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The calivelle has started

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143K views 645 replies 39 participants last post by  64 SPLIT  
J
#1 · (Edited)
Having already carried out most of the exterior mods I plan to do this is a bit of a late starter on the build thread, but as far as I am concerned the next phase is the most interesting.

It was a big day today as met Jonny from slidepods.co.uk to collect my California front seats, replacing my leather front heated bench and drivers seat for a proper set of vw swivels with heaters, although the connectors for pre and post facelift seat heaters are different so if anyone knows the way to splice these together to get the elements working for these balmy December mornings we have at the moment would be great. So Jonny is a really nice guy and will be visiting him again in the future for my camper pod once the caravelle rear seat is in.

So the plan is the California seats trimmed in anthracite leather with a matching rear caravelle triple bench seat/bed set up on double caravelle rails fully polished trims and brand new end caps tie downs etc. this will be accompanied by a caravelle multi table and the sliding pods multi to complete the bed, under slung water tank and webasto heater for comfort etc. alto poppy red flooring on order to recover the caravelle floor.

Already fitted is a kenwood, vibe, hertz stereo system, flip down DVDs hd screen with xtrons TV tuner, suede alcantara side panels and roof, kiravans door stores, led lighting, split charge, leisure battery under drivers seat and multi colour led feature in roof lining on remote control. Sound deadened insulated and ply panels, will post some photos later of after seat fitting. Sorry about the mess in the van.
 
J
#3 ·
Turns out heated seats not a problem the yellow plug is for the airbags not used on a kombi and the black plug had a small bit of plastic stuck in it and once removed the clip went straight in. So on to the retrim. Hoping seat surgeons are going to come through with a sweet set of black leather replacement covers and save me loads of cash of going to a retrimers.
 
J
#6 · (Edited)
Quick update, ordered seat covers today, seat surgeons didn't get back to me but have found a nice looking set from www. Classic car seats. Co.ukin red and black, with diamond stitch detail. I hope these will not be too bright red as its hard to tell off the website, but it follows the theme and haven't broken the bank so will post pictures up once they arrive next Wednesday.

Alto flooring arrived yesteerday and is a nice red colour, looking foreword to getting that in once I have my caravelle seat.

I still have my rear kombi conversion advertised in the for sale section looking for offers around 1k for everything you need.

Jobs for this weekend wash and wax weather permitting, carry on polishing up rails, finish trimming second door store and fit, if I get 1 of the 3 done will be happy.
 
J
#8 ·
Cheers mate. Yours ain't too bad either loving the shine/reflection on your paintwork in some of the photos.

Its at the two steps foreword one step back at the moment. I have taken a mint kombi and undone it a bit but hopefully will be back together better and more suitable for my needs before next season, funds allowing that is this interior isn't the cheapest option.
 
J
#12 ·
So finally got the second kiravans door store trimmed and fitted today, along with a bit of wax on Saturday so van was nice and clean. Waiting for my new seat covers to arrive now on Wednesday and then it's on with re trimming the seats so if anyone's got any tips I would be grateful. I read the how to in this months t5 bus magazine but it wasn't very clear to me but will have to read it again.
 
J
#13 ·
The seat covers arrived today, and what a great service from Yvonne email communication from order to despatch I highly recommend them to anyone looking to recover their seats. Done the first one tonight easier than I thought but what a bitch streching the back rest cover to clip them together, I ended up having to trim some of the foam. I guess that's what you get with cheaper retrim kits. Couldn't save the original covers as the heater panels were sewn into the cover and when I unstitched the heater panels the cover fell apart. Really pleased with the fit and finish has totally transformed the look, and much more in keeping with my interior. Photos tomorrow once I have got the drivers side done.
 
J
#16 · (Edited)
Yeah went for red to lift the interior as it was really gloomy so will be brighter now. Going to get a caravelle seat bed in the back and will contact the people who made these to make a retrim for the triple bench. Still not sold my rear kombi stuff yet so the rear is on hold for a bit until they are gone.
 
J
#19 ·
Just a few pictures showing progress to date. Sorry about the orientation of the pictures they are all over the place the upside down one is my favourite.

Alloy wheels 20inch bk racing.

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Rear lights.

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Front grill and headlights.

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Rear headlining it's a three piece with led lighting and a drop down monitor with dvd.
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Rear three quarter panels cut from 6mm ply with skins sound deadening and bottle fibre insulation behind.
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Front retrimmed headlining in black alcantara and red stitching

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Kenwood dnx525 dab head unit great piece of kit.

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Still a few more to take and add so keep watching out for my updates.
 
J
#22 ·
It is with great relief I am writing this not requiring a new engine. So here goes.

We all enjoy our high driving positions and can easily be fooled that height equals good performance when facing in road obstacles such as shallow flooding, lumps and bumps, a bit of off roading in campsites/festivals and while this is in the main part very true and a very capable vehicle in summer months, I got caught out last week, and due to being very very lucky did not write off my engine, maybe a bit deeper and it would have been a different story.

I was trying to get out of my town on Wednesday last week following torrential rain and many if not all the main roads were too deep to pass or closed, one lane was still open and I took it knowing I could cut across a business park to get to my destination. Anyway I got to within a hundred yards of the business park and clear roads where there was a large puddle, I stopped donned the wellies and walked through, about ankle deep max 200mm. easy I thought steady, hold the dsg in first gear high revs no problem.

How wrong was I it turns out today that the max fording depth of the t5.1 is 300mm the process of the vehicle entering the water at max 10mph although I wasn't at full throttle or anything stupid like that, but the water must have got high enough for some to enter the air intake. Now luckily only a very small amount and it was held by the air filter protecting the engine. But was enough to cut the engine. A nice guy in a defender removed the van from the water and the van would not restart, although I am told now if you stop as a result of water never try to restart the engine.

Had to wait 4 hours for recovery, took it to my local garage near my house who are a VW specialist Derek Adams garage exmouth who stripped it did a full inspection of electrics engine etc and I only needed a new air filter and all was good, bit of labour but van is now back on road.

So with all the heavy rain out there beware our high vehicles aren't off-roaders!!!
 
J
#25 ·
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