Loads on my mind

I new I would change it. My battery box was originally going to be a stand-alone item. But doing some research (pouring over Google image searches) into expedition vehicles I discovered it's de rigueur to have a load shelf,  drawers or cabinets to organise and safely store loose pieces of equipment.

That looks fun I thought, and this way I could safely carry my trolley jack, and have some tidiness in the boot section.

So off to the DIY store I went and came back with an amount of 12mm MDF and some batten.

The frame is made to fit between wheel arches, and is divided into 5 sections. The 3 rear sections are for the fuse / battery box which will is now built in, and also to house a pair of plastic crates for carrying cooking utensils or whatever. These will be accessed from the tailgate and simply slid in/out of position. I still need to come up with a way to secure them during whilst driving.

The 2 front sections are for "recovery equipment", including my 2 tonne trolley jack, wheel braces, fuel can (empty), snow socks and foldable shovel. These are accessed through 2 hinged doors in the top with lockable catches.

Originally I planned to use the same carpet tiles that I will use on the floor, but it will be easier to use hard wearing speaker box carpet.

Another use for the load shelf is as a seat when parked up. Now we can open the tailgate, climb in the back and sit in the shade / out of the rain.

Whilst the main shelf sits between the arches, the angles front and sides will actually extend over the arches. It's neater this way and also provides suitable real estate for fitting some sockets and switches in the rear next to the battery box.

The shelf edge will be protected / neatened using some aluminium treadplate corner protectors, this ties in with the rest of the van.

I'm thinking of adding a load net to the top, but for now this will do me proud.

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...

Keep regular

What's your fibre intake?

Mine just got a little better, a forum member has started producing carbon fibre parts for the T4, amongst them some mirror covers.

My existing mirrors are showing signs of conflict, scrapes and a large missing piece on the passenger side. I was considering buying some regular replacements but when Phil began his business I watched with interest.

So here they are, they fit well, look good and cover the scratches well.

Unfortunately for me they don't cover the large gap on the passenger mirror, but no covers will do that.

And here they are on the van, apart from the side bars and A-bar the only shiny parts on it!

Easy peasy

Sometimes the smallest jobs make the biggest difference.

During the latest cold snap my sliding door became a real pain to open, grounching, bouncing and generally nasty to open. I ordered a replacement bottom roler but strangely as soon as the weather got better so did the door.

So the roller replacement was put on the back burner.

As I'm a little financially challenged right now I'm going through the small jobs I've got parts for, but never got around to doing because of something shiney (the magpie effect).

So today, ably assisted by my stunning fiancée I set about swapping the arm over. I'm glad I did, I was supporting the door as my partner undid the bolts (loosened by me of course!) and when she removed the original arm it came out in 2 bits, arm and roller.

New arm on and a clean and grease of the channel and it's like new, almost silent and glides effortlessly.

On the tiles

Once the sides were carpeted I turned my attention to the floor. Originally covered in a black "made to measure" carpet which was showing signs of everything that had happened in the van. Wood shavings, metal swarf, sand mud, grass, dog fur...

Now I was happy most of the messy side of the conversion was out of the way, I ordered some self adhesive carpet tiles from ebay.

These aren't bad, they came in beige and anthracite and are corded - I know, I ranted about this before but oh well, and seem fairly hard wearing. The benefit of using tiles is I can replace an individual one if it gets too dirty to clean.

Yes I need a new step cover...

They fitted well, but the adhesive was applied in a wavy pattern and doesn't always go to the corners, resulting in them lifting slightly. This was solved using some of the remaining carpet glue from doing the side panels.

The edges at the side door and tailgate were tidied by using some Aluminium treadplate corner protectors, cut and profiled to suit each opening.

Bling bling

It's a fine line.

Since buying the van I've wanted to make it look less like a builders hack and more personal. But the line is where it gets gaudy.

The paint is quite subtle, and the VW sticker on the bonnet is not as large as some I've seen so I think I've balanced it fairly well so far.

But  always want more.

I've already fitted some stainless side bars and after a good spell selling on ebay I got the green light to buy an A-bar.
Originally I wanted the old school type, all aggression and angular steel but since they are rare second hand, I settled on a stainless "Style bar" instead. This was on offer at the time and to be fair it does match the sidebars better than the older one would.

At the same time I got some new pressed licence plates made. These are sold as UK legal so should be no problem come MOT time - my rear plate had started to de-laminate which made new plates a necessity.

To go with them some plate holders were also bought, this way I don't need to drill my shiny plates.

I also sprayed the bumpers in my favourite black Krylon, and yes I have some overspray on the tailgate to clean up...

Carpet bagging

This has been an eternity in the making. I've waited for some decent time off and decent weather so that I can finally recover the inside of my van.

When I did the original conversion I went for some grey corded carpet that was ok, but soon looked so bland and dull. This time I wanted something a bit brighter, still neutral but something that suits the van better. And I didn't want horrible corded carpet, this is not the seventies!

I ordered sand coloured carpet some from Mega van Mats, an offer which included 5 cans of high temperature adhesive. This was delivered very quickly.

I had already stripped the van, and just had some small bits of surface prep to finish. I have a few plans for organising the interior so where I needed fixings I drilled and installed rivnuts wherever possible. This includes some for MOLLE panels on the rear sides and a work light in the rear boot area.

With some help from my glamorous assistant (my girlfriend) we set about glueing the new carpet in place in 1 piece (per side). Ultimately this is more effort, but definitely worth it as the whole interior is now seamless.

A notoriously difficult area is the tail light "swell", but the carpet is so flexible these complex curves could be tackled with only a little swearing.

The MOLLE panel is actually part of a dog guard, with some MOLLE pouches looped through it, but it works well and keeps necessities handy (like poo bags, wet wipes and the dogs muzzle as seen here...).
As many different MOLLE pouches are available I plan to get a medics pouch for my first aid kit - essential this is easily accessible.

While I was tidying the van I got my torch out of the glove box and fitted some "quick fists" (unfortunate name) to the lower dash panel, sandwiching an aluminium treadplate trim panel in place. Not only is the maglite nice and bright but it's fitted with a glass breaker tailcap in case of emergencies.

For other emergencies, a small fire extinguisher was fitted to the rear D pillar, the plan is to cook at the rear of the van, so this is the best place for it. I will get another for the front soon.

I still need to cover the lower panels, but this will be in a different colour and after I have finished wiring in things like lights, sockets, flux capacitor, etc.

Now it's recovered the van feels so much more comfortable.