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.

Lowering tweaks

Finally, a free morning to get the rear shocks changed for something a little stiffer, drop the rear a couple of notches on the hangers, and then adjust the front coils to suit.

There's just a small matter of re-centering the rear wheels and we're done. Here's the results:

Much better I'm sure you'll agree.

Big thanks must go to the talented JC at JC Motors for taking his time to get that 'just right' stance.

Rear lining - a sneak peek

Just a quick post to show the progress to-date on the rear lining that's been taking place this week.

As much as I'd love to take credit for this part of the van's transformation, the applause must go to Mark at MegaVanMats.

More pics to follow this weekend.

Ultimate Dubs Caddys

Ultimate Dubs was a first for me. Not only my first time in Telford but my first visit to a proper water-cooled v-dub show. My heart still lies firmly with the older Volkswagens and I find you have to look much harder at the show cars to truly understand the difference between a car covered in polish and one that has had hours of work in planning, fabrication and craftsmanship poured into it.

As mentioned in the last post, here's the one Caddy that blew things out of the water:

It's a reincarnation of a previous show-winner; back this year with new paint, a new front end, no sliding door and a host of other little touches. Seeing a Caddy like this in the flesh makes my van feel a million miles away from this standard. No corner of the vehicle is left untouched; a total work of rolling art.

Here's a few more Caddys (although not many in attendance) from around the show:

Maybe a few more next year?

UPDATE: Check out Reflex's build thread on the E38 forums. A great example of the work that goes into Best Paint, Best Other and Best of Show.

The RAD Roadtrip

370 miles, several UK towns, cities and motorways later, and we're back from a mini-weekend break that involved bolting-up a few new parts to the Caddy.

First up was a Friday morning blast down to RAD: Reflex Auto Design in Brixworth, just north of Northampton. Job one was to fit a sliding-door rail cover, painted in Raven Blue this more than finishes off the side of the van:

Next up (while the paint is in the gun), a rear spoiler to finish off the rear end:

And finally, a sump-guard is bolted up to replace the original plastic unit and allow us to run the ride-height a little nearer the tarmac without the worry of speedbumps.

All excellent products and RAD have been a pleasure to deal with from initial emails to driving away. Quality is high and they take pride in what they do.

Just before driving away we caught a glimpse (well, had a good nosey around) another Caddy that was in for some last-minute tweaks before Ultimate Dubs. I'd seen this van before in Magazines and on the forums, but to see it in it's new guise, show-fresh and ready to roll left me absolutely awe-struck. More info on this in the next post...

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...