Hi all, a few of you may have seen my previous post about solving a troublesome engine. Long story short I bought a duff van and we are trying to make the best of the situation!
To give some background my wife and I had our house deposit sat ready and raring to go after years of saving and scraping. Then came the pandemic and every mortgage company shut the doors on us.
So what do you do when you can't buy a house? You buy a t5 and build your dream camper of course!
After a bit of searching I stumbled upon a local used car dealer who had a steady flow of t5's in un modified and modified states. So after a few visits I settled on an 08 silver trend line 2.5l. At the time I didn't notice the engine tapping as its quiet in the cab but my local garage picked up on it straight away!
So anyway we are now planning to repair the van and continue our conversion journey with a slightly higher total cost! Here's some photos of how we got the van.
So to date other than had a back and forth postal debate with the garage who sold me the van we have done the following:
Radio upgraded.
De-chromed the exterior.
Removed back seats.
Changed passanger window as old one was scratched badly.
Replaced drivers side wing mirror and 2 primed covers on order.
Replaced moo valve so no more bovine shutdown!
I'm sure there is more but I'll keep this thread updated regularly. I took off the bonnet bra yesterday and found the bonnet is in a real state! Lacquer peel, orange peel paint, not cool! So I am picking up another bonnet from a breaker this afternoon.
As for what we plan to do our aim is metallic blue/silver two tone, new alloys, wood floor, rnr bed with reupholstered captains seats to match, flat pack kitchen conversion, side window opposite sliding door and window in tailgate then pop top!
If you have read this far I admire your interest in what's becoming our long painful experience with this van since the 3rd of spetember!
More to come and happy camping 😬
To give some background my wife and I had our house deposit sat ready and raring to go after years of saving and scraping. Then came the pandemic and every mortgage company shut the doors on us.
So what do you do when you can't buy a house? You buy a t5 and build your dream camper of course!
After a bit of searching I stumbled upon a local used car dealer who had a steady flow of t5's in un modified and modified states. So after a few visits I settled on an 08 silver trend line 2.5l. At the time I didn't notice the engine tapping as its quiet in the cab but my local garage picked up on it straight away!
So anyway we are now planning to repair the van and continue our conversion journey with a slightly higher total cost! Here's some photos of how we got the van.
So to date other than had a back and forth postal debate with the garage who sold me the van we have done the following:
Radio upgraded.
De-chromed the exterior.
Removed back seats.
Changed passanger window as old one was scratched badly.
Replaced drivers side wing mirror and 2 primed covers on order.
Replaced moo valve so no more bovine shutdown!
I'm sure there is more but I'll keep this thread updated regularly. I took off the bonnet bra yesterday and found the bonnet is in a real state! Lacquer peel, orange peel paint, not cool! So I am picking up another bonnet from a breaker this afternoon.
As for what we plan to do our aim is metallic blue/silver two tone, new alloys, wood floor, rnr bed with reupholstered captains seats to match, flat pack kitchen conversion, side window opposite sliding door and window in tailgate then pop top!
If you have read this far I admire your interest in what's becoming our long painful experience with this van since the 3rd of spetember!
More to come and happy camping 😬