Sold

Time has come to move the Caddy on. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it - but I have urges to move on to something else, something a little larger, with a few more seats. I've also reached the point where if I was to start upgrading more bits (stereo etc.) it would start costing me more and more, and I'd rather put that in to the next project.

Simply scroll back thru the blog for history and more pics

So here goes, a quick 'for sale' ad:

2009 59-plate Caddy 1.9 TDI.
35,500 miles (rising by roughly 250 per week)
MOT until Sept 2013
Taxed until end of Feb 2013
Raven Blue
Regularly serviced by Aire Valley Workshop in Skipton.

Exterior:
Colour coded bumpers
Sliding door rail, supplied, painted and fitted by Reflex Auto Design
Rear spoiler (not VAG), prep'd, painted and fitted by Reflex Auto Design
Sump guard supplied and fitted by Reflex Auto Design
Yellow/gold tint headlights (I'm not a fan of these and never got around to changing them - they did go thru the MOT okay tho')
Clear side repeaters
Heko wind deflectors
Seat Leon Cupra front splitter
Genuine VAG mudflaps
UK Legal pressed metal plates

Interior:
Sound proofed and insulated
Fully carpet lined inside by Mark at MegaVanMats
New Caddy Life rear roof section
Ply rear floor
Audi TT half leather seats - super-comfy
Dashboard cubby-hole upgrade
MegaVanMats carpet mats
Genuine VAG rubber mats
Light smoke tint to side windows
Standard VW Radio/CD/MP3 head unit and speakers.

Chassis:
Lowered using V-Maxx coilovers and rear hangers
Bilstein rear shocks
Reflex Auto Design centralising plates fitted
I'll also supply the standard front struts, rear hangers and shackles should you want to return to stock.

Engine:
Stock with the addition of an Audi engine cover.
The sump guard helps to keep the engine clean and tidy. The engine is spotless.

Wheels:
Choice of either genuine VW Phaeton Helios wheels (refurb'd to high spec 12 months ago, almost spotless) running on Falken FK452 235/35/19 or stock VW steels.

Asking price:
£9,250 on Helios wheels (with steels supplied)
£7,750 on steel wheels only
Privately owned, no VAT to add.

Now sold. Thanks for looking.

No part ex's or swaps unless you've got a totally sorted Passat estate TDI of a similar age.

The Caddy has wanted for nothing and has been totally reliable. It sailed through first MOT.
Good points: Raven Blue - a much sought-after colour, it's already lowered and the suspension has been tweaked and refined to get it 'just right'. There's still scope for you to make your own mark on the inside. Everything works; every switch, button and dial. I also have contact details of the two previous owners should you wish to trace the van's history. It's a low-mileage Caddy that hasn't worked hard for a living, spending most of it's life empty!
Bad points: the front bumper and bonnet could benefit from a tidy up due to stone-chips. It's not a perfect show-pony, just a good, clean, honest daily-driver. And that's it.

Want to turn heads in 2013? Do it in this Caddy! Thanks for looking.

To express an interest, make an offer, arrange a viewing or ask further questions, please drop me an email: rpcreative@hotmail.com

I'm based in Leeds during office hours or Skipton at evenings and weekends.

Putting on a show

With the T5 camper in for some bodywork, we have a free weekend and a local show, Dubs In't Dales, pretty much on our doorstep.

Time to give the Caddy a quick clean and venture onto the show'n'shine field:

The show scene can be a fickle place; we sat and listened to comments, positive and negative, that ranged from 'awesome bit of kit' to 'it's just a new van with some wheels on it'. Well, as the saying goes; 'haters gonna hate', I know how much blood, sweat and tears have gone into getting 'my' van the way 'I' want it.

And hey-presto:

Same again next year? Hopefully the show will be bigger, better and busier. Maybe with a few more Caddys there?

Front splitter

So the Caddy is looking much better after last weeks lowering - but I'd love to go lower. Practicality and an empty wallet stop me from going any further though. But there are some visual tricks to make the van appear a little lower to the ground - one of these is by adding a front splitter.

Part of the appeal of modifying vehicles from the VAG family is that every now and then you'll find a part from another vehicle that suits yours perfectly. One of these parts is the front splitter from Seat's Leon Cupra R - part number 1ML 805 903 if you're interested.

An extra horizontal line at the front draws your eye nearer to the ground

Just brushing the green stuff

The sill line is now followed around to the front of the vehicle

Only a small part but it makes such a difference visually.

