the campsite owners about our journey north it was decided that the satnav's route-choice left a little to be desired and as such, the road atlas came out for a better understanding of the way forward (plus the satnav can't show you nice lakes with lovely lay-bys to stop at and admire the view).

Time had come to leave the shadow of the Malvern Hills and head west; traveling through the very pretty town of Ledbury we continued west to Hereford for another stop for provisions (barbecue weather again!) and fill up with diesel before pressing on. Unfortunately we found Hereford's supermarkets to be without petrol stations so decided to continue towards our destination of Builth Wells stopping somewhere along the way for a bit of lunch.

Another 30 mins on and we decide to detour into Hay-on-Wye - somewhere I had heard about due to the Hay Festival that takes part every year there.

After a quick 'campervan-lunch' consisting of cold meats, bread and cheese (simple but so good) we went for a wander around town.

So the show had packed away and the amount of campers on site began to diminish. Having the bike on the van meant I could spend a few hours exploring the web of bridleways that cover the Malvern Hills.

Having just got back home from a great week away, unpacked most of the van, eaten and not washed-up, got used to carpet and television again, it's time to look through the photos and maybe put a few up on here.
As you'll know from the last post, the schedule was fairly-well planned out, so this installment will be the first couple of days away; Vanfest and Blackmore campsite.

A little bit of planning goes along way.

Not so much of a report as a mini-rant.

I can fully appreciate running a show of this size takes a lot of balls. Not to mention commitment of time and resources, but there's a few factors that - when combined - can easily make or break a show.

...well, one of five to be precise!

I thought I'd enter a recent competition by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles to find the UK's best looking van. Okay, I know grey bumpers and a few scratches and dings are never going to win any beauty contests but I thought a few pictures and a considered entry email which explained the van was built to be used and not just looked at, might have stood my in good stead.

Plus the winning price of £1000 to spend on VW accessories sounded very tempting. So I entered.

One week, one campsite, two people, a thousand things to do.

With one last trimming session using two more lower side inserts to 'blend' the edges to the existing bumper, we're finally ready for a coat of black plastic paint and pop into place. Bonded in with a EvoStick's Time Bond contact adhesive and then finish up any gaps with Black Sikaflex, I'm hoping that nothing falls out on the way to work in the morning!

Here's the end result, much better than the gaping hole that was there before:

Following on from the previous post, time for a bit more fine-tuning of the replacement fin section for the bumper.

Out with the junior hacksaw for some precise cutting:

...and a happy 2012!

There's not much happening between Christmas and New Year so I thought I'd take advantage of a day's fine weather to give the van a much-need clean. This is also a great opportunity to fit the gifts I received for Christmas!

First up; a set of Heko wind deflectors:

A quick progress update. The carpet-lining has ground to a halt, two reasons; firstly, I ran out of glue for doing the carpeting in one bulk session and didn't want to start a bit without being able to finish. And secondly, I ran out of talent - I made a complete balls-up of the headlining - with the headlining panel removed I had it covered in glue ready to roll out the headlining fabric, got half way across the board and (whilst working in the confines of a cramped single-garage) moving from one end of the board to the other I let the fabric roll back up on itself which smeared the slowly drying glue onto the visible side.

Annoyed with myself I closed the garage door and called it a day (sometimes the best way) only to find out that the glue had gone off and stuck the first section of the fabric permanently to the board. Fold board in half, go to VW and order new board.

So in the mean time I've been setting about the reinstating of the lower fins in the bumper:

Here's another teaser for next year's wheels:

Have you got one lying around from a recent conversion?

I only need the lower middle fins as shown below:

Just a quick update. The cheaper sound-deadening material went down on the floor and had much the same effect as Dynamat; the van now feels much more 'solid' and quieter.

The flash-banding used in a previous post was only ever going to do so much when it comes to sound-deadening. This, combined with a change of approach when it comes to carpet-lining, has left me with a need to do a little more to dampen the echoes of an empty van.

Dynamat in it's various forms has been around for a number years and seems to be de rigueur when it comes to lining the inside of a vehicle. I started reading up on sound-deadening on both the Caddy2k forum and the Edition38 forums to see what products others have used and how they applied it. The only downside of Dynamat - the cost.

My next port of call was eBay to see what sort of prices could be found on there. Pretty good, but after a little more searching and calculating price per square-foot, a car audio company selling on Amazon worked out the best.

I ordered five sheets of 18" x 32" Dynamat Xtreme - which is mainly used for car boots, doors and floors. This is to be used for the rear wheel arches and side panels. I also ordered several metres of an un-branded (and slightly thinner) version for the rear floor.
Easy to cut and apply, with a bit of pre-planning the Dynamat goes on in minutes:

Now there's not many jobs under the bonnet that I'll tackle myself, but this one is probably the easiest of all!

