Silver SWB - My conversion

steveclaire · Jun 14, 2008

Hi everyone. Very new to this forum. We've been long term fans of VW's (particularly aircooled), but having now been priced out of the Split / Bay market, we've just bought our first T4. It's an ex Police caravelle, recently resprayed silver. It's lowered as you can see, and has 18" boots.

We bought it as pretty much an empty shell, just carpet and two front captain seats.

Our plan is the typical cabinets / worktop down the off-side and a 3/4 rock'n'roll bed with 3-point seatbelts for the kids. The upholstery will be leather / faux leather and the cabinets will be gloss red with a white worktop. We're also thinking of putting in a fridge .

The flooring is the original caravelle carpet as underlay / insulation with 12mm ply on top, and some rather snazzy tiled affect lino to finish. This is going to match quite nicley the silver / black check bra that we've ordered.

We've started to install 10 blue 12v LED's in the roof. Normal lighting will be via 2 or 3 wall mounted directional lamps.

The dash is going to be replaced as it's been pretty badly scarred.

Really keen to get this project finished and rolling. We only started 3 evenings ago, so we think it's going quite well so far. Thanks for looking :ILU:

zapperx · Jun 14, 2008

Looks good!
How did you do the carpeting on the sliding door? Going to deal with that next, but not sure how it will turn out. Pictures??

steveclaire · Jun 15, 2008

Cheers. I've lined the original caravelle sliding door panel. I haven't fitted it yet as I'm going to take the door off to to do that. Looks a bit tricky trying to fit it in-situ.

Also, I'm going to line the top half of the sliding door as well, so it'll be easier to do with the door off.

Here's a pic of the panel, and some update pics of today's work.

JandT · Jun 15, 2008

Looking good so farT:

T4Chris · Jun 15, 2008

Hi, your conversion is looking good and coming along very quickly!
Where did you get your lino from? I've been looking for something sililiar.

thanks

Chris

steveclaire · Jun 15, 2008

Cheers

I bought it yesterday from B&Q. 2m x 3m for £47. Used the caravelle carpet as a template. Put the ply down on top of the carpet, screwed down; covered the countersunk screws with silicone, then lino'd over the top. A lot easier than I thought it would be.

fat bloke no fingers · Jun 15, 2008

Looking Good Mate T:

Whats your plans furniture wise ?

steveclaire · Jun 15, 2008

Going to use B&Q carcasses and these doors

With white worktop

Sam · Jun 15, 2008

Where did you get the leds from and what are your plans/wiring ideas. I am putting a few in mine shortly but not sure how many etc and how to switch them.

steveclaire · Jun 15, 2008

B&Q again. Blue LEDs working with 12v through a plug. £31 for 10. I have them in my chimney breast at home and they've being working perfectly for nearly a year. I'm having 2 rows of 5 in the headlining.

sihills · Jun 15, 2008

Sorry not meaning to critise, intrigued actually, is it actually a caravelle?? only reason I ask is that every caravelle I have seen has windows all round and i think they have twin sliders dont they?? look forward to being corrected. :ILU:

steveclaire · Jun 15, 2008

I did wonder myself. Always happy to be corrected if I'm wrong, but the V5 shows 'Caravelle' and 'Minibus' as vehicle type. It was a Police vehicle, and it has all the seatbelt mounting positions in the rear sides.

tonypastie · Jun 17, 2008

use ikea carcases wall unit ones much cheaper

thats what i am going to use i dont need to cut any thing from the backs either but i am fitting 3/4 bed

Van Man · Jun 17, 2008

I used Ikea units and the red is very close to the B&Q Colour if its the red your after

http://www.vwt4forum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=10429

firstglass · Jun 17, 2008

starting to look very good

steveclaire · Jun 23, 2008

Not been able to do too much this weekend as I've had other cars that needed more urgent work.

I got the headlining up... still need to cut it in around the sunroof though

Got the DVD player in the front (only temporarily as the dash is coming out for covering). £80 from fleabay

And fitted the LED spotlights. Can't really see here as the flash was on, but they reflect really well off the flooring

Oh, and fitted my new CMC bra; cheers Mike! And B Pillar black out kit. Photo taken next to Claire's V5 Bug

steveclaire · Jun 23, 2008

Forgot to mention. If anyone has any black leather seats they want to swap for these captain seats, let me know.

Perfect working order with only a teeny bit of wear on the passenger seat.

steveclaire · Jun 24, 2008

This arrived today. I'm going to build it into the cabinets towards the front.

steveclaire · Jun 24, 2008

Yep, I have the captive nuts. I've sealed over them now though.

