[Chenowth Nik]

My daily

 

[Soko]

That is cool as F**k

 

[JonR]

Looks mean

 

[Chenowth Nik]

Cheers Guys.

I thought I’d go with a “Roadside Recovery” sort of theme, not me recovering vehicles you understand, but something I can park up at the roadside and recover in Lol.

I kept the beacons to “thank” middle lane hoggers on the motorway.

Its a bit like wearing a reflective jacket, people seem to be willing to let you go anywhere. I’m not one to take advantage of course!!!.

Nik.

 

[Soko]

Cheers Guys.

I thought I’d go with a “Roadside Recovery” sort of theme, not me recovering vehicles you understand, but something I can park up at the roadside and recover in Lol.

I kept the beacons to “thank” middle lane hoggers on the motorway.

Its a bit like wearing a reflective jacket, people seem to be willing to let you go anywhere. I’m not one to take advantage of course!!!.

Nik.

A mate of mine had an ex AA T4 years ago and left the beacons on, I rate it a lot! It’s a cool look

 

[LizzyWizzy001]

Cheers Guys.

I thought I’d go with a “Roadside Recovery” sort of theme, not me recovering vehicles you understand, but something I can park up at the roadside and recover in Lol.

I kept the beacons to “thank” middle lane hoggers on the motorway.

Its a bit like wearing a reflective jacket, people seem to be willing to let you go anywhere. I’m not one to take advantage of course!!!.

Nik.

Van looks cool pal. I often use the reflective jacket approach to gather logs, as you say no one ever questions it!

 

[JonR]

Have you converted the inside at all?

 

[BitterandTwisted]

I had blue strobes in one of my motors...in the dark it was good for 'moving people' .

 

[Chenowth Nik]

Have you converted the inside at all?

I’ve fully lined and carpeted it, overhead cupboard over cab and rear doors, headlining, led lighting in rear, dual battery, audio, 18mm super HD floor with rubber above and below to isolate noises, long load bearing wheel arch boxing with removable hinged platform for a ‘king size’ load (full width) and a removable all alloy drawer unit that clips in to hold the necessities.

I want to retain the ability to put two pallets in the back, or full size sheets or material (I picked up 12 x 25mm sheets of phenolic ply for a deck between the arches, which is a function I didn’t want to loose, as most setups, even dealership ply panelling doesn’t allow for this once the arches are boxed).

I have fitted the sliding door window (after the picture below from 2019) but was waiting for the new style flush aftermarket drivers side slider before installing there) the back doors are factory fit, heated glass with dual wipers, so I haven’t had to chop there.

I’m very much a function over form kind of person, so the primary focus is on keeping the van credentials, and if I do ‘camp’ then sleeping comfort is everything so a 3 piece 200mm thick memory foam mattress on the platform does the trick.

Nothing is ever ‘fitted’ to my vans so as long as it lends itself to whatever I need at the time within 20 minutes, that’ll do for me. A single burner self contained gas ring to use outside alongside a bbq, a portable toilet, a bowl of water and somewhere to get our heads down is the order of the day.

the led strips run full length down both sides in the recess between the upper and lower side panels.

factory captain seats helped.

 

[Chenowth Nik]

It’s previous life was as a runway repair support vehicle at an airport up north I am told, with the usual lease company “every time it farted it went to the franchise dealer” kind or service history right down to replacement wiper blades and never got out of third gear unless it was going for service or an mot.

I had to remove a heavy duty steel front bulkhead and another heavy wooden bulkhead across behind the sliding door, behind which all the tools went, before I got started on it, but I think they specified 4Motion as they couldn’t afford and chance of it getting stuck alongside a runway stopping aircraft movements.

the beacons are the full size jobs, front and rear as they needed to be seen from above from the tower, air, terminals as well as 360 degrees around, so they’re totally over specc’d.

 

[Pduk]

This is certainly different, looks to have some light brows and side exit exhaust.

I reckon if you blacken the front bumper to tie in with the arch covers it would look even meaner

 

[Chenowth Nik]

Yes you’re right.

I had a scratched headlight so I fitted new ones and made the brows from the old lenses (cut to shape and wrapped to isolate the indicator). They’re on with HD Velcro on top of the oe lens and don’t impede the light spread as I’ve swept them up to the outside end.

the side exhaust started life, believe it or not as a Mopar branded side step for a Nissan Qashqai, cut in half, extended one end with a straight piece to pick up the factory sleeve connector behind the dpf and with a directional down piece on the end. The side step mounting bracket picked up where the Vw exhaust mount is underneath and with a u bolt and some vision, bobs your uncle. I’ll get a shot and post it.

removing the massive factory silencer makes no difference to the exhaust sound as the cat and dpf do a job on the engine noise. It’s saved as few kilos in weight too (although the tyres eat that back up lol)

i quite like the contrast between the wheel arch trims in black the body in yellow and the grey bumpers and chose to leave the sections of trim that fit to the bumpers off as I like it like this and can always change/add them later.

cheers

Nik.

