My first attempt ex AA van

[damo1023]

Service time....
After having the van for all of about 5 weeks I decided it was time to give it a service. At this point I'd wrongly presumed that an ex Aa vehicle would be properly maintained (apparent full service history)
There had been a noise from the belts since buying the vehicle so it was treated to an oil change, air filter, cabin filter, brake fluid. The cambelt was changed along with the waterpump and the auxiliary belt and tensioner. Luckily enough as the waterpump had actually started leaking.

Besides this the Eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed that despite a wheel change my tyres were inadequately rated.
102 rated instead of 103 which means they were a paltry 10kg per tyre under specification.
Note to anyone buying this can happen to anyone I've work in the industry for a while now and I missed it initially. Lesson learnt and the tyres fitted having worn out in 3000 miles I took the choice to replace all four. I've not brought expensive tyres for this and I'll probably have scorn poured on me for doing so. However the tyres to this point April to October have been faultless and are wearing well.
Tyre size now is 265 40 20 on a 40 to 50mm lowering they are absolutely fine no rubbing on full lock

 

[damo1023]

Finally furniture time this was causing a major hold up.
Long story I won't publicly shame but the company didn't really cover themselves in glory.
Anyway onwards and upwards after collecting the furniture I set about building something that had even worse instructions than an ikea flat pack house.
After a couple of hours I had most of the furniture built. Minus a fridge unit which had an obvious machining error.
Luckily this time the company came through and after 2 days I then had a replacement.






























Spot the obvious cnc error in the next few pictures. Wonky cabinet didn't do it justice. All told it was 15mm out side to side.

 

[damo1023]

Few more from the kitchen unit build.

 

[damo1023]

After a quick wait everything was finally built and ready to go in for a test fit/ fettle.
At this point I recruited my younger brother into helping me out.
Cue a quick visit to his workplace and a chance to have a look at some really nice older vw's

 

[damo1023]

Units were a pretty good fit and didn't require much adjustment. They are scribed for a T5/T6 however this doesn't account for the reduced roof height that comes when fitting a halo style roof panel.
Most of the fettling needed was actually to get the overhead locker in place.
I did initially debate leaving this out, however it didn't actually feel like a finished van.
Brackets knocked up for the overhead locker at work. I didn't like the idea of it just being screwed in. A load spreading plate was made for one side then I utilised the existing holes behind the b pillar for some rivets and fabricated a hanger.

 

[damo1023]

Quick goodies delivery yet again testing the wife's patience with an eve growing pile of expensive stuff.
Dometic fridge and power adaptor

Vango galli low poled awning We did originally want the air beam version but compromised due to the ever growing g expenditure list.

Debus day style awning. On further use this is brilliant for when you want to move about every day or so. It beats the faf of the vango awning.

Awning rail ordered and painted up before fitting to the van.

 

[david173]

Great write up and great work, well done

 

[damo1023]

Nearly there, we'll as much as anyone gets to being completed.
Next up was the consumer unit installation along with the 240 plugs.
All relatively straight forward as the wiring runs had been finished much earlier on.
What would I do differently next time.....
Definitely not put the consumer unit in the cupboard it was a bitch to connect up
Also I'd probably locate the 240 sockets somewhere slightly differently. They function etc but just rub ever so slightly on the lid on the worktop.


Long arms required and the laminate is evil sharp on the edges









Work colleague snapped this for me

Spot the irony while testing the socket

 

[damo1023]

Great write up and great work, well done

Thanks its by no means a professional install and it will be ever changing.
However I'm happy with it and it's already done multiple trips without fault.

 

[Qnapper]

damo1023 - Repect in every way. ENJOY​

 

[damo1023]

So next up snagging weekend. At this point I'd been going full tilt every weekend and a break was needed.
So we loaded up and headed to the Norfolk coast for a snagging drinking weekend with the dog.
Van somehow was flawless despite my inexperienced efforts. Hardest part of the whole weekend was actually getting the awning connected up (at this point I hadn't fitted the c rail)
One thing taken away was the bed wasnt a comfortable as we were hoping so it's something to add to the list.

 

[JOG]

damo1023 - Repect in every way. ENJOY​

Wot he said!!!

 

[damo1023]

damo1023 - Repect in every way. ENJOY​

Thanks, honestly the whole thing has been on the whole enjoyable. Its not going to be a for sale in 6 months time covid van that's for sure.

 

[damo1023]

Wot he said!!!

Thanks it means a lot coming from you all. I used a whole load of info from here along the way.

 

[JOG]

It is obvious that alot of care and attention has gone into this project. You have a vision and are able adapt your approach as you go along. Best of all, you know exactly how things have been done (and properly done at that) so on-going maintenance is going to be much easier. So glad it isn’t going to “covid van for sale” in six months!!!

 

[damo1023]

Weekend snagging out of the way. It was whole heartedly concurred that the bed wasn't up to scratch.
Solution was get on amazon and order a small double bed size memory foam mattress topper.
A quick bit of knife work later and it was all trimmed to size and ready for another trip out.
Still need to eventually get round to covering this at the moment a fitted sheet over it suffices.
By cutting it into 3 parts it stores nicely on the back of the rock and roll bed.
By this point we had added a bbq and a gas stove to the list.
Our preference is a relatively simple existence in the van. I'm not worried about running water inside and the containers needed in cleaning out (legionaiires).
Also not worried about cooking inside we go away to be outside and if it rains head to the pub ! Avoiding smells ventilating issues and gas locker issues.
Also found an excuse to head our on the mtb finally after spending weeks just doing work work and more work.

 

[damo1023]

It is obvious that alot of care and attention has gone into this project. You have a vision and are able adapt your approach as you go along. Best of all, you know exactly how things have been done (and properly done at that) so on-going maintenance is going to be much easier. So glad it isn’t going to “covid van for sale” in six months!!!

A big part of me doing this was knowing what had been done. There's plenty of horror story's I have read about poor work being carried out and covered up on vans costing a small fortune.
I won't say my works perfect/ professional but it is also safe.
I think the main driving thing is that by doing the work it's enabled me to have a van. If I'd had to buy one then I wouldn't have been able to fund it. My labour is free for my van thankfully

 

[Paynewright]

Inspirational write up - I’ve a SWB window van thats on family duties currently but the plan is to convert to a minimalist weekend camper when the kids no longer want to come with us!

 

[JOG]

We used a 100% cotton single duvet cover from Ikea as our topper cover….I think the ikea cover are just slightly oversized!

 

[JOG]

Also, have a look at @MrSkip homemade awning (except it looks NOTHING like homemade!)