New floor

Having been distracted by the need for a new starter battery, I finally got round to temporarily fitting my new floor before it goes off to have a pop top, windows and colour-coded bumpers.



Having rust treated a few holes in the chassis, I thoroughly cleaned the back of the van to get rid of any grease. Then it was time to cover the whole of the rear floor with a layer of sound deadener. I found that if I laid the RAAMmat across the raised bits and then eased it into the ridges with the rubber handle of a claw hammer it worked really well and reduced the amount of creases. It is really pliable, can be cut with normal scissors and doesn't cut your fingers at all (apparently Damplifier Pro does?). I saved the wheel arches until last and I am pretty pleased with the results. In any case both will be carpeted, and the off side arch will be covered by furniture and the near side one will be under the Rib bed/seat. I used about 2 1/2 15"x 15" pieces of RAMMmat for the arches and nearly a whole pack (20 sheets) for the floor. The rest will go on the side panels and the tailgate.

Next job was to cut a template of the floor using the EZ Cool automotive insulation. Its 4 foot wide so I used two pieces. I then laid this over a 5' x 10' sheet of 9mm ply and drew around it. I used the larger sheet as I wanted the floor in one piece, however I realised a 5' sheet isn't quite wide enough (a 4" x 6" ish piece is missing behind the near side rear wheel arch), but I'll just make it up from an off cut. I used a jigsaw to cut around the shape and it was pretty much bob on, bar a few little bits here and there that needed shaving off.



The EZ Cool was stuck to the underside of the ply (which the adhesive from Megavanmats) and the new floor was slid into place, and hey presto I should hopefully have a quieter ride up to Custom Campers in Halifax, for the new roof etc. Before the floor is fitted permanently I am going to put down some small ply pieces in strategic places to ensure the floor doesn't bend anywhere and so it can be screwed to something to keep it flapping at the edges etc.

Bulk head frame removal

I was a little nervous taking a grinder to the van (the pop top and windows are being done by professionals) but that was the only way the bulkhead frame was coming out. There is a great description of what needs to be done here on the T4 forum.

It took about an hour and a half to do, although the van is chocked up on the drive with no handbrake or seats still! As the front seats had to come out I stripped out the remaining leisure circuit and took the opportunity to remove and clean the rubber mat, and slap on some RAAMmat sound deadener (the silver coloured stuff on the wheel arch). I used the rubber handle of the hammer to work it into the metal. Before the rubber mat goes back in I am going to put a layer of EZ Cool (automotive thermal bubble wrap) underneath. This acts as both an insulator and sound barrier - so they say!

I'll also be using RAAMmat (which was incredibly easy to cut using normal scissors) and EZ Cool, plus a bit of space blanket for insulating the rear of the van next month

Taking it back to the metal

Picked up my SWB T5 this weekend. In her previous life she provided the wheels for the Transport for London bus stop cleaners.

After a couple of months of web browsing (the T4 forum has been brilliant) its time to put theory into practise.

My first job was to strip everything out so she looked pretty much like she did when she left the factory. The rear was lined in chipboard (riveted in place) and the floor was stuck down with blobs of no more nails (damn that stuff), although heating it up with a hairdryer and using a scraper got rid of most of it. I'm hoping a thinner of some sort will do the rest. I've noticed some screw holes through the chassis and wheel arches too. There isn't really any rust so I just plan to Hammerite those and use a bit of liquid metal to fill the holes. On the other side I will seal with a bit of silicon, probably.

I have had some bonus finds too: The van had rear parking sensors retrofitted and a leisure battery under the passenger seat, which powered some lights and cigarette lighter sockets in the back. Hopefully I can reuse the sockets later in the build. The hardboard cards were also in good nick too. I can't decide whether I will carpet these or buy some 4 or 6mm ply and carpet them instead.

The van was stripped out in about 4 hours, but I have already made my first mistake (which I only realised next day). I naively believed the van had a split charge relay, therefore the starter battery would not go flat if I used the lights running off the leisure battery. Wrong! My eagerness to strip everything out meant I worked well after the sun went down, and in the morning when I went to move her she was dead as a dodo. The jump leads are now kept under the front passenger seat! It does mean my rather excessive 300amp BEP VSR will be fitted very soon. This model, which I got for a bargain on ebay, has a manual override so the leisure battery can actually be used to start the engine if the vehicle battery is flat. More to come on that later.

Besides removing the bulkhead frame, which requires a grinder and an 8mm spline head socket head to undo the seat belt catches, filling the few screw holes and giving her a good clean down she is almost as good as new(ish), and very red!

The kids dust pan and brush has come in very handy keeping everything tidy too!