Tuesday, 27 December 2011

Merry Christmas...

...and a happy 2012!


Fitting gifts

There's not much happening between Christmas and New Year so I thought I'd take advantage of a day's fine weather to give the van a much-need clean. This is also a great opportunity to fit the gifts I received for Christmas!

First up; a set of Heko wind deflectors:


For no other reason than I like them - I have a set fitted to the T5 too - ideal for when you want some fresh air in but not the rain, easy to fit too - no more than a minute or so.

Then, a swap from the standard silver lettering to some genuine German red lettering:


These must give me another 15bhp, right?

Sunday, 18 December 2011

Let the fin trim begin

A quick progress update. The carpet-lining has ground to a halt, two reasons; firstly, I ran out of glue for doing the carpeting in one bulk session and didn't want to start a bit without being able to finish. And secondly, I ran out of talent - I made a complete balls-up of the headlining - with the headlining panel removed I had it covered in glue ready to roll out the headlining fabric, got half way across the board and (whilst working in the confines of a cramped single-garage) moving from one end of the board to the other I let the fabric roll back up on itself which smeared the slowly drying glue onto the visible side.

Annoyed with myself I closed the garage door and called it a day (sometimes the best way) only to find out that the glue had gone off and stuck the first section of the fabric permanently to the board. Fold board in half, go to VW and order new board.

So in the mean time I've been setting about the reinstating of the lower fins in the bumper:
The big-hole, some people like it but not me.
Step one was to find a bumper. A quick post in the wanted section on Caddy2k and within 48 hours I'd got one... for nowt! Cheers Mel!

A standard, no frills front bumper

Step two: roughly cut around the area required before some more delicate trimming.


Step three: closer trimming around the fins and legs prior to trial fitting. For this I used a Dremel with a drill bit, making regular perforations along the desired cut line and then joining the dots to make the final cut. Cleaning up the rough edges can then be done, surprisingly, by warming the plastic up and cutting with a good pair of scissors!

I'll hopefully finish this job between Christmas and New Year. You never know, I might even get some carpeting done too!

Tuesday, 6 December 2011

Wheels for 2012

Here's another teaser for next year's wheels:


A set of four 19" VW Helios, shipped from Germany, stripped, blasted, powder coated, top coat, clear coat and baked to look as good as a new set. Combined with a fresh set of centre caps - you'll understand why I'm looking forward to next Spring!

Saturday, 3 December 2011