One word of note: please don't go on eBay and buy from someone selling a 'brand new, still in the wrapper, RARE!' front splitter - they're not rare! Phone your local TPS or Seat Dealer and order one from them and hopefully you'll get one for a sensible (and not over-inflated) price.

Wheels and tyres are on!

The long Winter-wait is at an end; the Helios are finally on.

Tyres were sourced from Camskill - great value for money on brand-name tyres, good stock availability and cheap, quick delivery makes these my first choice every time for buying tyres.

Money saved here has meant we can jump up a level, quality-wise; spec'ing a set of four Falken FK452 in 235/35/19 to perfectly match the 19x8.5 wheels without any impractical stretch of the previously fitted wheels. These also have little effect on the speedo being within 2% of the same rolling diameter as the stock 15" steels.

But who to fit them? Our local tyre-fitting shop don't seem to like us walking in with our tyres - there's no money to be made for them - so after some inquiries and a word-of-mouth recommendation, we got in touch with Stuart at Unique Tyres.

Stuart turned up in his kitted-out Merc Sprinter, fitted a brand new head to his fitting machine and had the four wheels built-up and balanced in no time. For the total sum of £60, a cup of tea and plenty of v-dub chat, the wheels were then checked and mounted in a matter of minutes.

Visually, the front needs to come back down a bit - maybe the back a touch too. It's also apparent that the rear wheels are pulling forwards in the arch; common for modern lowered Volkswagens with a beam rear-end. Hopefully a quick trip to see JC at JC Motors should rectify these.

I'm absolutely over-the-moon with the way the Helios wheels have transformed the look of the Caddy. They keep that whole 'factory' OEM look - and the rarity-factor of not seeing many sets about appeals in a world of endless BBS replicas and cheap Supermarket alloys.
In particular, I like the way the centre-cap matches the centre of the steering wheel - the way VW would have done it if they were building a Caddy without budget constraints:

So there we have it; just a few more lows and a tweak of the stance and we're almost there! Time to turn my focus back to the interior...

Retail therapy

The hammering of the credit card has begun!

Well, not quite. I've made some tentative enquiries with Reflex Auto Design for a few things (hopefully) before Ultimate Dubs in March. Firstly a sliding door rail cover, painted in Raven Blue. A rear spoiler, bought as part of a forum group buy, painted in Raven Blue at the same time then fitted. And finally a sump guard so I can wind the front suspension back down a little and not clench every time I see a speed bump!

The spending didn't stop there. Today's trip to Dubfeeze has seen us pick up a new tax disk holder, some replenishments of Meguiar's cleaning products (roll-on Spring!) and a set of UK-legal pressed metal plates complete with German dealer surrounds:

There didn't seem to be many Caddys kicking around at Dubfreeze, but then again, it was too cold to go searching for any length of time! Here's a couple:

Fingers-crossed I'm sorted for a tyre-fitter too, so the Helios could be on sooner than expected - there won't be any more snow now, right?

Christmas arrives early...

Just a small hint to the wheel choice for next year...

Wanted: Standard front bumper

Have you got one lying around from a recent conversion?

I only need the lower middle fins as shown below:

Leave a comment below or email rpcreative@hotmail.com

UPDATE: One bumper collected from a fellow Caddy2k forum member. I've another one waiting in the wings too (in case I make a mess of this first one!).

Engine Covered

Now there's not many jobs under the bonnet that I'll tackle myself, but this one is probably the easiest of all!

Let's face it, the 1.9TDI engine in the Caddy isn't the most aesthetically wonderful piece of engineering, and the lack of an engine cover only adds to the basic-van-austerity-look... time to cover it over.

The 1.9TDI is a familiar engine across the whole VAG range; appearing in VWs, Audis and Skodas. For this particular model I needed to look for one that would fit the 'BLS' coded engine - picked out by the oil-filler being on the left. After scouring eBay for a week or two (finding nothing but broken or over-priced offerings from dismantlers), this Audi version came up on the Caddy2k forums.

The mounting points are already on the Caddy's engine, all I have to do is pop the inner section on first, then press the outer section into place. The under-side of the covers have a rubber surface to them which is supposed to 'dampen' engine-noise. So far I can't say I've noticed any difference (although I am missing the under-bonnet lining of higher-spec'd models).

Here's the cover in place:

Looks like it was always meant to be there. And fills out the engine bay too, making the engine look bigger - so that must give me another 15bhp, right?