I thought I should probably document my journey somewhere...and this is the forum I come to the most for information, so why not...
It's a 2012 T5.1 Caravelle, bought in December to replace my 2011 T5.1 panel van, expanding family, needed more seats and all that. Learnt from a year ish of owning the other van as to what I really wanted, so went all out, it's a 2.0 diesel 140 with the DSG box in Executive spec.
The theory was, buying an Executive one would stop me messing with it, as everything's already there. Unfortunately, retrofitting is ingrained into me.
First job, the old Kenwood unit came out, and the Alpine Halo9 from the old van went in. I went for the CAN-UART interface this time, so the factory parking sensors came up, along with the climate control info.
Second job, the original steering wheel came out, and a Passat CC wheel went in (3C8 419 091BF). This gave me DSG flappy paddles and multi function buttons, and let me keep the existing airbag. There was a small bit of wiring to do - an extra wire to the BCM, and a power wire which I looped across to the existing power feed for the cruise control stalks. There really was no need for the DSG paddles, as I've probably used them less than 5 times ever. But the wheel and airbag loom cost less than £100, and I sold the old steering wheel for a shade less than that. You'll notice my little custom boot logo for the Alpine, I modified the VW one and overlaid the Dynaudio logo with an Alpine logo. I've got the original saved somewhere if anyone wants a copy of it
Next big job was the remote and timer interface for the factory fit Webasto heater. It's the coolant heater which, as standard, heats up the coolant loop in the vehicle when temperatures are below 5 degrees to help bring it up to temperature. I fitted the all singing all dancing kit from carsystems.eu here which has given me a timer and separate remote, fitting was very straightforward, passenger seat came out to assist with the work there, and the was an extra wire to go to the heater itself which is pretty much straight under the passenger seat. Timer controller was left loose under the seat, pending further work when it will be relocated to the glove box No photos of this bit unfortunately but there's not much to see other than a fob on the keyring.
Next job was the reversing camera, I found one that fitted into the number plate light on Aliexpress. Wiring was installed through the tailgate (absolute nightmare) and along the head lining and down the A pillar to the stereo. Unfortunately it was absolutely rubbish, although it was advertised as suitable for Transporters, it points straight to the floor so you can't really see much so don't buy one!
Further updates to follow, plenty more has happened....
It's a 2012 T5.1 Caravelle, bought in December to replace my 2011 T5.1 panel van, expanding family, needed more seats and all that. Learnt from a year ish of owning the other van as to what I really wanted, so went all out, it's a 2.0 diesel 140 with the DSG box in Executive spec.
The theory was, buying an Executive one would stop me messing with it, as everything's already there. Unfortunately, retrofitting is ingrained into me.
First job, the old Kenwood unit came out, and the Alpine Halo9 from the old van went in. I went for the CAN-UART interface this time, so the factory parking sensors came up, along with the climate control info.
Second job, the original steering wheel came out, and a Passat CC wheel went in (3C8 419 091BF). This gave me DSG flappy paddles and multi function buttons, and let me keep the existing airbag. There was a small bit of wiring to do - an extra wire to the BCM, and a power wire which I looped across to the existing power feed for the cruise control stalks. There really was no need for the DSG paddles, as I've probably used them less than 5 times ever. But the wheel and airbag loom cost less than £100, and I sold the old steering wheel for a shade less than that. You'll notice my little custom boot logo for the Alpine, I modified the VW one and overlaid the Dynaudio logo with an Alpine logo. I've got the original saved somewhere if anyone wants a copy of it
Next big job was the remote and timer interface for the factory fit Webasto heater. It's the coolant heater which, as standard, heats up the coolant loop in the vehicle when temperatures are below 5 degrees to help bring it up to temperature. I fitted the all singing all dancing kit from carsystems.eu here which has given me a timer and separate remote, fitting was very straightforward, passenger seat came out to assist with the work there, and the was an extra wire to go to the heater itself which is pretty much straight under the passenger seat. Timer controller was left loose under the seat, pending further work when it will be relocated to the glove box
No photos of this bit unfortunately but there's not much to see other than a fob on the keyring.Next job was the reversing camera, I found one that fitted into the number plate light on Aliexpress. Wiring was installed through the tailgate (absolute nightmare) and along the head lining and down the A pillar to the stereo. Unfortunately it was absolutely rubbish, although it was advertised as suitable for Transporters, it points straight to the floor so you can't really see much
so don't buy one!Further updates to follow, plenty more has happened....