 

[Pduk]

And there was me thinking the brows were a simple vinyl application 😂 Top work, they do look smart.

Exhaust mod is impressive too, always good to see someone doing something a little different, proper Heath Robinson style too.

T'was just my observation, it is your van so your style and choice that matters, my ocd just wouldn't let me live with the slight contrast 🤯

Just clocked the high roof, kept looking at the photo knowing something else was different but couldn't put my finger on it, just off to specsavers!

 

[64 SPLIT]

Crackin looking van! Would love a 4Mo swamper. Looks like you could go anywhere in that thing!

 

[Chenowth Nik]

Here’s a closeup of the eyebrows. They do a good job of outlining and isolating the light from the indicators for oncoming traffic (still visible from the side, plus the side repeaters of course).

I matched the inner corner with grill cross prices and tapered them with a sweep to give some interest and so as no to block any light output from the drl, dip, or main beam.

the van had picked up a tiny bit of damage to the paint right next to the near side headlight on the wing presumably when the original headlight got scratched, so I cut the black decals, or whatever you would call them out of magnetic backed vinyl so I can still quickly pull them back and clean behind them, but they do add a bit of a styling cue, whilst performing a task.

 

[Pduk]

Does look very cool and functional too, just wondering of the brows were a matching yellow it would look really aggressive from the front.

 

[Chenowth Nik]

Yes possibly, I just stuck with the satin black theme from the grill, arches, mirrors and the like (and black was an easy option for the wrap as matching the sunny yellow would have been a stretch). I did attempt painting one before I opted for the wrap, but I wasn’t happy with the result so I went this direction instead.

if I colour coded them they might look a bit like ‘bonnet fangs’?!?

I’ve not opted to colour code anything else to retain some utility.

in fact I even left the rear bumper with a scar in it so I don’t feel guilty dragging stuff over it, resting ramps there, or standing on it to wash the back of the top.

I think a bit of the same wrap on the sides of the factory rear light clusters (where no light comes through anyway) might tie it together even more.

it cost me nothing tho give it a go so, why not hey.

I also considered investing in one of the close fitting abs bonnet strips that attaches to the leading edge (I’m sure they’re made by RGM, who used to make those fetching RS cosworth stick on snow shoe bonnet vents back in the 90s).

Either that, or wrap part or all of the bonnet satin black too, but it’s relatively chip free having wracked up its miles airside at an airport, not hugging the back of rubble Lorries on the M1, so there nothing to really hide there.

 

[Chenowth Nik]

Here’s the exhaust, as I say it’s pretty Heavy gauge tube, I think 316 grade stainless (my fabricator complemented the grade of material and said it was a pleasure to weld, but he’s doing stainless all day long).

the original curved bracket attached to the tube was for the step to attach to the Nissan it was designed for (it was a qashqai side step from a car boot sale), but with a bit of jiggery pokery I managed to get it lined up with the Vw exhaust hanger bent up a piece of mild steel flat bar and drilled two holes to adjust it after hanging it on with a 12mm U bolt.

it’s been there for over 7 months now and it’s not knocked, slackened off, or anything so it seems jobs a goodun.

I have a 1M piece of swaged stainless the same diameter (60mm OD) which I might use to move it towards the back wheel and increase the grounding angle, but to be fair, I’ve not hit terrain that has challenged its current location yet and if I do, I’ll probably have bigger things to worry about (like bending the van in half at the sill).

it’s no louder than the standard mild steel factory pipe with the massive silencer and of course, no exhaust soot,or residue to be seen due to the dpf etc.

I can also have the back doors open with a cover over and the engine running (e.g. to top up batteries) without gassing myself.

 

[Chenowth Nik]

No heat deformation in the plastic under tray either and it’s only around 15mm away from it. I could repurpose a piece of the heat shield from further back underneath, but it seems not to need it.

 

[Pduk]

Yeah bonnet fangs or "badboy" bonnet look, though would pull a little away from your utility styling so the ones fitted probably suit better.

I know what you mean about worrying about damaging part of the van, my first furniture install looked great, but seeing as I'd be loading my mtb and likely muddy gear into the back, I'd be too worried about any scuffs, i'm now on version 3 of my install design which is better suited to my needs and also not the end of the world if something is knocked or scratched, adds character.

Only thing I'd be wary of with the bonnet bra, lad at work has one and it's cracked on pretty much all the fixing points, I'd bet this is down to vibration and closing of the bonnet putting stress through the holes. Looks a little tat now to be honest. I'd have a play with your vinyl first.