My 1990 VW T3 (T25) Single Cab Pickup Work Truck
Discussion
Seeing as this is a reasonably interesting truck I figured it needed a thread.
Mrs Sammo got made redundant at the end of last year whilst on maternity leave. That meant I was the sole breadwinner on lorry driver wages! We muddled through for. Few months using her redundancy money to top up my wages to pay the mortgage etc but that money didn’t last long. Around March this year I started doing some handyman work at the weekends to earn a bit more money, but I quickly realised that I could actually make a better living from doing the handyman work full time. So in June I handed in my notice at the haulage firm I was driving for and became self employed. Very scary, especially as Mrs Sammo still hadn’t managed to get a job! I started off with just my R53 Mini to use for work. I removed the back seats and crammed all my tools in it. It did the job but was far from ideal, especially when I needed to take lengths of pipe to jobs
I decided I really needed a van of some sort. Now obviously I didn’t really have any money at this point (I was still paying for everything). I also live inside the ULEZ zone, but a ULEZ compliant van was definitely out of my bargain basement price range. After some searching for various vans I decided that something older that I could fix myself when it went wrong would be better. I’d always fancied a T25 so started looking at those. Most of them were absolutely rotten so I started to change my mind on what I wanted, when this pickup popped up on a T25 group on Facebook. It was solid, looked kinda cool and was almost within my price range. After a bit of negotiation I got it into my price range and it was mine.
This is said van…
Now I’m fully aware it’s not really “work van” in that state, so the day after I got it I gave it a quick blast with some cans of graffiti paint, which made it look a little less ratty.
Not a perfect job by any means but it looked a bit tidier and I was ok with it.
I’ve got to go and cook dinner so I’ll update this again a bit later.
Mrs Sammo got made redundant at the end of last year whilst on maternity leave. That meant I was the sole breadwinner on lorry driver wages! We muddled through for. Few months using her redundancy money to top up my wages to pay the mortgage etc but that money didn’t last long. Around March this year I started doing some handyman work at the weekends to earn a bit more money, but I quickly realised that I could actually make a better living from doing the handyman work full time. So in June I handed in my notice at the haulage firm I was driving for and became self employed. Very scary, especially as Mrs Sammo still hadn’t managed to get a job! I started off with just my R53 Mini to use for work. I removed the back seats and crammed all my tools in it. It did the job but was far from ideal, especially when I needed to take lengths of pipe to jobs
I decided I really needed a van of some sort. Now obviously I didn’t really have any money at this point (I was still paying for everything). I also live inside the ULEZ zone, but a ULEZ compliant van was definitely out of my bargain basement price range. After some searching for various vans I decided that something older that I could fix myself when it went wrong would be better. I’d always fancied a T25 so started looking at those. Most of them were absolutely rotten so I started to change my mind on what I wanted, when this pickup popped up on a T25 group on Facebook. It was solid, looked kinda cool and was almost within my price range. After a bit of negotiation I got it into my price range and it was mine.
This is said van…
Now I’m fully aware it’s not really “work van” in that state, so the day after I got it I gave it a quick blast with some cans of graffiti paint, which made it look a little less ratty.
Not a perfect job by any means but it looked a bit tidier and I was ok with it.
I’ve got to go and cook dinner so I’ll update this again a bit later.
Wheel Turned Out said:
I love it! Big fan of an older commercial still earning its bread. I have to admit I do rather like the original ratty look, too. But I understand why you wouldn't want to turn up to a client's house with it looking like that. 
Haha yeh I definitely couldn’t rock up at peoples houses in a van with no paint on it STURBO said:
Looks great. As long as you aren't fighting too much rust should be a good vehicle!
Must be the last of the T25's more or less, T4 came out the next year I think. What engine is it?
This does have some rust (they all do) but nothing structural thankfully. Must be the last of the T25's more or less, T4 came out the next year I think. What engine is it?
It’s the 2.1 DJ engine. 112 roaring ponies, once upon a time. These days those ponies are getting on a bit and I think quite a few have been shot
Mikebentley said:
Great truck and solution to the pesky ULEZ. Good luck with your business.
Unfortunately this isn’t ULEZ compliant either. Being a 1990 it’s still got five more years before it becomes exempt. However the thinking was that I’ll save money on repairs as apart from welding there’s nothing I can’t fix on this. Anyway, back to the story.
I got the van insured and taxed and headed out for my maiden voyage. However it was short lived when the brake pedal hit the floor about five minutes away from home! A very slow drive home followed and the van sat outside my house for a couple of weeks until I had some free time to find out what had broken.
First and easiest thing to check was the master cylinder and reservoir. They’re behind the Speedo on these. Just a sharp pull to remove the speedo cowling and there it is. I found no leaks up there but the fluid level was very low. There’s a leak somewhere!
I checked the front brake hoses which were fine and then stuck my head under the back to see if there was any brake fluid leaking out of the drums. Couldn’t see anything there either. I figured it had to be a wheel cylinder even if there was nothing obvious on first inspection. So off came the rear wheels and drums. The N/S wheel cylinder was knackered, however there was so much brake dust in the drum it was mopping up the fluid and stopping it leaking out.
One knackered old wheel cylinder.
A nice shiny new wheel cylinder (that cost an entire £4!)
The brakes bled up nicely and I had a good solid pedal. Off I went for a road test.
Well, that didn’t quite go to plan. The brakes were now sticking on! Back onto the driveway and the O/S/F wheel was rather toasty. I jacked that side up and tried to turn the wheel. It was a struggle to turn by hand. I whipped the wheel off, undid the caliper and proceeded to wind it back, push it out etc. It got no better. So I ordered a new caliper.
