Insulation Part 2 (and a carpeting test)

We've just completed our second phase of van insulation, the roof is done along with the remaining passenger side walls, barn door and sliding door.

Progress was a lot quicker this time after learning so much from the previous days efforts.

The rear passenger side wall was easy cutting kinspan into large shapes to match the size of the panels/wheel arches, then dividing these into several vertical pieces to fit through the holes. Once the pieces were in, we added slim wedge pieces in the gaps to make the board 'grip' the spaces. Once again a couple of layers of the silver bubble-wrap stuff was added over the top.

Same technique was used on the rear door however we were unable to add much insulation to the as we risked blocking the handle mechanism that takes up most if the space. Wish I had a tailgate. Grrrrrrrrrrr!
The slider was much easier, and I managed to get 3-4 layers of 25mm board in. This picture shows slide with the first cavity filled with 3 layers of 25mm board.





Next up was the roof. My dad had the idea of writing my name and the date as a kind of time-capsule on one of the panels. Maybe it'll be of interest to future historians.....However, as I had just cut my finger removing a panel clip and we didn't have a pencil around, drastic measures were called for.....


Then I went completely mental with the flashing tape. Evo-Stik Flashband tape have seen a massive increase in sales despite the economic downturn!!! Love the stuff.

Hopefully the walls can take the weight of the roof now! haha
Next up we just added a layer of silver bubble insulation to each section of roof. This was quite easy as you can just tuck the trimmed-to-fit pieces under the roof cross members. Happy days. I might add another layer when the roof comes off again to be carpeted.

We also couldn't wait to try a bit of carpeting on the sliding door ply. The tried and tested method was used of spraying carpet and ply with high-temp glue (megavanmats) with enough carpet to fold around the board. A few cuts had to be made for the corners and curves. The finished job looks pretty good!



Next week I'm back in Wales for my dads 60th and the rest of the carpeting....oooh, and maybe a quick surf if its on.

R

Insulation Part 1

The Van

Kingspan


The old man!

I've just spent the afternoon insulating the van in Wales with my Dad. So far we've got the drivers side walls done and one barn door.


Here's the method and materials used so far:

First we unscrewed the ply, then removed the VW grey panels. Like everyone says, those VW plastic clips are a pain in the arse, in a couple of turns the hex bolt heads are no longer hex shaped so we used a B&Q tack remover to prize them off (thanks Stone174!).

Next we attached generous amounts of flashing tape to the main panels. This will help reduce road/rain noise. We've probably used about 10m of the stuff already.

Next we cut our 8'x4' 25mm Kingspan (Celotex or similar will do) sheet into quarters, then cut pieces to fit the holes in the walls of the van. The best method for this we found was to cut a piece to fit the hole you're filling, then cut it vertically into 2 or 3 bits to allow you to fit them in behind the metalwork. Once these are in you can slide slim wedge pieces down into the gaps which pushes the boards apart so they grip the cavity well. When we started we were using lots of GripFill adhesive but this wsn't that helpful so by the end we weren't using much glue. The cavity on the left shows what i mean.

After that came the thermal foil bubble wrap. Compared to the board, this stuff is a joy to work with. It was on 2 for 1 at B&Q so we did 3-4 layers covering the cavities. I also used offcuts to stuff any gaps.

Next was the Vapor Barrier. Basically a polythene sheet. At first we were taping this in place over the cavities but halfway through we came up with a better technique. First, we cut out pieces slightly larger than the grey VW panels. Then we stuck the sheets to the back panels with spray carpet glue. Then just clipped the panels in place with the plastic clips. Once this was done we taped around the edges. Obviously the clips have to pierce the sheet but the seal seemed ok and I plan to do the same again on the inside of the main ply panels for double moisture protection.



Tomorrow we'll finish the ceiling, floor and the other wall.

I'll list how much of each item was used once we finish. Its amazing how so much material has been 'swallowed' up by the van. At least its going to be nice and warm!

Rob

No Pane....No Gain!

I've just returned from a trip to Penzance to get the van windows fitted.



I'm over the moon with the results. Thanks to all the guys at Vansport. They did a great job and also helped cut one of the ply panels to go around the new glass.

In the end I went for the Barn Doors and both sides in fixed privacy glass. I also got some Clim-air wind deflectors for the cab windows. Should help the ventilation of the van when its parked up.

