I decided to start a thread with the progress of my Air cooled Devon. It was purchased with the idea of just getting some new curtains and cushions, it is now turning into a major project.
This is my van as purchased
This is me: Im 30 this year and have always wanted a camper van. Ive been involved in the vw seen since 18yrs old when i brought my mk2 Golf GTi. So ive been to a fair few shows and meets over the years. My brother and dad still have Golf Gti's mk1 and Mk5. I have two boys and live in Wolverhampton.
First job, the inside was 50 shades of brown, so first job was changing some of the curtains and cushion covers. I decided to rip off the covers that were on there to discover a different shade of brown, original but tatty and had to go. Found a lady of e-bay that made thermal lined cushions and fire resistant cushions .
After many phone calls and visits to garages i was struggling to find a fitter that would fit 3 points in the back. Especially as i have cupboards fitted. After some searching i found the britax eclipse which is the only car seat that fits with a lap belt only. £125 each. But they are from 4mnths to 4yrs.
SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS
I was quite keen on putting the children in the roof as they are in bed early and we would still be able to enjoy the van. I decided to buy some bed guards. The one to the rear fitted perfect between the board and roof strut. The front one kept tipping the board because the balance point was different. I attached some pipe fixings to the board and the bed gaurd poles slide into them. guard
i soon discovered the van did not like to start when it was hot, which caused difficulty when stopping for fuel etc. I was constantly in fear of stalling. I changed the battery, which was double the size of the old one, filling the battery compartment. PROBLEM SOLVED, much better, no more issues.
I was planning on ripping out the units inside but after a shortage of money and wanting to enjoy the van in the summer i decided to make do a mend for now.
I painted the cub-board doors, made some replacements for the missing ones and got some stick back plastic for the fridge. I also painted the buddy seat and recovered the cushion
Heard a loud bang on the motorway, total loss of power and the brakes started to fail.
I had blown out a spark plug taking part of the head with it and cooked my breaking fluid.
After some advice from a fellow owner the van went to Volkstop in Penkridge. They recoiled the head and sorted out the misfire. Replaced both front callipers, new break pads and disks, re furbed the rear ones and bled the system £640 ouch! But a fair price for the work, which i asked them to do.
We decided to go local for our trial run incase of any mishaps. We stopped at a campsite in Worverley which had electric hook up, toilets and showers. A last minute decision to take our large tent was a good one! It was brilliant to have a space to store car seats and tables and chairs etc.
You've done some good work there and the van is looking great. Nice one . Im trying to get motivated to do some more work on jambo our trooper pop top. see a few more posts like this and ill be back into it. Daz
Looks cool. I have them mugs. If you do rip it out then do it carefully if it is in good nick as you can sell it for a fair bit. Mine was rotten and all the handles were busted so not a lot of good to anyone. Enjoy the summer in it and work on it in the winter. Is it a 2.0?
Yes it 2.0l. The side unit is a bit knackered. Hinges had been replaced with cheap new ones, cheap bit of skirting at the bottom to hide some holes. It all works tho and does the job, so at the moment its down the list of jobs to do as the money is running out fast.
New pressed metal plates have arrived, terrible service from dubmeister. But i think it was worth the hassle, looking good. Uk road legal plates, official dvla manufacturer
Its the small things in life that make the big differences. My new metal pressed plates (road legal) Oh and i know the plates in the wrong place! Two dirty drill holes with bobly paint work needed to be covered up for now.
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If you do rip it out then do it carefully if it is in good nick as you can sell it for a fair bit. Mine was rotten and all the handles were busted so not a lot of good to anyone. Enjoy the summer in it and work on it in the winter. Is it a 2.0?
