VW T5 Camper Conversion

Author
Discussion

srainslie

Original Poster:

2 posts

105 months

Monday 29th June 2015
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Hello,
My fiancé and I are looking to buy a VW T5 highliner LWB (Based on looking around and research done already) and slowly convert it into a camper. We were hoping to buy a van pretty much empty inside, just a “nice shell” and start from there. Any suggestions from anyone who has done this before with a T5? Any advice? We are both completely new to this and are keen to get as much information as we can before we buy the van!


Dr G

15,159 posts

241 months

Monday 29th June 2015
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Welcome to Pistonheads. There have been 2 or 3 camper conversion threads fairly recently in "Readers' Cars" that may well be worth hunting down.

Timbo_S2

531 posts

262 months

Monday 29th June 2015
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Suggest you have a good look on here:

http://www.vwt4forum.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=147

srainslie

Original Poster:

2 posts

105 months

Monday 29th June 2015
quotequote all
Cheers, I will take a look! Has anyone had any personal experience doing this?

rufmeister

1,332 posts

121 months

Monday 29th June 2015
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I did a day van type of conversion on a t4 a while back, bed and table, that was it.

With a small family, I'd love a T5nas a weekend family wagon to take bikes out, picnic in, etc, great way to get out and about.

Wouldn't fancy full on camping in one though, especially cooking in it, but there's options of awnings etc.

As said, t4 forum is your best bet, hundreds of day builds and custom builds on there.

AndyNetwork

1,831 posts

193 months

Monday 13th July 2015
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Try these guys http://www.buspoke.co.uk/

My brother has just had his T5 minibus converted by them into a full on camper.

Neil G60

692 posts

223 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
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We pick our T5 panel van up tomorrow. We're having it converted by www.jcvans.com

In terms of sourcing a T5 (if that's what you're after) bear in mind that prices are being kept artificially high at the moment for nearly new T5.1s because VW have stopped making them and are only releasing T6's to dealerships in October/November.

Our critical points were that our van couldn't be black (my OCD plus black cars get super hot in the summer which isn't ideal if you're camping in it) and we needed AC which is only standard on the Highline and optional on Trendline.

It helps if you get a glazed rear tailgate as this is one less thing to have done and you need to decide if you want barn door or a tailgate. Tailgates are better for camping as you can shelter under them and they're more or less essential if you're doing a rear camper conversion as you'll have to be standing outside the van to cook etc - not fun in the rain if you've got barn doors. Some prefer barn doors for flexibility in car parks but if you park nose in it doesn't matter.




F18RSC

635 posts

216 months

dubloon

64 posts

104 months

Friday 31st July 2015
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Does the category of registration have to be changed with DVLA?

helix402

7,832 posts

181 months

Saturday 1st August 2015
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Don't forget the garland and BMW wheels and lots of VW stickers.