Running the Auxiliary Battery Lead

As expected this was going to be fun from the outset!

First I had to remove the seat and the seat frame, then loosen the rubber floor mat and have a hunt under it to see if there were any way I could run the positive feed of the battery. I found just to the right of the main cable routes (the hump at the back where the gear lever sits) pulled the grommet out carefully and I could see the metal heat shields around the gearbox etc.

Then I needed to be able to access the underneath, popped the bonnet and could see the heat shield at the back. I had to remove the plastic housing under the wheel arch, Wasn't to bad some torx screws and a couple of 8mm nuts and a sneaky push fitting just above a small hatch to the front of the wheel arch.

You have to slide part of the liner out once all of the torx screws are removed and the two 8mm bolts, It is just where the door meets the wheel arch. I found that opening the passenger door a little gave you room to maneuver just slide to the left as you pull gently out. There is a small hatch built into the wheel arch cover (you can see the hole left of picture) there is no need to remove it as I did.

Now the fun bit!
you can see where the positive battery wire goes out of the vehicle floor just. I made a slit in the grommet to allow the lead to go through. I then carefully pushed the wire through and down along the heat shield about a metre then looked under the wheel arch to see if I could see it!
Took a couple of attempts but in the end I could see the red wire from under the bonnet. It was just a case of running the wire safely to the battery compartment and fixing it with zip ties. there is a small gap at the back of the battery compartment that the lead can go through. I just pulled enough through so it will attach safely and left it unattached.(it will be a while before I run the full leads etc as I have not decided where to fit the leisure battery. It is the smallest lowest leisure battery but it is still to high to go under the seat without spacers etc so not sure at this point what or where to put things!

Putting things back together, making sure the battery lead is zipped tied to the other cables as I went, Seat base in place.

All the leisure battery cabling is stashed under the seat for the time being.

All done and seat back in place

Now this as to go back a bit fiddly sliding that part back on but no real problem just add a few torx screws to hold it in place whilst you do it.


And the reward!

A nice cold pint of Hob Goblin

Passenger seat armrests

So as VW forgot to add the armrests to the passenger seat, and when asked about them I was told that VW no longer fit them to passenger seats!!!!???!!!
That's funny cos they are fitted to the driver seat!

Anyway, sourced a pair on ebay not cheap £150 but they are at least double that OEM The only difference is the armrest part is vinyl where the OEM is cloth. But we will be having the seats recovered anyway so no matter!

I forgot to take pictures as I did it but there are as expected videos on youtube

So
Tilt the back of the seat towards the front so you can access the first piece to undo, which is to separate the front cloth from the back cloth, in this case its a long plastic U shaped piece the length of the cloth, pull the two apart (watch your knuckles!)

Now turn the backrest back up and into recline mode, this enables you to pull the front cloth through the gap

Move the backrest back up again enough to free the back of the cloth and you should see some of the sponge under that there is a plastic cover held by two plastic T fixings (they brake easily but can be replaced with standard interior panel fixings etc) remove them and carefully fold up inwards to give you more access.

Now carefully pull up the front and back until it shows some metal wire ( on the front of the seat) and the the cloth is attached to it via a soft metal ring. Remove the rings I used a pair of mole grips to open them enough to detach from the seat cover and the wire,

Pull up the cloth again carefully till you see the hole in which the armrests attach in the sponge

Now initially the video I looked at gave the impression that the brackets go on the inside of the backrest frame.They dont! They fit on the outside of the frame Doh!

Carefully pull up the foam to enough to access the bracket holes the forward screw goes through the frame and is bolted from behind. the rear is a welded on nut which you just screw in from the outside. I did this one first, loose enough to fiddle about with to get the forward bolt through and then tightened them.

Now you need to put the seat all back together,bit fiddly but not a problem just reverse of what you've just done.

You will see the bracket head just poking thru behind the cloth, I used a very sharp stanley blade to cut a small enough hole to allow the bracket head to show through the cloth, then all is left to do is attach the armrest and bolt in!

I would suggest that if your keeping the OEM cloth or have already re upholstered  the you need to either melt the cloth where you cut or a small bead of glue along the edges as I'm not sure if it will fray in time. Doesn't matter to me as we will get them reupholstered later>

Reads worse than it is honest! Overall took me about 30 mins to do once I had it sussed so add 15!