Having had a fairly miserable day wrestling with the two large ply panels from the back of the van (unscrew, lift them out, trim a bit, screw them in, out again, trim a bit, repeat, repeat, repeat...) I thought I'd cheer myself with a spot of Photoshop-modding.

With the Bentley wheels now sold I'm currently in discussions with a chap from the Caddy2k forum who has several sets of VW Helios wheels being refurbished. One of these sets now has my name on them!

The Helios was an optional-extra on Volkswagen's luxury Phaeton range. So as you can imagine, they're pretty hard to come by. You could walk into your local dealership and order a set. Better still you could go to your local TPS and price a set up. This would currently cost you over two and a half grand!!!

Anyway, back to the Photoshopping:

Just a couple of hours today to carpet a few panels so I've started with the easy ones - these didn't require any trimming, just a quick tidy-up.

The panel as I left it last week after sound-proofing and insulating:

Having had the bulkhead out for a week now, I've been mulling-over what to do about the unsightly 'half-trim' left behind by it's removal - as shown in the picture below:

If you're a fellow Caddy owner, you'll know there's not many spots to keep things out of view. There's the overhead cubby-hole but other than that, everything else is on display.

I first saw this mod on the Caddy2k forums and have been looking around for a while for the part (not wanting to pay Volkswagen the £90 for a new one) when one appeared on eBay.

Here's the old dash tray:

Here's the van; raised ride height and repainted steel wheels. Not quite the head-turner it once was. 

With the floor up and the bulkhead out, it's time to look at the interior panels, sound-proofing and insulation. To reduce the echo of an empty van you simply have to add some weight the bare panels. Road noise and vibration travels through the panels and becomes amplified, to reduce this resonance effectively and efficiently I like to apply self adhesive flash banding as used by roofers.

In a quest for a bit more legroom it's time to take the bulkhead out. But first, the floor in the back has to come up. So fueled-up on coffee and cake, it's straight on to lifting the floor:

The transformation for Winter is complete:

Not only did the van come with original wheels and suspension parts to put the van back to standard. The seller also included the original seats - not something I was expecting. I can't see me ever needing to swap back to these so they're up for grabs.

Almost perfect in condition with only minor scuffs to the plastic trim, this is a driver's and passenger's seat in the Inca pattern. Cloth is unmarked and as-new, everything works as it should:

After changing the two mis-matched profile tyres, I now have the other two surplus to requirements. The are Vredestein Comtrac Van tyres in 195/70/15 size.
Suitable for many 15" van wheels - they look hardly used.

So back to the progress update; on go a few coats of Ford (yes, sorry) Graphite Grey. There wasn't many VW greys to choose from in the rattle-can section of Halfords, I went with this because it seemed to have a little bit of a blue hue to it - from what you can tell by the colour swatch on the lid!

I've always been one for swapping my alloys for the original steel wheels at the end of a season; salty UK roads don't do any favours for pricey alloys.
So I was really happy that when buying the Caddy that it came with the original wheels. One down-side was a mis-match of tyre profiles - 2x 195/65/15 and 2x 195/70/15. Not ideal.

Knowing that I can move the wrong tyres on, an order was placed with Camskill (probably the prices for tyres anywhere on the internet) for two replacements of the correct 195/65/15.

So now we're on to prep; hours of sanding, smoothing and masking. I would ideally have done this with tyres removed but I'm up against a deadline to get the wheels swapped.

Having had the van for less than a week, you may think I'm slightly mad for wanting to sell the Bentley alloys so soon. With Winter approaching and the van being used daily, I'll be swapping back to the steel wheels and starting the hunt for an 18" or 19" replacement for next year.

So here's what is on offer:
A set of four Bentley 20" wheels (part number RT253) as fitted to the GT and Flying Spur manufactured as a one-piece aluminium wheel by Ronal.
Centre caps are included in the sale.
Stud pattern is 5x112 and ET (offset) is 41. Rim width is 9J.
This makes them suitable for many VW, Audi, Mercedes (and Bentley!) applications.
Tyres are Falken 225/30ZR20 and have been fitted in the fashionable 'stretched' style.

Update: One of the tyres is badly worn around it's inner edge and will definitely need replacing. The other three have loads of life on them.

The cost to replace one of these wheels from Bentley is £475 (without centre cap).

Some pics with the asking price below (click for bigger pics):

A big empty van makes a lot of noise. One of the very first jobs will be to reduce some of the echo in the back of the van - this will be achieved in a number of ways.
Firstly, road noise is transmitted from the tyres up through the wheel arches. These will be treated to some Dynamat before being carpeted.
Then, the large open panels of the sides and roof of the van will be given some weight in the form of self-adhesive flash-banding. This helps to dampen resonance in the panel and stops the booming echo of an empty van.
The gaps between metal panel and plywood panel will then be insulated and finally, the plywood will be treated to a layer of automotive carpet.

There's just two-steps to today's efforts: