Woody's Woody

[drw42]

Love the interior, really smart. The wood effect badge looks awesome too!

Thanks for the encouragement. It was really easy job using fablon from ebay (cheapy cheap) and I also put some on the sides to give me an idea how the woody might end up looking. I'm hoping to re-do it in hydro dip when I get around to it (along with all the other jobs that still need doing ha ha). Cheers Woody

[drw42]

very nice where about are you drw42....?

I'm in Plymouth, how about you?

[chezzy71]

Up in merseyside, I was going to ask do you do plastic welding for others but your way to far away...

[drw42]

Hi Woody new to the site

Love the interior it really is something different.
Can I ask how it effects your insurance in the UK adding seats to a commercial ?

Sorry I know its slightly off topic, but in Ireland we pay commercial tax, once we put seats in a commercial it becomes a passenger vehicle and should be taxed accordingly. Higher rate of tax.

Seeing this conversion a lot and just wondered as I would consider it for my own Caddy.

Thanks for your time and great work

Hi Dude, thanks for the interest. I did a bit of research before buying because I had read that you have to tell DVLA about any changes. I emailed them and they said simply ammend the V5 and send it back to them and it would be changed. No probs there.

I am insured through Brentacre on a specialist Modified Van policy. They are happy for any changes to be made as long as I tell them what I have done. All free of charge except changes to HP e.g. engine remaps, but even then I can go from 72 to 104 without paying extra so I think I will be doing that. Should make towing a bit easier (although adding a towbar would also help!!!)

I am afraid I can't help on the Tax issue. I was under the impression that we are getting stuffed because the commercial rate is higher than cars. I don't know that adding seats affects anything here though I had read elsewhere on the forum about changing its designation to camper or reducing the carrying capacity (as a result of lowering) can change things. Can't remeber exactly so not much help I'm afraid.

I am really happy with the conversion. I intend to kip behind the drivers seat on a bed that uses two of the seats and a platform of some kind. I can then remove the third seat so I can get in and out easily through the side door. I had considered the caddy max seat conversion but the seat split (60/30) seams to be the wrong way round for right hand drive vehicles. You can also just fit 2 rear seats giving your passengers plenty of space, and of course remove them completely to free up the load space.

Hope that helps

Regards Woody

[drw42]

Up in merseyside, I was going to ask do you do plastic welding for others but your way to far away...

It's actually a lot easier than it might look. I just use a medium size electric soldering iron and go for it. I had considered fibre glass and filler to get the effect I wanted but noticed that a lot of the standard parts had simply been melted together at the factory. Look at the inside of any panels you remove and you might see what I mean. I did a lot a kayaking in the past and it was a standard way of repairing splits though it helps to have some additional material i.e. filler rod in welding terms.

Basically you need to ensure the parts you are welding fit as close as possible and simply slowly run the hot soldering iron along the join (both sides if possible) add more material from your filler rod as necessary. If you're cutting up your bulkhead you will have plenty of material to use for this and something to practice on if you want.

NO FEAR ...get on it!! Good luck

Woody

[I.D.S.]

Good to meet you and your family yesterday,sorry your visit to West Sussex was so difficult. Van interior is very nice put's my dark interior to shame

[tramp]

great job, loving the fact its light (altho i have a dog and am a mechanic so would be black soon haha)

keep us posted :-)

[drw42]

Good to meet you and your family yesterday,sorry your visit to West Sussex was so difficult. Van interior is very nice put's my dark interior to shame

Thanks Ian, your kind welcome made it all worthwhile. Cheers Woody

[drw42]

great job, loving the fact its light (altho i have a dog and am a mechanic so would be black soon haha)

keep us posted :-)

I have a dog and am scruffy but do have an OCD wife which helps - Woody

[I.D.S.]

The wife and i are the other way round.
Woody saw this and thought of you ebay item number 321489407844,would finish the dash off

[drw42]

The wife and i are the other way round.
Woody saw this and thought of you ebay item number 321489407844,would finish the dash off

Tasty...well spotted, but what are all the buttons for? Anyway, I just spent all my dosh on wheels Cheers Mate Woody

[drw42]

Had few set backs in the last few weeks. Essentially I have been trying to fit electric windows, or more precisely Touran door cards that match the rest of the interior but I need to convert to leccy first. Had inner door cards motors etc but plugs did not fit, bought new switches and looms and nothing worked (doors on and off about 8 times at this stage) asked for help on the forum, i.e. what are tyhe wires that come out of the switches. No-one knows aparently. Moving on, got a vinyl roof. Went to see a bloke and said I wanted a vinyl roof. What colour he asks. Not sure I answer. So we have a bit of faffing around. I eventually told him that I wanted a vinyl roof like an old ford cortina, he siad I've got just the thing and so it happened. Love it.

Bit more plastic welding. I had to ammend the floor trim to remove the big round bit on the offside.




Then moved onto a nearside seat belt cover. This was costructed from the plastic cover that came with the van and two cup holders from the rear doors of the Touran interior I bought earlier. Got to cover it with carpet yet, but the idea seams to work so far.

Spent another weekend trying to carpet the inside. THIS IS NOT AS EASY AS SOME MIGHT SUGGEST!!! Megavanmats kindly supplied the doings and I supplied the labour and swarewords. Trim velour is not that easy to apply to complex shapes, in fact eventually I had to give up and use the megastretch. The downside here is that Trim velour barley is not the same colour as megastretch barley. Nothing's easy is it? Anyway I think it doesn't look too bad with a slight colour mismatch/contrast. I was really disappointed with the finish I achieved, lots of wrinkles and cock ups, but I think I'll be pretty good by van 4!!.



Really happy with the wheel arch covers though. I nearly chinned them off because I wasn't happy with the fit or how they would be attached, but wifey told me to get on with it. Any way I'm well chuffed[/img]http://i1368.photobucket.com/albums/ag1 ... 73401a.jpg[/img]

[drw42]

The window/door saga drags on...Loads of internet searching and I found a potential solution. I decided to wire them like an aftermarket kit. This seperates the windows from the van system alltogether and they simply run from a live taken from the fusebox. I smashed up the central locking modules on the door cards to make a connector and connected the wires to the switches. Another day making up a loom and managed to touch a live against the door and blew the fuse. Another week of waiting for more from the internet. Got more fuses they kept blowing so clearly theres a problem with my wiring. So now I have one switch either side both running on seperate lives. It ain't elegant but it works and it's no worse that having to lean over to operate the handle as before. I needed to get then in so maybe its a job for a nother day. Don't like the switches either so they need a bit of work.
By the way, i appreciate that some pics of the inside of the door might be helpful but having removed and replaced them a miilion times I cannot be faffed. Little things like doing up the window clamp retaining bolts, then dropping teh 10mm socket down the inside of the door skin really make your day.

Work for someone else. Had the van lowered by my local garage using front lowering spings and low rear kit from Darkside. Before... After...
They couldn't get the struts apart despite the newishness of the van, and had to destroy the top mounts and replace with new. Took two days aswell so I got well and truly bummed on the price, but I really think it would have been beyond my capabilities.

[drw42]

Spent a week (seems like it) cutting up a peice of melamine to fit in the back floor. Perfect. Tried to glue it in but it stuck in the wrong place (like it does) and I then destroyed it trying to get it out. After another week sulking I decided to try again with the peice that I had cut in half to go down the sides of the van. So now it is in two peices, but considerably easier to fit. I'll put a strip of trim wood up the middle to cover the join.

Don't know what to put down the sides now.

[drw42]

I am afraid I can't help on the Tax issue. I was under the impression that we are getting stuffed because the commercial rate is higher than cars. I don't know that adding seats affects anything here though I had read elsewhere on the forum about changing its designation to camper or reducing the carrying capacity (as a result of lowering) can change things. Can't remeber exactly so not much help I'm afraid.

Hope that helps

Regards Woody

I was showing my van to a bloke the other day who said you have to be careful changing it to a camper as he did it and had to pay the the VAT man back. Anyone else heard of that?