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888 special daily drive conversion

63K views 76 replies 25 participants last post by  mrdwells  
#1 · (Edited)
After having my Japanese import Caravelle for the last 5 years, i'm long overdue an upgrade, to meet the new ride, 53 plate 888 special 60k on the clock. pretty tidy blank canvas.

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Picture form the sellers listing.

I'm gonna use this thread as a to do list, and place to keep notes and links as well, so expect it to be all over the place.

First port of call, give it a clean, no better way to get to know your new wagon than a little one on one time. revealed a few little gremlins.

  • sliding door handle been tampered with a scredriver, needs a little bending.
  • Few scratches and scrape nothing major but considering getting it perfect to start with this time.
  • The most dirty roof i have ever seen, this took 3 hours to clean the dirt off it, and it reveleaed some scraps which look like they were from a tree.
  • A full carrier bag full of pine needles in the tailgate gutters, i wonder where else these have gathered, might be worth takign the wings off to check the drains there.
  • Drivers side wing has had a respray at some point, its a shade deeper than the rest .
  • Blocked window jets, probably more sap from the pine tree.
  • Broken aerial, might block it off and go for a shark fin?
  • Wing mirror clogged with bluetack, electric motors whir so can't be too much wrong.
  • Lots of scraps on the loading areas.

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First job this afternoon fit the dubflectors, which are looking real good. Very easy to fit, initially the electrics windows didn't like them and kept opening, but as the rubber stretched a bit in the sun they soon nestled in.

Second job, fix the keyfob button, which is now working but pretty collapsed so ordered a new bottom part:


Check it out on eBay!

The end goal is to have a daily drive i can use for local kite-surfing everyday, so it needs to have a sensible washable floor/seats. Needs to be able to belt-up passengers in the back, and comfortably sleep 2 adults, and 1 dog year round.

So my to do list is as follows, in order of priority:

  • Fit new head unit
  • Buy 10 or 20 mm spacers for rear wheels
  • Fit old wheels, (Merc Eltanin's from old van), no velle interior on the door will grant me some more width on the rear wheels for better internal clearance.
  • Temporary cut and glue old carpet form the hall in the back for the dog.
  • Remove bulkhead.
  • Fit swivels bases, currently thinking about 2 x Sportscraft bases with boxes, any thoughts? http://www.motorhomespares.com/t4-1...97/sportscraft-vw-t4-97-seat-box-with-safe-and-swivel-2035969-371496-772280.php
  • Fit subwoofer, upgrade dash speakers
  • fit sidebars
  • Temp fix spare double front seat in the back for some temp extra seating.
  • Sort out all bare metal in the back from ware and tear.
  • leisure battery, split charger, consumer unit, lights etc
  • 2 x side windows, and try and make some removable secondary double glazing units from perspex.
  • Insulate allllll over
  • Carpet line back
  • Over mat probably? The front.
  • Make bed / cabinets in the back, need some funky design here, nothing too bold.
  • Surround sound speakers, depending on amp prices nearer the time.
  • Internal roof rack for board stowage, probably integrate lights in these as well.
  • Blinds for the back, not sure what yet, but really don't want curtains.
  • Debadge front grill, maybe bumper batch it.
  • Reupholster seats
  • Contrast bumper painting, gloss black or deeeep red, matching side bars.
  • lower a tad, nothing too much, speed bumps are murder round my way
  • Make pod style removable kitchen unit, needs to be a daily drive, and don't fancy carrying the kitchen sink to every meeting.
  • SS exhaust, probably wait till my falls off I:
  • Decat, EGR blank or mayeb complete new pipe?
  • PP intercooler, maybe injectors and a remap further down the line.

My Missing Pictures
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#4 ·
give it a go T: am toying with the idea of giving it a go myself next year, have had quotes of around ÂŁ600 to line and carpet which i know is about the going rate but its still a lot a dosh :eek: and am sure materials will come in a lot cheaper than that, when i did my first van i had a hand from a mate who fitted carpet n stuff and he made the cutting and all that look like childs play but i know after doing the arches and redoing the bulkhead on vinnie its anything but!! and then theres the milloin and one things that people insulate there buses with :* :* have checked out other members threads on best insulation and it seams a mine field :eek: will watch this space and see what you go with if you give it a crack T:

nice to see you kept it 4 :D
 
#11 ·
Not much change on the van yet, just got back from the honeymoon, waved goodbye to my vanagon :( cheered myself with a new head unit, and swapped the merc eltanins onto the new wagon.

Nice surprise with the merc eltanin's in that the rear wheels presumably because of the disks all round compared to the old drums at the rear, have a good 20mm extra clearance eon the inside arch, no spacers or modifications needed :)

Tomorrow's jobs, fit the new headunit and old sub.

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#16 ·
Small addon for the laptop to get it streaming audio straight to the headunit:


Check it out on eBay!

Handy for watching films and playing games when in the back :)

Also decided to go down the route of moving the hazard switch to the small passat style and adding a gauge in it's place, although didn't really fancy a boost guage, so went for a bulkhead mounted compass instead, it comes with 12v lighting but it will need the bulb chaned to red or blue to match the rest of the dash. Not mounted yet, wait for weekend and the delivery :)

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http://www.marinecompasses.co.uk/Bu...Mount)/ritchie-navigation-x21bb-sport-compass-dash-mount-power-black-x21bb.html


Check it out on eBay!
 
#19 ·
Yeah i was thinking that today, ill have to drop the front for now until i get the full load in the back to find the right height.

Those bulkheads are a pain to remove, tried drilling the spot welds first, but it was a bugger to get straight on them with the angles, in the end i put a cutting disk on and rough cut it out, then used a sanding disk to flatten down the spots. And although it'll get carpeted over i thought i'd two pack, primer and spray it anyway. But daylight got the best of me.

Next job is the swivels!
 
#20 ·