Our Camper Restoration Project c/o Doug's VW Werks

[mm289]

Hey Seamus, interior looks awesome, well done

Couple of questions for you,

On the floor, was it wood planks or sheet and did you lay it straight onto the metal floor? My autosleeper had a 20mm sheet of chipboard on the floor with carpet on top and I am considering whether to replace the chipboard or just go for a wood floor.

Behind the fridge it looks like you have packed insulation into the side panel. how have you handled ventilation for the fridge?

What material did you use to re-do the door cards, looks similar to the roof/walls but guessing it must be a lighter weight?

Cheers bud and kudos for a great job

MM

[Seamus]

Hey Seamus, interior looks awesome, well done

Couple of questions for you,

On the floor, was it wood planks or sheet and did you lay it straight onto the metal floor? My autosleeper had a 20mm sheet of chipboard on the floor with carpet on top and I am considering whether to replace the chipboard or just go for a wood floor.

Behind the fridge it looks like you have packed insulation into the side panel. how have you handled ventilation for the fridge?

What material did you use to re-do the door cards, looks similar to the roof/walls but guessing it must be a lighter weight?

Cheers bud and kudos for a great job

MM

Thanks mate,

The flooring is plastic backed oak covered laminate, (I am told it is from the Marine Industry and is used for Yachts due to its waterproof capabilities), I laid it straight onto the chipboard floor and then sealed it with a few hefty coats of waterproofing varnish.

The insulation behind the fridge is the whole length of the van however I cut out the vents and exhaust for the fridge so that is all still free.

The material for the top of the cards is indeed the same as the roof lining, I removed the bed from the roof so had oodles of it spare.

Hope that helps.

[bootie3367]

Stunning exterior and interior, you must be reet chuffed1

Question, the door cards re-trim....did you do that or did you get them done?

If you did it, care to share a few secrets, material, how to fix said material, kinda how to for a novice at trimming if you like...that is of course if you have the time. I know if that van was mine I would have no time to write boring old 'how to's' for newbies, I would be out and about in all weathers.

If it was done for you, who was it and how much. My own door cards are looking a bit tired and seeing yours has made me realise just how good they can look.

Oh yeah and with the front door speakers, are they mounted direct to the door card or fixed with adapters/spacers/frames to the doors themselves?

Once again, a fabulous looking bus, get out and enjoy.

Jon

[tandemsandy]

Absolutely brilliant! Inspiring stuff that, makes me want to go and revamp our Vinnie!

Rob

[trucker]

That is a very cool interior,very well done

[mm289]

Thanks mate,

The flooring is plastic backed oak covered laminate, (I am told it is from the Marine Industry and is used for Yachts due to its waterproof capabilities), I laid it straight onto the chipboard floor and then sealed it with a few hefty coats of waterproofing varnish.

The insulation behind the fridge is the whole length of the van however I cut out the vents and exhaust for the fridge so that is all still free.

The material for the top of the cards is indeed the same as the roof lining, I removed the bed from the roof so had oodles of it spare.

Hope that helps.

Cheers Seamus, so I need to put some new chipboiard in regardless then

MM

[Seamus]

Stunning exterior and interior, you must be reet chuffed1

Question, the door cards re-trim....did you do that or did you get them done?

If you did it, care to share a few secrets, material, how to fix said material, kinda how to for a novice at trimming if you like...that is of course if you have the time. I know if that van was mine I would have no time to write boring old 'how to's' for newbies, I would be out and about in all weathers.

If it was done for you, who was it and how much. My own door cards are looking a bit tired and seeing yours has made me realise just how good they can look.

Oh yeah and with the front door speakers, are they mounted direct to the door card or fixed with adapters/spacers/frames to the doors themselves?

Once again, a fabulous looking bus, get out and enjoy.

Jon

Hi Jon, and thanks to you and all the guys for the kind words, I dont hesitate in offering any 'how to' hints as I have learned so much from so many people on here its only fair to be able to give a little back.
The interior as a whole was done by myself, it has been a labour of love for the past 12 months indeed but it feels all worth it now. However the main congratulations has to go to Mr Harwood at Dougs VW Werks as he has done such a wonderful job on the bodywork, considering the amount of work he was given and our wishes and as I have said countless times before on here - for me he is by far the best man for the job that I have come across and gets by 1000% recommendation every time.

Ok, as for the door cards, they were all done by my own fair hands. The centre lighter grey material is a vinyl and from the original cards, the lower half is a darker grey felt that I bought on ebay and the top half is what we removed from the top of the van from both the top front cupboard and the old sliding roof bed which we have removed and replaced with a second storage cupboard.

