VW builders van

[insert coin]

As I’ve gotten older and my growing family have dictated the kind of vehicle I use as a daily I decided to join the middle-aged van owners club.

It started life as a VW T32 (3.2t gross weight) LWB, Highline with the 204ps bi-turbo diesel engine, 4-Motion and a dsg gearbox.
Factory options were sprinkled quite liberally such as led lights front/rear, Discovery Media, reverse camera, parking sensors, soft close side door/tailgate, heated seats, comfort dash, adaptive cruise and a few other things I’ve forgotten about.

Indium Grey, also known as middle-aged grey due to the popularity of this colour -



Bilstein Coilovers with roughly a 70mm drop -




ABT 19" wheels (correctly load rated), Dunlop tyres (incorrect load rating I found out a few months later)



ABT front end (didn’t like the rest of the T6 kit) -



Interior insulated, sound proofed and carpet throughout -



Bed -



Interior seat trim, not covers -





Callipers front/rear professionally stripped and powder coated -



Pretty much finished, at the time -



Next, new wheel, all correctly coded including the adaptive cruise -

Before -



After -



Then I discovered the tyres were not correctly load rated and finding a set in the correct rating was proving near impossible (van conversion company at blame)

I really liked these, properly load rated and staggered in a 20" -



Wheels fitted, also had rear ‘fake’ glass fitted to the Kombi steel panel -



Then decided to get a pop top fitted, but not one of the ugly upturned bath tub jobbies, it had to be a HiLo roof -

Measure once, cut twice right?



Roof goes down -



Roof goes up -



Took it to Le Mans, 5 up, 85+ all the way, also stickered up -





I liked the stripes so I kept them on, it makes easy to spot/avoid.

And finally the reason we got it, for quick 1 or 2 nighters or towing the wobble box -





And one for luck -

Edited by insert coin on Friday 27th August 12:42

[D1bram]

Lovely van! Few pennies spent there, but the way prices are going you could likely still turn a profit!!

[martin mrt]

That’s bloody stunning, not sure you’d be keen on carrying bags of cement and blocks in the back mind you

[sagarich]

Oh wow! I really like this, good job OP!

[insert coin]

It wasn’t cheap and then unamusingly I lost my job last year so if desperate I could cash it in, but more likely to sell the wife and kids first.

It did have a habit of scrubbing out rear tyres every 5k, I’ve recently put a set of front and rear adjustable Powerflex polybushes, previously you couldn’t adjust rear camber, but now you can and the tyres are wearing much, much better all round.





Also had a Revo engine map and TVS dsg map put on the van, it does shift quite well now for an old bus, but I’m only getting 22mpg average, late teens when towing the caravan.

New side bars fitted a few weeks back, the old ones were getting rusty in places -

Before



After

[RC1807]

Wow, that's some modding / cash chucked at the van there. Looks great.
How is it when loaded with -70mm on the shocks?

[anonymous-user]

Lots of money spent there. Congrats

[insert coin]

RC1807 said:

How is it when loaded with -70mm on the shocks?

It’s not worked hard, but if we’re away camping then it gets loaded up plus 4x bikes, the Bilstein coilovers fitted are the B14, which give quite a firm ride which is unforgiving around town, but ok on a decent run. There’s B14 Komfort’s now, but also quite a lot of alternates to Bilstein these days, these weren’t options when I had my van built 3 years ago. No issues at all towing the caravan which is a smidge under 2000kg’s.

[catfood12]

Oh yes. Looking good OP.

[insert coin]

catfood12 said:

Oh yes. Looking good OP.

Howdy neighbour! I saw you at the last second last week, didn’t spot the gold wheels until you had gone past or I’d have waved

[AyBee]

Only just found this one. Love a modded van and you've done a very good job. 22mpg seems mad though, is that normal from a tuned one or have you got a big hole somewhere (and I don't mean in your wallet!)?

[anonymous-user]

insert coin said:

Wheels fitted, also had rear ‘fake’ glass fitted to the Kombi steel panel -

Looks awesome. I'm assuming there is something in the contract when you buy a T5/T6 that you have to park it on that particular road as it always seems to be littered with them

[Glasgowrob]

22mpg cant be right..

thats either losing fuel or incredibly broken.

we've got a 2.0 single turbo on fleet with dsg that will get over 40 on a run and 30 round town without trying

[Robotron70]

AyBee said:

Only just found this one. Love a modded van and you've done a very good job. 22mpg seems mad though, is that normal from a tuned one or have you got a big hole somewhere (and I don't mean in your wallet!)?

It’s a long wheel base, 2.4 ton brick shaped object with 4-Motion, TVS dsg map and Revo bi-turbo engine map so is never going to be economical. I can get 30-32 on a long run if I stick to 60,

MrBig said:

insert coin said:

Wheels fitted, also had rear ‘fake’ glass fitted to the Kombi steel panel -

Looks awesome. I'm assuming there is something in the contract when you buy a T5/T6 that you have to park it on that particular road as it always seems to be littered with them

It’s a Transporter breeding ground, every fat, balding, middle-aged wannabe surfer wants to congregate there, luckily I live there and have the other credentials too.

Glasgowrob said:

22mpg cant be right..

thats either losing fuel or incredibly broken.

we've got a 2.0 single turbo on fleet with dsg that will get over 40 on a run and 30 round town without trying

Big difference between the 150 with dsg and the 204 with dsg, 4-Mo, 250+ kg’s and rolling on 20" wheels.

We’ve got loads of 102bhp Startlines that will do 40mpg+ even with the 5 speed box.

[Fleckers]

The guy across the road from me has a white camper van same model as yours, its a very nice thing