Yeah, I thought the same. The cooler looks VERY hungry. 240v only I reckon.

We only want to use it for milk / bacon / sausages / beer / wine, when we're away, so it should be good enough with a min temp of 5 celsius. And half the price of the cheapest 3-way I could find

Sam · Jun 24, 2008

Where did you get the dark grabhandles as pictured above your drivers door? Mine are light grey but I would prefer dark. Also, are you covering the dash or somebody else and how difficult is it to get out?

steveclaire · Jun 24, 2008

They are as they came to me - I assume they're standard.

I'm not sure about the dash yet. There are a number of options including filling and spraying / covering (although not in alcantara as it bobbles), or even flocking with very fine material like the dashes on rally cars (gives a suede appearance).

With regards taking it out, I understand there are a lot of fixings behind all the blanks, and also one under the bonnet. There's a topic on here somewhere - try a search.

steveclaire · Jun 27, 2008

The bed arrived today. Just put it together temporarily to see what it looked like in the van. Won't be fixing it in place until my cabinets arrive on Wednesday

Got 4 weeks to have this thing finished before we go away now. Any recommendations for a drive-away awning with sleeping compartment for the kids?

PaulMela · Jun 27, 2008

Looking good, where's the bed from??

steveclaire · Jun 27, 2008

A guy on eBay. I'm holding out on recommending him just yet as I have a couple of things I want him to sort out for me that I'm not too happy about.

In short, the frame was £220, upholstery £300 and deliver £60.

PaulMela · Jun 27, 2008

Cheers, I hope you sort out the problems

steveclaire · Jun 27, 2008

Cheers,

It's nothing major. Just things that the boards are actually part of the upholstery, so I need to fix to the frame somehow otherwise it'll become a death trap. My concern is if I start drilling holes in the frame then it'll weaken, so the best option is to weld some tabs on and fix them to the cushions.

As I said, nothing major, but after spending nearly £600 on a bed I wasn't expecting to have to go welding it up. I'm fixing in 3 point safety belts, but the reels will probably be going to be attached to the floor under the bed. Spoke to the guy tonight and his aftersales is pretty good.

I placed the order a week ago and the bed arrived today, so his service speed is top notch.

Here's his ad..

T4 Beds

steveclaire · Jun 28, 2008

Fitted new Securon 3-point safety belts today. Blimmin' hard work!

Tomorrows work will be to fit the seat in position in the van and board / carpet out underneath and fit JBL 6x9 speakers.

Twinged my back going over a pothole on my bike Tuesday and it's really slowed my progress

steveclaire · Jun 29, 2008

Got the speaker panel in today

And a blanking panel held in place with magnets so that I can use the underside of the bench for storage.

Just waiting for the cabinets to arrive now

Sold the seats today, so I'm on the look out for some black leather replacements if anyone has anything.

Veidda vans · Jun 29, 2008

Hi,

I noticed you asked about awnings, have a look at this post:-

http://vwt4forum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=13248&highlight=alternative+awning

It's not a drive-away but as you can see it does the job.
I paid £260 for it brand new, it is about two or three times the size a drive-away.
The main sleeping compartment has a zipped in roll up divider and is big enough for 6, the centre section is about 12' x 10', has a small annexe to the side for a porta loo etc, you can also put in the extra double bedroom here.
And the front section, where it is attached to my van is quite large aswell, plenty of room for kids bikes, furniture etc..
The front section can also be rolled back so you have a sun canopy sort of thing, i.e. the entire front opens up.

steveclaire · Jul 1, 2008

Wahoo! One these on fleabay along with the rears (the rear seat will be going in my Buggy). From a SAAB 9-5

Pick them up Saturday. Can't wait - been waiting ages for black leather seats within reasonable reach.

steveclaire · Jul 2, 2008

Started putting in the cabinets this evening.

The back's missing from the front cabinet because the cooler is going in there.

steveclaire · Jul 3, 2008

Fixed the cabinets to the floor today and fitted a couple of doors to see what they would look like..

Then put the cladding in on the rear and made an access hole which I'm going to fit a door to... All the electrics will be in the bottom of this cabinet.

steveclaire · Jul 5, 2008

Got all the doors in today. Ikea quality is pretty impressive - wish now I'd used them for my kitchen rather than B&Q.

Here's the leisure battery in it's new home...

And here are my new seats that'll be going in tomorrow (possibly, if I can replace the carpet quick enough). Not enough hours in the day!

Silver SWB - My conversion

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