Club 80-90 Forums

Morning all,

In the last couple of months I've become the owner of a 1990 VW T3 Transporter (5 speed) converted into a camper van by Holdsworth (Villa 3 conversion).

Having replaced tyres and taken "Hagar" in for a service I've been advised that the exhaust system could do with replacing due to corrosion. The local garage were a little nervous about undertaking such a task and suggested I look for a specialist...hence the post.

I was wondering if any of you far more experienced guys than me would have any suggestions/recommendations with regard to this requirement. I am in the Southampton (Hampshire) area of the UK but would be willing to travel, within reason, in order to get the best person for the job.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Steve

 

It's not a specialist task. Any garage with good motor skills should be willing to do it.
If l can change one in a stableyard with basic tools and a trolley jack/two axle stands and a cutting wheel on a small 240 volt grinder then surely a professional outfit can offer you a service.
Or give forum member davidoft on Hayling Island a call. He might be willing to do it. PM me for his phone number.

It's a straightforward job as long as the head studs don't snap when removing them. JP Exhausts only sell not fit their T3 systems now because of this. Good luck.

I suspect some places get too "eager" with the rattle gun and unecessarily break off studs. They want to turnaround the job too quickly.
On my first camper l ended up redrilling and tapping two fixings because l was naive and impatient.
If the old system is knackered then cutting it away closer to studs gives lots of room for careful fun with plusgas and heat.
Learning my lesson, second time round on a different camper, l extracted every single stud and replaced them.
Slow but very satisfying. No garage will want to spent that amount of effort and time.

No owner will want to pay the labour charge either if they do snap studs.

snap-on double cranked 13mm spanner SVSM13 is really useful to enable access on the nuts that you can't easily put a socket on

you are hoping that last time it was put together with correct components, unfortunately that often isn't the case