The Honeymoon - 1998 VW Transporter
Discussion
andburg said:
Minor update
since coming out of winter hibernation I've been dealing with a sticking brake caliper. Took the van to a specialist on Sunday, 2 new front calipers fitted, apparently was a nightmare job, needed the hard pipes going into the caliper to be cut off and the re-terminated.
While it was with them, a good nose round was had and found a few small issues which the resolved. The worst of which wasn't that small, all the subframe bolts on the drivers side were loose and based on the dirt and lack of disturbance had been for years. The van was always a bit crashy over bumps which was looked at but consensus was this was just due to the ride height and hitting bump stops, turns out that was the body and the subframe clapping together.
oil and filter change also done by myself, ready for this years trips
I've spent a few weekends finally putting some 'furniture' in ours after 7 or 8 years (not sure) I'm not a real carpenter and used bits I found in my grandads garage to put it together (who knew all those bits do come in handy one day since coming out of winter hibernation I've been dealing with a sticking brake caliper. Took the van to a specialist on Sunday, 2 new front calipers fitted, apparently was a nightmare job, needed the hard pipes going into the caliper to be cut off and the re-terminated.
While it was with them, a good nose round was had and found a few small issues which the resolved. The worst of which wasn't that small, all the subframe bolts on the drivers side were loose and based on the dirt and lack of disturbance had been for years. The van was always a bit crashy over bumps which was looked at but consensus was this was just due to the ride height and hitting bump stops, turns out that was the body and the subframe clapping together.
oil and filter change also done by myself, ready for this years trips
)Quite pleased with how it turned out, not as
as I thought, had to move the seats to the other side, so some drilling the floor required, biggest expense being the roller door. Still very basic but should keep us a bit more tidy on this years' trip to Pembrokeshire.Need to fix a coupe of rips in the pop top and replace window seals and a faulty brake switch, but getting there, would love to get mine resprayed and shiny red again.
Oh and two folding baskets from B&M fitted perfectly under the seat so we can put stuff in there (shopping etc) and it not moving around! Lucky!
- budgetvan (has to be budget, just spent £12k on a forged engine for the Golf !
Love the VW T* vans but just think they are too small for practical campervanning. I'm spoilt for space with a twin axle 8m caravan. In the hotter climate of France Spain Italy they could work better if youre basically living outside and only sleeping in it but chilly British weather means you're inside much more often.
Bobupndown said:
Love the VW T* vans but just think they are too small for practical campervanning. I'm spoilt for space with a twin axle 8m caravan. In the hotter climate of France Spain Italy they could work better if youre basically living outside and only sleeping in it but chilly British weather means you're inside much more often.
lol, when you've gone from absolute minimal camping, a small campervan is a positively luxurious!To be fair, we're mostly in the sea all day when we camp, it's just a place to sleep and store our shizzle!
dirty boy said:
Bobupndown said:
Love the VW T* vans but just think they are too small for practical campervanning. I'm spoilt for space with a twin axle 8m caravan. In the hotter climate of France Spain Italy they could work better if youre basically living outside and only sleeping in it but chilly British weather means you're inside much more often.
lol, when you've gone from absolute minimal camping, a small campervan is a positively luxurious!To be fair, we're mostly in the sea all day when we camp, it's just a place to sleep and store our shizzle!
If we wanted to off grid, 100% we'd want a bigger van but we're happy to pay £25-35 a night for access to a toilet, shower and electric hook up its still £70 a night cheaper than a half decent hotel. Bigger van means more hassle though. Fuel economy suffers, narrow roads become an issue and most importantly parking, loads of car parks have height restrictions and we don't have the space to park a 7m long van at home.
Caravans have their advantages but you wouldn't really want to tow one every day, they're very much a park up at a base and return every night affair.
Just back from a trip, 12 nights through Scotland before a bike rally in north Yorkshire..
Negatives:
onboard 12v charger for leisure battery stopped working - turn out it was a fuse, blade looked fine but plastic around it was a bit melty and it was inaccessible without dismantling sink/hob so bought a cheap charger with crocodile clips as a temp fix.
diesel return pipes perished and had to replaced but £5 to fix and no tools needed.
Other than that the van was faultless
Positives;
Made it up the Applecross pass and Sutton Bank
Averaged about 38mpg
Oil and coolant levels unmoved, it might not have power but just keeps plugging away.
Realised that really 2 weeks in a t4 is just too long, the annoyances with lack of storage and inability to access the fridge with the bed down got to us. Definitely made me think of changing up to a larger van.
Few more jobs popped up as nice to do, luckily they're fairly cheap and I'll sort them before the next trip away.
1. Add some usb charging to the 12v system
2. More venting needed in the fridge / charging unit
3. Sort some heat reflective panels to suction into the cabin windows when parked
Negatives:
onboard 12v charger for leisure battery stopped working - turn out it was a fuse, blade looked fine but plastic around it was a bit melty and it was inaccessible without dismantling sink/hob so bought a cheap charger with crocodile clips as a temp fix.
diesel return pipes perished and had to replaced but £5 to fix and no tools needed.
Other than that the van was faultless
Positives;
Made it up the Applecross pass and Sutton Bank
Averaged about 38mpg
Oil and coolant levels unmoved, it might not have power but just keeps plugging away.
Realised that really 2 weeks in a t4 is just too long, the annoyances with lack of storage and inability to access the fridge with the bed down got to us. Definitely made me think of changing up to a larger van.