I bought a few spray tins of heavy duty adhesive (again from ebay) and used the removed material as templates. I bought a whole bunch of new vw plastic inlay card clips to re-attach them as mine were really old and well shot, and I then got onto cutting out the new material, spraying on the adhesives to the cards and well... bobs your uncle really. I dont know exactly where my cards have come from, the door cards are very different, I have never seen them on any other van although Im sure someone on here must have seen them before, they are part card and part fibreglass, they are not flat like you see on most vans but are shaped and raised in places (around window winder for example). I then bought a set of old looking tatty cards for next to nothing on ebay as they had some chrome strip on them which I wanted to add onto mine, this was a bitch to remove but worth it as it really adds a little poshness to em.

Hope that helps, it really was a doddle to do just with little bit of care and patience, best of all it is a lot cheaper than getting them re-covered professionally.

Sean

[bootie3367]

Well thank you very much for taking the time to explain.
Those door cards sound top of the line...fibreglass eh? Posh bugger.

As far as I'm aware mine are the standard oiled particle board with just the plain grey vinyl trim with a few heat scored lines, nowt special, I just fancied a bit of carpeting/felt/something to enhance the cab and seeing yours.......well!

I could see the shape under the carpet for the winder and did wonder if it was something you had done... I guess there's no way another set of these would be coming up for grabs, especially after the majority of T25 owners have read your thread!

I'll have to think of something that doesn't involve too much work but does give a bit of a profile for the covering and yes the chrome strip does give them that touch of class.

OH,...........MORE PICS PLEASE!

[Seamus]

Yeah, I was rather lucky to find these cards, again an ebay find if I remember rightly but many moons ago now, I have not seen another set since, Im sure someone will recognise them on here though. Feel free to use the pic and post a 'any know where these come?' thread if you want to

I'll take one of them off and get a picture of the back which will show you what I mean better!

Oh and as for the speakers, yes they are screwed into the cards only.

I dunno if I have anymore pics, one thing I forgot to mention is that I picked up a replacement inner trim for the sliding door, this was part of the 'noise/wind reducing' option apparently and boy what a difference it makes, it has really tidied up the back edge of the card a treat and Im sure it has sealed the door better too.

The other huge difference that is actually noticable is the insulation I added has made the van is soooo much quieter to drive, it also gives 'deadens' the atmospherics inside the van which is really noticable compared to it was before, this is another very cheap alteration that im really pleased with. I only wish I could have done the cab doors to but there wasnt enough room to get it in without obstructing the window winding space.

Sean

[bootie3367]

Cheers for that. I'll be looking at speaker fitting when I get back home. Mine are low down at the front and have become loose on the card.
I need to see just how the inner frame is configured for making up something a bit more secure for the speaker. Probably home made mounts will be the way to go.

I have seen brand new copy door cards on the bay of E, chap selling them says they are made of plywood specially treated to resist damp... we'll see. If plywood wasn't so bloody expensive in Spain , that is the way I would go I think. Ah well, just over 4 days till I get back home!

Looking forward to more pics man.

Jon

[Seamus]

oh so nearly there...

Everything is now connected up and... (through more luck than planning) it is all working too. TV works through the stereo which I have connected up to both the Leisure Battery and main (thanks wiki!). The only thing electrically to finish is to add a switch for the rear wash and to add an extra 12v socket in the rear unit but all the wires are in place so shouldnt be too taxing.

The first picture is of a slight mod I had to make to the rear unit in order to accommodate the rear wash reservoir, nothing too difficult thankfully...





The following pictures are the first ones after a good ol polish and some lovely sunny weather, were so chuffed with the finished bus and once again a huge thank you to Doug Harwood.











Remaining bits to do are, fit rear wash switch, fit worktop for centre unit, (not sure what were gonna go for with that yet) and attach mudflaps (need some brackets though - please see wanted section!). And thats that! Well for now at least, Im sure a couple of weeks down the road I'll wanna add something else

Thanks for all the kind comments and encouragements along the way.

[Plasticman]

Good on you fella, all about sorted intime for the coming season, nice way to split the shades too
mm

[Dazco]

Looks bloody great. Getting loads of ideas from this thread but promise not to copy it . Cheers

[Seamus]

oh please, steal away... how on earth do you think I got all my ideas for ours in THE first place...

here's a couple more, the new place for the electric hook up socket is behind the rear number plate saves having another big dirty hole in the bodywork for the tin worm to munch away at...



and the battery control switch on the dash for the stereo to alternate between main and leisure battery power...



were still searching for mudflap brackets peeps

[Seamus]

ok... some blatant titilating after all the hard work, sadly the missus will not allow any stickers on the bus - and I mean NONE ... so any little do-dads and refinements are strictly monitored.
I bought these number plate surrounds from ebay a good while back now and have finally managed to get them on... really want to make the van have more of a Wolfsburg theme so this is a start I suppose





as for the mudflaps Im drawing a blank trying to get some brackets, so I decided to have a go at making some, these are plastic curtain tracks believe it or not but are solid and obviously wont rust. I gave them a primer and then a black spray over. To attach them to the wings I made some u shaped metal clamps with some rubber padding to protect the wing lip and then screwed these on the mudflaps. The plastic brackets clips onto the chassis and I have bonded these in place... they seem solid enough but I guess time will tell...