Paul the 6th camper van

[Paul the 6th]

This thread as been jacked! whaddup foo!

Owenski is currently high on crack and searching desperately for a dose of valium to ease the come down, hence the insane vw bus pics

It is a proper vw but it's not a bay or a splitty from the 1760's; all those are either rotten and going out of service - or - have been bought up by people with millions in the bank to restore them.. Good condition restored bays & split's start at around £14k-£16k and some of them are knocking around the £35k mark.... and they're using properly old skool air cooled 1600/1800 engines which will just about scratch along with the HGV's on the motorway.

Whereas I got a nice rust free, reliable, modern engine'd (2.5 tdi - will happily skip along in the fast lane until any fast german cars appear behind) for a shade under £2.5k and the conversion will cost around £1k-£1.5k for all new bed/units/carpet etc. so no sweaty crusty skin bits from 40 years of use much better application of money than the KTM ever was

Currently looks like this:


Long weekend insulating it ready for carpetting next week:


Then all it needs is 2 x windows fitting, carpetting the original ply lining panels in the garage, fit the leather saab 9-5 seats I got off eBay for £60, fit a rock'n'roll bed & wardrobe, bang a split charge system & leisure battery in there with a mains hookup - then head off with a fully loaded iPod & some fighting tools for a disposable bbq

when it's finished I'm aiming for this sort of stuff:








If anyone wants more info we'll have to start a new thread or take it to PM since it's not fair on YC (and I've said my bit now )

Looks nice that. A mate of kats used to have one of those and it was very cool. 2 one paint and stuff. Couldnt top 65 tho!

[Richie]

I've split the thread as per Paul asked :0)

[maviczap]

Originally Posted by Paul the 6th

This thread as been jacked! whaddup foo!

Owenski is currently high on crack and searching desperately for a dose of valium to ease the come down, hence the insane vw bus pics

It is a proper vw but it's not a bay or a splitty from the 1760's; all those are either rotten and going out of service - or - have been bought up by people with millions in the bank to restore them.. Good condition restored bays & split's start at around £14k-£16k and some of them are knocking around the £35k mark.... and they're using properly old skool air cooled 1600/1800 engines which will just about scratch along with the HGV's on the motorway.

Whereas I got a nice rust free, reliable, modern engine'd (2.5 tdi - will happily skip along in the fast lane until any fast german cars appear behind) for a shade under £2.5k and the conversion will cost around £1k-£1.5k for all new bed/units/carpet etc. so no sweaty crusty skin bits from 40 years of use much better application of money than the KTM ever was

Currently looks like this:

Yep I'd rather have one of these than one of the old splitty type campervan. We've got a newer one of yours Paul as a works van, and its great. If I hadn't bought my Mazda camper van, I'd have bought a modern VW TDi.

My brother in law bought a Splitty last year for £17k, now he's got no money in the bank. Bllox to that.

[Dave20046]

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/local/...ives_1_3314774
Dangerous sport is camperdogging

Good to see it Paul, and I'll hang on this thread for further details! I looked at a '91 Type 25 just 2 weeks ago but I was worried about whether it would get me to where I was going!

That looks like a cheap van - high miles? That conversion you've just posted up looks a bit bespoke, and unlike the wooden kits i've seen? Are you putting any plumbing in it or just running with a water carrier?

Paul i reckon that yellow one has more than 1- 1.5k in it

[Paul the 6th]

Originally Posted by Dave20046

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/local/...ives_1_3314774
Dangerous sport is camperdogging

Is it wrong that I read that and thought "fail."?

Originally Posted by robchester

Good to see it Paul, and I'll hang on this thread for further details! I looked at a '91 Type 25 just 2 weeks ago but I was worried about whether it would get me to where I was going!

That looks like a cheap van - high miles? That conversion you've just posted up looks a bit bespoke, and unlike the wooden kits i've seen? Are you putting any plumbing in it or just running with a water carrier?

Well, I initially looked at fully converted ready-to-go t25's but our £4k budget placed us in the 'rotten and rusty or completely bodged' end of the t25 market. Plus they're all getting on now, if they don't need clutches then it'll be bearings or rubber gaiters or control arms.... didn't want to blow the budget on a van, only to find it would need a tonne of work doing as well.

So I ended up looking into the prices of t4's - found our van for sale on the vwt4 forum. The seller listed it at £3k ono, then after a week dropped it to "£2750 or it's going on eBay" then when I rang and enquired he said he just wanted rid of it 'cos his cashflow was zero & several people had messed him round, so he said £2400

Full service history, MOT til december this year, tax is due in June, steering is as light as helium, the brakes are as sharp as on me s4, admittedly 135,000 miles seems high on most vehicles but there's many guys on the t4 forum running their vans as daily drivers with 250,000+ miles without any troubles - the only downside is that it's about due a cambelt change (£500 job!) but as we're keeping it for the long term it's not a big boo boo..

As for the spec on our van, it will have:
A split charge system with leisure battery for lighting/fridge etc. and a mains hookup for when we're on campsite. I was really up for the idea of a cooker & sink with plumbing/pump etc. but having read on the t4 forums, it seems most people either use their sink all the time or never. We had a chat about it and have decided we'll be happy enough with bottles of water (got a big 25L water carrier). As for cooking inside the van, it sounds like a cool idea but it makes your van stink like a fast food trailer - so all cooking will take place in the awning.

Originally Posted by bluefishman

Paul i reckon that yellow one has more than 1- 1.5k in it

LOL yeah that one looks like it's had a wee bit more money added to it.. bloody cheque book builds! (I'm not jealous)...

Couple of websites for anyone who's interested in the conversion process:
http://t4life.co.uk/ - Furniture (cupboards, wardrobes, cooker sink pods etc.
AutoBedsUk.com/ - Rock'n'Roll beds (convert from sofa into a flat bed)
MegaVanMats.com - suppliers of special stretchy carpet for lining the interior
AutoSparks.co.uk - supply alsorts of electrical and styling goodies (really cool Split charge system for directing power to the leisure battery from the engine battery - no flat engine battery first thing in the morning since your lighting/fridge etc. runs of the secondary leisure battery)
Vansport.com - DIY bonded windows to convert from panel van

I'll pop back with photo's as the build progresses - just finished insulating the living area yesterday - right pig of a job but it's done now. Next up is getting the ikea dioder LED lights to work with the vehicle electrics, then fit them to the headlining panels & refit with all electrics connected. Once that's done, get the carpet & ply panels back in. Anywho, better get cracking with the lighting.

[Paul the 6th]

Build update:

finished insulating at the weekend, 2 x tinted windows due for delivery today or tomorrow, also waiting on service items (filters and oil), carpet was collected from megavanmats in pudsey yesterday, last night I carpetted the ply lining panels and today trial fitted them...

















Just need to carpet the exposed metal work, tint the rear window, fit the ikea LED lights & connect them to the existing interior lighting cables, fit the 2 x side windows, whack an airbed & some camping gear in the back and head off to the coast for the weekend

oh and don't forget the curtains!

This is an awesome idea!