Few more jobs popped up as nice to do, luckily they're fairly cheap and I'll sort them before the next trip away.
1. Add some usb charging to the 12v system
2. More venting needed in the fridge / charging unit
3. Sort some heat reflective panels to suction into the cabin windows when parked
Update 1 of 2024
1. Add some usb charging to the 12v system - done
2. More venting needed in the fridge / charging unit - done, also serves as access to the fuse that melted itself last year
3. Sort some heat reflective panels to suction into the cabin windows when parked - done
last weekend I made a start on the annual prep, spent my saturday under the van, wire brushing some surface rust away and treating on the spare wheel carrier and engine bay. I also added a bit of sound deadening to the bulkhead. A good clean done and packed for its first trip away of the year.
Stayed with my bro by his static at a nice flat site with hardstanding, electric and water on pitch but at £81 for the night i won't be rushing back! He paid it as I spent 2 days moving some decking from another caravan to his and making a load of running repairs to it.
Van was faultless, started up and chugged away. Hopefully that's its for work on it this year...well other than it being due for its belts and waterpump doing around the start of autumn.
Out of practice i did forget to pack a few things
1. Add some usb charging to the 12v system - done
2. More venting needed in the fridge / charging unit - done, also serves as access to the fuse that melted itself last year
3. Sort some heat reflective panels to suction into the cabin windows when parked - done
last weekend I made a start on the annual prep, spent my saturday under the van, wire brushing some surface rust away and treating on the spare wheel carrier and engine bay. I also added a bit of sound deadening to the bulkhead. A good clean done and packed for its first trip away of the year.
Stayed with my bro by his static at a nice flat site with hardstanding, electric and water on pitch but at £81 for the night i won't be rushing back! He paid it as I spent 2 days moving some decking from another caravan to his and making a load of running repairs to it.
Van was faultless, started up and chugged away. Hopefully that's its for work on it this year...well other than it being due for its belts and waterpump doing around the start of autumn.
Out of practice i did forget to pack a few things
andburg said:
Update 1 of 2024
1. Add some usb charging to the 12v system - done
2. More venting needed in the fridge / charging unit - done, also serves as access to the fuse that melted itself last year
3. Sort some heat reflective panels to suction into the cabin windows when parked - done
last weekend I made a start on the annual prep, spent my saturday under the van, wire brushing some surface rust away and treating on the spare wheel carrier and engine bay. I also added a bit of sound deadening to the bulkhead. A good clean done and packed for its first trip away of the year.
Stayed with my bro by his static at a nice flat site with hardstanding, electric and water on pitch but at £81 for the night i won't be rushing back! He paid it as I spent 2 days moving some decking from another caravan to his and making a load of running repairs to it.
Van was faultless, started up and chugged away. Hopefully that's its for work on it this year...well other than it being due for its belts and waterpump doing around the start of autumn.
Out of practice i did forget to pack a few things
Glad you're still enjoying it.1. Add some usb charging to the 12v system - done
2. More venting needed in the fridge / charging unit - done, also serves as access to the fuse that melted itself last year
3. Sort some heat reflective panels to suction into the cabin windows when parked - done
last weekend I made a start on the annual prep, spent my saturday under the van, wire brushing some surface rust away and treating on the spare wheel carrier and engine bay. I also added a bit of sound deadening to the bulkhead. A good clean done and packed for its first trip away of the year.
Stayed with my bro by his static at a nice flat site with hardstanding, electric and water on pitch but at £81 for the night i won't be rushing back! He paid it as I spent 2 days moving some decking from another caravan to his and making a load of running repairs to it.
Van was faultless, started up and chugged away. Hopefully that's its for work on it this year...well other than it being due for its belts and waterpump doing around the start of autumn.
Out of practice i did forget to pack a few things
I needed a few hundred pounds spent on welding (n/s sill) to get it through the MOT this year, looks like other side + inner and outer arches will need welding/replaced soon :-(
The faulty brake switch didn't fit the intermittent limp mode/power loss, turned out to be a faulty accelerator pedal, £150 from ebay, but simple replacement and fixed it.
Van looks like a patchwork quilt now, but still love the sh*tbox lol!
Fingers crossed on some good weather over the next few months!
I think its gonna be a fairly constant battle for any owner against the rust now short of spending 5 figures taking them back to metal and repalcing, its all hidden under old underseal and grime.
£150 for a fix isn't bad really, advantage of these old heaps is the simplicity and for the most part ease of access (screw you glowplugs!)
Finger crossed for decent but not fantastic weather, with no A/C 20 deg is plenty
£150 for a fix isn't bad really, advantage of these old heaps is the simplicity and for the most part ease of access (screw you glowplugs!)
Finger crossed for decent but not fantastic weather, with no A/C 20 deg is plenty
I've had my 2.5 tdi t4 for 10yrs.
Its ace needs a bloody good polish as its so flat.
I've not used it much last couple of years and had some niggles with battery drains and corroded coolant lines etc
I'm away in it next week for a mtb race. But before then i need a new lesuire battery!
I put a golf 5th gear in it. Made a huge difference. 60mph is 2k... will pull 45mpg... seen in excess of 750 miles on a tank
Its ace needs a bloody good polish as its so flat.
I've not used it much last couple of years and had some niggles with battery drains and corroded coolant lines etc
I'm away in it next week for a mtb race. But before then i need a new lesuire battery!
I put a golf 5th gear in it. Made a huge difference. 60mph is 2k... will pull 45mpg... seen in excess of 750 miles on a tank
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