One thing I liked was that Vansport fit a trim to the rear of both side windows. This looks especially good on the drivers side where the 'raw' glass edge can look a bit 'non-factory'.


Next I'll be hitting Wickes for the insulation materials ready for next week.

R

Mirror no more

I'm gutted.

Some nugget has broken my wing mirror on the drivers side.
The weird thing is that the drivers side was left against the pavement!

No doubt another crackhead off the estate thought it'd be fun to kick a mirror. You get a lot of that round here. Thinking I'm probably going to park it on the next street from now on. Its much nicer round there.

The annoying thing is I've just been quoted £100 for parts from the local VW dealer and I have to get it fixed by wednesday as I've got a long drive to Penzance to get the windows done. Not looking forward to driving the van with 1 mirror, its hard enough without back/side windows but to loose the drivers side is irritating.

Jobs for this Month

This month is going to be a busy (read - expensive!) month with lots happening to the van.

First, I'll be driving down to Vansport in Penzance to get my windows fitted. I'm going for limo-tint glass in the rear barn doors and fixed windows (limo - tint) in the sliding door and opposite.
I was quoted £650 for this fully fitted. Cutting holes in my van is definitely something I'll leave to the experts! I'll also pick up some Clim-air wind deflectors when I'm down there to allow for some rain-proof ventilation when I'm camping/driving. I would have liked a sliding window on the door but I cannot justify the cost, its £69 for a fixed one, £225 for a slider (parts only)!!!!!

Before I get the windows done I'll be cutting a section out of the ply lining on the drivers side to allow for the window. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep the ply in 1 'L-shaped' piece to make it easy to re-attach.

Next I'll be visiting my parents in North Wales. My Dad (dab hand at all things practical!) and I will be insulating the van, then Carpet lining the ply and metal work. I cannot wait for this to be done as It'll start to feel like a plush camper rather than a work van. I've read lots on other peoples blogs about insulation (Stone174, Blakey) and I'm pretty happy with this step, its carpet lining the metal that's giving me nightmares.

Little extras

Still pretty skint from the van/alarm purchase I went for a few cheap mods on the van this month.

The first was 'Crystal Clear' side repeaters. These were about £12 off eBay. I also bought 2 silver bulbs to go into them (about £4).

A tip for anyone doing this mod: My factory orange repeaters took quite a bit of effort to remove. You need to use a Flathead screwdriver (or similar) to apply pressure to the plastic light casing from the rear of the vehicle. I wrapped a screwdriver in cloth and managed to pop them out but unfortunately made a tiny scuff on the paintwork on one side. Nothing too serious, the scuff is invisible as its in the slot behind the light.

The new repeaters look great and I didn't even change the stock bulbs. The light surrounds themselves cover the bulb and reflect the light in so you don't see it from the outside.

I also added some 16" Wheeltrims to cover the factory wheels. First I cleaned and painted the silver parts of the factory wheels in matte black hammerite. Once this was dry I added the trims (£40 eBay). This made a MASSIVE difference to the look of the van. I will invest in some nice alloys one day but for now this will do. I can't understand why every T5 I see hasn't got trims on. The change to the look of the vehicle far outweighs the cost of the trims!

Here's a shot of the trims I bought.


I thought the large amount of spokes would be better at hiding the factory wheels underneath.

I'll post a shot of them on the van soon

Handle Dangle

Another small fault appeared with the van....

sometimes the passenger door handle (outside), wouldn't click back into place properly. The door would shut but the handle would be left sticking out. This would trigger the dashboard warning that the door wasn't closed.

I still had 2 months left on the van warranty so drove up to Essex to get the handle sorted. The dealer said there was too much slack on the cable and the mechanism was catching on a small bit if 'thicker' paint on the inside of the door. About an hour later he had it working again so all seemed good.

On a surf trip to Wales the next week I was closing up the van (already in my wetsuit etc) when I opened the passenger door and the handle got stuck out again! The bad thing was that this time, it'd come out further than before and I couldn't get it back in. My friend Dan managed it with a well aimed smack (he couldn't wait to get in the sea any longer!). I managed a really god surf session even though I was angry about the handle issue not being solved.

I had no choice (only 1 month left on warranty) but to visit the dealer again and get it sorted. This time, one of their main mechanics worked on the door and it took him 2-3 hours but it seems to be fixed now.

Fingers crossed....

