[jamieprang]

Outstanding work as always.

 

[To-be-frank]

Awesome as always with attention to detail 👍

 

[64 SPLIT]

Cheers guys 👍
Now THAT's an awesome electric setup! 😳 Thanks for posting the vid @Soundz. Some very interesting (if somewhat nerdy) viewing. I reckon I've got space under the seat to mount a small fan that might just help improve air flow over the charger and shouldn't be too difficult to wire up with an ignition feed. Being tucked away under the seat should hopefully be fairly quiet and unobtrusive too.

 

[Soundz]

Oh God I found it interesting ( I've watched loads of these "types of vids" mate) which means I'm now viewed as "slightly nerdy" by the T5 fraternity don't it 😂 .don't beat about the bush H just go straight in with the knife for the jugular🤣🤣🤣.

I like the fan idea H so am going to run with it I haven't room for ducting but the idea of forcing air to move appeals .we'll see where it leads huh

Ha ta mate needed a giggle.

 

[Pgrunduk]

Found some left-over stretchy suedeliner fabric at the weekend, so decided it was about time to tidy up the lower dash to cover a few light scratches.
I intend to do the top half of the door cards too when I get time to remove them and separate them properly.

View attachment 201729 View attachment 201728
View attachment 201730

This looks smart 👍

 

[64 SPLIT]

Thanks - certainly helps make the van look a little less commercial.

 

[64 SPLIT]

So the Orion is all hooked up and seems to be charging nicely. I've had to relocate the IP22 mains charger as there just wasn't enough space for it to sit comfortably under the passenger seat and still be able to access / monitor it, so ordered some longer charging cables for it and it's now mounted to the back of the drivers seat base which meant ditching the original plastic seat trim and fabricating a panel from an offcut of the carbon-effect lightweight ply.

 

[64 SPLIT]

Ordered some 'Ironstone Grey' Wood Dye to treat the rear bed extension slats... just need some decent satin varnish or wax to seal it and give it a bit of protection. Any recommendations?

 

[JonR]

No idea about wether its compatible with your colouring, but I swear by osmo's range of oils. That seat base looks legit!

 

[64 SPLIT]

Thanks - I'll check those out. Never really delved into varnishes, oils n waxes for wood so I'm a total novice!

 

[Soundz]

Buddy Rustins do a satin version of what I'm using..........I can't give you how well it ages bar the eons me build has been going.......but I'm impressed so far: mauling bits about has led to the odd knock and much profanity My real likes are virtually odourless.....water based.no worries on brush care and silly quick drying times........which means ya can bat a coat on or maybe 2 after graft

Do raise that grain a couple of times H before your first step..( ha I know you are already in ......I know it's a faff bro but it's no different really than any form of paint..it's all in the prepwork. I'd do it a couple of times 2nd with finer grade paper..........see with me only using a clear coat I've not got worry on going through my first coat so much......... when I lightly sand the varnish layers.but you have a colour coat below.so you really don't want the grain raising and being a pain.......maybe jon's suggestion is better?

H wood or metal finishiing ain't so different.....my concern is always how the different layers " weld" together if ya like That's ya biggy...which ever way you go test a bit of wood mate.......you've got a cool skillset buddy plenty to draw on just do some tests find a working method of application and then hammer it..........

Fair play bud the seat base back/mains batt charger looks really cool and it's great to hear the orion is running

 

[64 SPLIT]

Well the weather looks pretty decent for this weekend so I'll get down my local DIY store and see what varnishes or waxes they've got. The Littlefair's stuff is water based so hopefully shouldn't have any compatibility issues. It's dried to a pretty dull finish so it definitely needs something to breath some life back into it.
Started on tarting the door cards up too. Pics to follow...

 

[64 SPLIT]

So drivers door card has come off so that I can trim the upper half to match the dash (and cover up some of the scratches n awful light grey plastic).
I decided to only trim the upper half of the doors as the lowers often get scuffed and mucky when I'm biking or on 'horse' duties 🤦‍♂️ so need to be able to keep them easy to clean.
The door pockets and darker grey door top are attached to the front fascia with a whole bunch of plastic welded caterpillars.

So using an old soldering iron I melted these off so I could neatly wrap the suedeliner fabric over the edges.
I'm not gonna lie. They're an absolute b*tch to get off and my hands look like I'm a serial self-harmer now! 😳🤬

Anyway, once the the door card is apart I could liberally apply some Trim-Fix and starting with the big recess for the handle, slowly glue the fabric on...

 

[64 SPLIT]

I still have a couple pieces of the centre-trim fabric from the Mercedes A-Class seats, so this got the foam backing removed and applied to the back of the upper pocket just to tie it in with the gearstick gaitor etc.
With all the fabric glued up, I could set about reassembling and 'welding' the tabs back in place with the soldering iron.
Fiddly to get it all in place at the same time as wielding a red hot soldering iron... and a proper face mask is advised to protect against the plastic fumes! 🤢

Managed to chip the paint on the door handle surround so that's gonna need touching up at some point 🤦‍♂️

One down... one to go! 😩

 

[WillsT5Ted]

Loving this work H! You always manage to go the extra mile with these things! What dis you used to plastic weld the pocket back up? Just some old zip ties melted onto it with the soldering iron?
I really need to tackle mine at some point! Really really need too! Headliner, door cards, dashboard, A and B pillars! It'll be a big job as well as getting speakers in too!😂

 

[64 SPLIT]

Fortunately there was enough plastic left on the original tabs to be able to melt it back over the slots. I just took my time when I was melting them off to try keep as much material there as possible.

 

[B441RDS]

Got the remaining pieces of lower dash trim removed to trim up in the suedeflex too... View attachment 205759

And refitted...
View attachment 205760

Just need to tackle the doorcards at some point

This looks great, given me another job to do I was going to forever black mine but this looks far better. Is the suede on the plastics all Un-backed stuff? Just looking on Harrison Trim supplies now.

 

[64 SPLIT]

Yeah it's all unbacked Suedeflex. If you use the foam backed stuff you'll find that it's leaves the panel too thick when you come to reassemble things (especially door cards).
Got the passenger side sorted yesterday so the cab is all done.
The door cards are pretty damn fiddly but worth doing even just to get some of the scratches and marks from previous ownership covered up.

 

[Pduk]

Fantastic work done over the last couple of months Split, as always the attention to detail is second to none 👌
Looking forward to the next installment 🍿🤓

 

[64 SPLIT]

Cheers Pete - good to see you back 👍 Not sure what's next... front brakes need a complete overhaul before the next MOT so that's gonna take a chunk of cash as I'm planning on a mild upgrade whilst I'm at it.