Black Kombi Day Van Build

[CooseVW]

Hi All,

Figured I'd introduce myself properly and if nothing else, use this thread to document the changes my van will no doubt go through!

204 BiTDI, DSG, Factory LED's, comfort dash, heated seats etc, twin captains seats.

Previous owner has fitted a slide pod, swivel table and a swivel to the passenger seat which was a nice surprise when I went to view it as it wasn't advertised as such.

There's also a leisure battery setup under the passenger seat but it's been disconnected in the engine bay. Bit of digging will see that right!

 

[z1ts]

Beautiful

 

[CooseVW]

My steering wheel was looking a little bit tired so thought I'd try and smarten it up a bit. I'd hoped when I bought it that it was just ingrained dirt as there was some grubby stuff on the indicator stalk also. I've tried a good deep clean but it became apparent that the colour hard started to come out of the leather.

I picked up some 'leather recolouring balm' from Amazon as I thought it was worth a shot before taking more drastic measures. I've got to say, I was very surprised with the result!

Here's a before and after...

 

[koolpc]

Lovely van....

Dare i ask how much and mileage?

 

[CooseVW]

Lovely van....

Dare i ask how much and mileage?

32K and £32K

 

[rover220]

Looks familiar, did you buy from near Basingstoke?

 

[koolpc]

32K and £32K

Superb!

 

[CooseVW]

Looks familiar, did you buy from near Basingstoke?

No, from Teesside

 

[CooseVW]

First wash in my ownership... I always feel like a vehicle isn't properly your own until you've washed it yourself.

Noticed a few little dings and scratches in the process but off to see a PDR guy in the morning so hopefully he can work his magic

Would probably benefit from a machine polish too if I'm honest as there's a couple of light bird poo stains in the clear coat.

A few pics because why not!

 

[manfrotto]

When I first got my van, I don't think the roof had ever been cleaned
I guess you don't see that normally , and need a stool/ladder to reach it for cleaning

 

[CooseVW]

When I first got my van, I don't think the roof had ever been cleaned
I guess you don't see that normally , and need a stool/ladder to reach it for cleaning

Plenty of alge on mine too... was driving me mad when I looked out of our bedroom window at it

I had to get the step ladders and I've invested in a noodle mitt with a telescopic handle to make cleaning a bit easier. I didn't manage to find a way to dry it in the middle mind... I suppose some water spots I can live with!

 

[CooseVW]

I've been making slow progress on the van. I learned from my mistakes/ experiments and took the plunge on the dodo mat hexa sound deadening and dodomat 10mm Thermo liner pro insulation.

So far, I've only done the roof as I'm waiting to get some dents fixed in the sides so don't want to go hindering access for the PDR guy.

I also done a bit of an experiment with some wood panelling effect vinyl roll of the roof panels. It looked surprisingly good and I was excited to fit it. I'd left it overnight in a hot garage and came back the next day to find it all peeling away. I'm going to take this as a win as I'd rather it peeled in that garage, than in the van!

Anyway, I ripped it all off and used some Combe valley campers black carpet instead as a stop gap. It looks really nice.

So... moral of the story... 'Cheap Chinese' roughly translates to 'Useless s***e'. Lesson learned: buy cheap, buy twice.

I'll be sticking to the tried and tested, higher quality stuff from now on.

 

[CooseVW]

Also, a photo of the headliner fitted and I fitted some mudflaps. Not a massive fan of the way the OEM ones fit so went with these ones that I'd seen posted on here somewhere...

 

[CooseVW]

And the rear all back together temporarily...

I've put all the carpeted panels back on just to make it less of a building site to drive around in. I'll remove each panel at a time, and sound deaden and insulate then replace it again.

I also fitted some plastic wheel arch covers and some C(?) Pillar covers to tidy up some scratches. I think it looks much better!

 

[ChestnutBrown]

Looking good so far @CooseVW.

I am tempted by the rear pillar covers too. Any chance that you can measure the width between each cover at the lowest point where they are vertical. Like an inch or two from the bottom maybe.

Just wondering if they would fit alongside my Ovano setup.

I am assuming that they are the Van Style ones or similar?

 

[CooseVW]

@ChestnutBrown They are the vanstyle ones yeah. I'll try and measure tomorrow although I'm certain they wouldn't be an issue. They are about 1mm thick and the fit is exceptional. They are literally a second skin, almost as if you have painted them on... look at how the factory padded floor sits with them.

 

[ChestnutBrown]

They sure look sleek that’s for sure!

I am in two minds between touching up the scratches from previous owners, as the Ovano will probably stop all new ones by nature of holding the contents within it, or going this route for a cleaner functional look.

My van is rapidly going that way, with my hex panels and potential swamper wheels idea.

 

[CooseVW]

@ChestnutBrown from about 50mm up the pillar from the threshold strip, 1290mm across

 

[ChestnutBrown]

@ChestnutBrown from about 50mm up the pillar from the threshold strip, 1290mm across

Great, thanks. I will measure up mine tomorrow.

 

[CooseVW]

Much easier than with my Passat! Made a little internal bike rack as I discovered that for some reason, when trying to fit a tow bar mounted rack, the previous owner had wired the 12v tow bar supply to the leisure battery and ran the feed in 0.5mm2 cable.

Some quick checking found that the cable seems to be damaged so I'll look to run a bigger cable to a more suitable location at some point.