Gone but not forgotten?

It's been a while, and in truth not much has happened on the van front up until about a week ago when I got ants in my pants and had to crack on with tidying the rear.

I took the headlining down a while ago so that I could run extra wires, remove redundant wiring and ultimately make a new headlining to replace the naff grey corded one I had before (did I mention I hate corded carpet?).

So with the header removed I had a go at connecting the tailgate to the central locking. This garnered mixed results, as teh van's tailgate lock doesn't appear compatible with after-market central locking. So in a fit of pique I decided to remove the lock barrel from the equation, making the tailgate unlockable only my the central locking.
This has two benefits, firstly removal of the lock barrel removes a point of attack for a would be car thief, and secondly if I want to get in the boot I've already unlocked it before I get there.

So that was one little job, I've also run in wires for some maplights for the rear seat passengers and also for a 12v fan I will mount from the roof to cool the rear. The fan will be mounted to a sheet of 18mm marine ply which I have bonded to the roof with sikaflex. I've used quite a large piece so that I have the option to fit a flip down DVD player in the future. Again, thinking ahead I have routed wiring channels in the ply to make installation easier and neater.

So with this all in place it was time to make a new headlining. Using the originals as templates I made duplicates from 3mm hardboard.

This was then covered in 3mm upholstery foam to give it a luxurious feel. Holes were marked and punched for refitting to the van, but I did not cut out holes for the VW courtesy lights.

 I already had a plan for a neater rear...

I love looking at other cars, finding new ways to solve problems or just finding something cool I can make use of. In this case I found a neat courtesy / maplight that would originally be fitted to a Ford Explorer. The perfect size and a bit nicer than VW's effort, this was bought and quickly stripped so that I could flock it. At the same time I flocked the sliding door roller cover and the headlining joining strip (which I had cut down to accommodate the new light).

While the flock was setting up I fitted 6mm stainless steel rivnuts to the headlining mounting holes.

Why rivnuts?

The original VW clips are notorious for being difficult to remove, and I've also made the boards thicker so they might not hold as well. Some nice flange dome head allen bolts and I've almost made my own tuck and roll headlining... Another benefit I thought of afterwards is that I've now made the headlining securing points load bearing, and have a cunning plan to make use of that...

So here we are with the new headlining fitted, it still needs the cloth covering but it already feels much nicer in the back.

And the Explorer dome light, still needs to be connected to power but that's coming soon.

And a final addition. The Curry hook.

As my van is getting the offroad theme I've been surfing 4x4 websites looking for ideas, and came across mud-stuff.co.uk. Here they specialise in Land Rover Defender parts and have come up with a few nice touches that I can use in my van. The first to make an appearance is the curry hook. Originally designed to hold your carrier bag of vindaloo, in my van it's become a coat hook. Although I did buy two so the other may be pressed into service holding a much deserved take away in the near future...