The Next Day no not Bowies Album!

So this morning it was time to road test yesterdays fun of putting in the the new rear window!

I opened the hatch door and pushed around the edge of the window from inside, that way I reckoned if I had cocked up at least the window would stay intact! all seemed fine so I lowered the door and went inside for another shove here and there to convince myself all was in order! It was, so I went out for a drive through country lanes and back (potholes and dents in the roads around here were an ideal way to check out my handywork!

We got back safely and it was great having a rear view!

So do I do the the two side windows????
Probably

Fitting the rear window

So today I took the plunge and decided to fit the rear window in the van. I was a "panel beater" to those who have no idea, it was in the days when vehicles were repaired not panels replaced! in a nut shell! I cut my teeth on Rolls Royce, Jaguars and Rovers.
So although its been a while you don't forget the skills you just need to update yourself! The last window I put in was with a rubber and securing strip, I'm now confronted with special primers, adhesive assisters and tubes of black stuff !
So here's my account of the day

First was to remove the metal, I had bought a nibbler that attaches to a power drill, basic but should do the job. I have no need of the bulk head that came with the van so had a play on that till I understood how it worked.

So first was to drill four holes to accept the nibbler in each corner. and fit a glass suction handle for final removal

Next cut the hole! I decided to cut with ample gap to enable final cut around using the inner lip to guide the tool. Job done just needed to file a few places to even things up and smooth the cut edges.

Next was to gently hammer (rubber mallet) the inner and outer lips together. So I could install the beading which has to go over both edges. 

So once the trim is in place it was time to clean up everything and ready the rear window to be positioned in place. Once that was done time to play with the chemicals!
cleaned around the window with panel wipes and the van paintwork. There was no mention of this in the Dinitrol Pack but other videos showed this being done and keeping things clean has to be the priority.

First I offered up the window to the hatch and got my daughter to run a pencil line around the inside so I had and margin all around to stay in!
then it was paint the adhesive activator around the inside of the pencil line. The do the same around the hatch. Then paint the UV primer to the same and let it dry on both parts. The instructions say put the bonding agent on the window, but videos show it being applied to the van metal work.
My opinion is that it would be better on the van metal so that is what I did. It was not easy as the bonding agent is very thick and not easy with a hand pumped applicator! But I did it, not pretty but within the boundaries.
It is then just a case of offering up the window, you have time to re position it which I did a little. give it a good press down around the edges and attach some masking tape to stop any chance of it dropping a little.

After a couple of hours I removed the tape and gave it a clean. Some of the bonding agent was showing in the gaps so I carefully removed the excess and cleaned the paintwork. Its not full on privacy glass but gives a degree of privacy along with looking as cool as F !

Keep the bird crap off!

Starting the insulation

At this point I've decided that I will use the OEM cover panels at the back to secure the insulation.

First I sprayed the panels below the window line with Dinitrol

The lighter parts you see are the white vinyl tiles! No point in wasting Dinitrol on areas that are already sorted!

Next I filled the voids with Dacron insulation, my reasoning is its a man made fibre and a lot of converters use this! I put a double layer in, then replaced the OEM panels.

lets do some more

 

So I thought I'd have a gander at the panels at the back see what was behind them. painted as well which is a bonus I remember when if it was covered it didn't get painted ! Taking an old fashioned remedy for preventing any "booming" of large flat panel areas, I bought a pack of B&Q's cheapest stick on tiling £7.00 for a pack of 11. and stuck them onto the panels.Cheap and cheerful but do the job I have enough for both walls and the rear hatch from the doors back. I had a quick look behind the panel on the hatch, and it is made up of several channels and reinforced. So I do not think I will need to do it but I probably will just because I have the tiles!

I will be spraying Dinitrol also in those lower panels,again this helps towards eliminating boom, but also it is difficult to stop condensation completely in these vehicles. By spraying the bottom half (and any crevices I can get to this will prevent rusting. I will then be using Dacron to insulate and then wallboard ( like the ones used caravans they have a coated front cover) which will cover that to give me a clean flat area to build onto for the units.