Alarm stress

One of the conditions of my insurance (Adrian Flux) was that I upgrade the factory cat 2 immobiliser to a cat 1 Thatcham approved alarm. This is probably because I live in an ex-council flat in North London and only have on-street parking.

After a little research on the VWt4 and Brickyard forums I decided to go for a Toad 850T alarm.
This works off the same factory key fob and I'd heard Miguel at Southern Car Security (he sells a lot via eBay) was good so I gave him a call.

Within a week he'd come to my address and fitted the alarm. All in all it took about 2 hours and came to £230 which seemed a good price. Happy-days I thought.....

Later the next night at band rehearsal (ww.myspace.com/larches) I could hear my alarm going off outside. I went to investigate, nobody was around and the van seemed fine so I re-armed the system and got back to jamming.
About 45 mins later it went off again. Again, I went outside to find the van was fine so re-armed the system and called Miguel. He suggested that if it goes off again, I should look at the LED he installed on the dash. This should flash an error code when I start the ignition and help me identify the source of the problem.

Again the alarm went off so I checked the LED and found it was flashing 3 times. I reported this to Miguel and he got back to me the next day with the fault code (it was pretty late). That night I had to manually lock the door with the key as I didn't want the neighbors to get woken up by the alarm. This was annoying for me as my insurance was invalid while the alarm wasn't in use.

The next day Miguel got back to me to say the fault was with the door circuit (not the Ultrasonics) so that ruled out any movement in the vehicle. The way the system is connected on a T5 means that the 2 cab doors and side slider are wired on 1 circuit, and the rear doors on another. The problem was either with the Cab doors or the slider.

The problem persisted for a few days so I kept calling Miguel to report the issue. He was happy to give advice but insisted that the problem must be with my Van's door circuit and not his alarm as he'd tested it fully on installation. This left me in an awkward place as I'd just forked out £230 for something that didn't work but he wasn't liable. Hmmmmmmm.....

The next day he called me to say he'd spoken to a friend at a VW dealership. Apparently, the problem is with tiny amounts of current in the door circuit. These can happen as the vehicle cools down at night or if any moisture or corrosion is present on the doors micro-switches. His friends suggestion was to put a resistor (2.4Ohm - 2.7Ohm) in the door circuit to stop any of the small currents that were causing the problem but not big enough to alter the function of the door sensors etc.

Miguel agreed to post me a couple of resistors, already attached to bullet clips and I'd place one of them on the wire from the door circuit. So, I did. And it bloody worked!!!!!!

19/02/10 PLEASE NOTE THE FIX DIDN'T WORK, IT JUST REMOVED MY DOORS CIRCUIT FROM THE ALARM SO I NOW HAVE TO TURN THE KEY IN IGNITION BEFORE ALARM TRIGGERS! I'LL ADD A BLOG ABOUT THIS SOON AS SOMEONE IS LOOKING AT IT - Rob

So there is a rather long-winded story about my alarm woes. Hopefully this helps somebody as I couldn't find anything about this issue on the Internet. Thanks to Miguel for the good customer service too.

Van Purchase

After months of deliberating between different vans, I finally decided upon the VW T5. Initially I was looking at converting a SWB Ford Transit or similar as these are a bit cheaper and a bit roomier inside. However, as my Dad pointed out, if I'm going to spend money and time converting a van I'd be better off going for a higher class of vehicle. Also, a converted T5 looks better pulling up on the driveway of my soon to be in-laws! haha.

I'd often drooled over Transporters at numerous campsites when on surf trips. I also realised pretty soon that there is a massive amount of accessories and services available for the VW converter.

So once I'd saved up enough money I went about looking for a van. Ideally I wanted a SWB T5 no older than 2004 with under 50k on the clock, full service history and preferably in Silver or Black.

After a couple of months watching Autotrader etc it became apparent that choosing a van in anything other than white would seriously limit my choice of vehicle. After all, I didn't have lots to spend and didn't want to be stuck with an aesthetically pleasing but poor condition van. Plus, I had seen some photos of white T5's with colour coded bumpers and thought they looked great. Kind of like a white iPod that you can drive!

So here she is:



Dec 2005 SWB T5 T28 with 47k on the clock.

I was really pleased and happily traded in my 3-door Fiesta. I'll be honest though, never having driven a van in my life I was a little unprepared for being handed the keys and driving a large (-er) vehicle. That first drive home was scary but fun at the same time.