At this point I’m still using the Mini for work! Another couple of weeks went by until I had some free time again. The caliper was replaced and…. Still not releasing properly. I checked the hoses to see if they had collapsed, but couldn’t find any issues, so I spent a good 45 mins bleeding the brakes all round, until eventually that caliper was starting to release a bit. Not completely but enough that the brakes weren’t holding on completely.
I got the van insured and taxed and headed out for my maiden voyage. However it was short lived when the brake pedal hit the floor about five minutes away from home! A very slow drive home followed and the van sat outside my house for a couple of weeks until I had some free time to find out what had broken.
First and easiest thing to check was the master cylinder and reservoir. They’re behind the Speedo on these. Just a sharp pull to remove the speedo cowling and there it is. I found no leaks up there but the fluid level was very low. There’s a leak somewhere!
I checked the front brake hoses which were fine and then stuck my head under the back to see if there was any brake fluid leaking out of the drums. Couldn’t see anything there either. I figured it had to be a wheel cylinder even if there was nothing obvious on first inspection. So off came the rear wheels and drums. The N/S wheel cylinder was knackered, however there was so much brake dust in the drum it was mopping up the fluid and stopping it leaking out.
One knackered old wheel cylinder.
A nice shiny new wheel cylinder (that cost an entire £4!)
The brakes bled up nicely and I had a good solid pedal. Off I went for a road test.
Well, that didn’t quite go to plan. The brakes were now sticking on! Back onto the driveway and the O/S/F wheel was rather toasty. I jacked that side up and tried to turn the wheel. It was a struggle to turn by hand. I whipped the wheel off, undid the caliper and proceeded to wind it back, push it out etc. It got no better. So I ordered a new caliper.
At this point I’m still using the Mini for work! Another couple of weeks went by until I had some free time again. The caliper was replaced and…. Still not releasing properly. I checked the hoses to see if they had collapsed, but couldn’t find any issues, so I spent a good 45 mins bleeding the brakes all round, until eventually that caliper was starting to release a bit. Not completely but enough that the brakes weren’t holding on completely.
I needed to start using the van for work so I decided the brakes were good enough and off I went. It’s been doing a good job so far and I always getting comments from customers on how different it is. I’m also getting comments from other drivers when I’m sat at traffic lights, parking up at screwfix etc
Here it is all loaded up with flat pack furniture that I was moving from a customers old house to their new house.
Here it is all loaded up with flat pack furniture that I was moving from a customers old house to their new house.
I got home last week to find a letter from the DVSA, kindly letting me know that my MOT had run out a little while ago so they’d cancelled my road tax! I had it in my head that it had MOT until December but it’s turns out it was the Mini I was thinking of.
Now I do have a friendly MOT tester, however when it comes to things like brakes there’s no leeway. So I booked no work in this week so I could sort the issues out that were going to be a problem for the MOT. Those problems are;
1. The brakes binding
2. A couple of grumbling wheel bearings
3. One missing washer jet and the pipe has dropped down behind the dash.
I figured a service wouldn’t hurt either. So I ordered new discs & pads, brake hoses, master cylinder, front wheel bearings, service filters, oil, dizzy cap, rotor and HT leads. Oh and the blower motor is seized so thought I better replace that while I’m at it.
Today most of the bits had turned up so I decided to start with the blower motor. Annoyingly that means having to remove the dash. Thankfully the dash is pretty easy to get out.
After half an hour of undoing things this is what greeted me.
It then took me another hour to get the bloody heater box out. All the screws were seized solid and whoever last refitted the heater matrix pipes decided to put the clips facing forwards, so I couldn’t undo them.
This is what’s behind the heater box. It was filthy behind there so the vacuum got a good workout clearing up years of cack!
I then spent the rest of today stripping the heater box, scraping off and replacing all the crumbly old foam from the various flaps and replacing the blower motor. Someone has been in there before and had glued various bits which made stripping it down even more fun! By the time 5pm rolled around I had just finished putting the box back together and decided that was enough for today.
Tomorrow is replacing the washer pipework which also lives behind the dash and then refitting the heater box, refitting the dash and then cracking on with the service. Typically the only parts that haven’t arrived yet are the brake parts!!
Now I do have a friendly MOT tester, however when it comes to things like brakes there’s no leeway. So I booked no work in this week so I could sort the issues out that were going to be a problem for the MOT. Those problems are;
1. The brakes binding
2. A couple of grumbling wheel bearings
3. One missing washer jet and the pipe has dropped down behind the dash.
I figured a service wouldn’t hurt either. So I ordered new discs & pads, brake hoses, master cylinder, front wheel bearings, service filters, oil, dizzy cap, rotor and HT leads. Oh and the blower motor is seized so thought I better replace that while I’m at it.
Today most of the bits had turned up so I decided to start with the blower motor. Annoyingly that means having to remove the dash. Thankfully the dash is pretty easy to get out.
After half an hour of undoing things this is what greeted me.
It then took me another hour to get the bloody heater box out. All the screws were seized solid and whoever last refitted the heater matrix pipes decided to put the clips facing forwards, so I couldn’t undo them.
This is what’s behind the heater box. It was filthy behind there so the vacuum got a good workout clearing up years of cack!
I then spent the rest of today stripping the heater box, scraping off and replacing all the crumbly old foam from the various flaps and replacing the blower motor. Someone has been in there before and had glued various bits which made stripping it down even more fun! By the time 5pm rolled around I had just finished putting the box back together and decided that was enough for today.
Tomorrow is replacing the washer pipework which also lives behind the dash and then refitting the heater box, refitting the dash and then cracking on with the service. Typically the only parts that haven’t arrived yet are the brake parts!!
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