My VERY RUSTY VW T25 Camper Van Project

[Robsey]

Oh dear - every part of this van seems to bring with it, it's own potential can of worms.

A very learned member on the VW (Club 8090) forum tells me that the gearbox has been worked on previously, and that some things were not right or 'not as expected' to use his diplomatic terminology.

Eyes to the sky, mumbling... oh dear, what next.?

[Envoy CDX]

Nicely progressing Rob, as for the gearbox, I am sure it can be put right whatever it is.
Problem for another day.

[Robsey]

I have to wonder what this van endured during its 'life' between April 1983 and Christmas 1990.

A lot of hardship judging by the state of many parts.

A look at the clutch release guide tube shows a lot of wear...



At least the contact face with the bell housing looks okay to my untrained eye.



The drive flange on the left looks quite battle scarred.



Some pitting on the polished part where the seal would go. (right flange in bottom photo).
Hopefully not too severe to require new flanges.





You have got to love these vans.

Purchasing Update -
Managed to get a set of two rear seat belts for less than £27 delivered. Thank the lord for ebay.
Due to the length of the belt webbing (5 metres), they retail new at nigh on £80 each.

The plan is to fit a centre lap belt, and a three-point belt on the left side.
Due to the seat being L shaped, with a bench seat running along the right side, there is no need for a three-point belt on the right.

[Envoy CDX]

Nice progress, looks like those flanges were previously pried out by an ape.. and probably hammered in too.
It'll machine and sleeve it it needs to be though.. Hope it all goes together well

[Robsey]

They are not available as new parts, but I am confident that they are still usable.

[3cav3]

If you think that's bad you should see what people often do to hydraulic breakers.
With the pitting, if you mount the flange in a lathe, spin it up and lap in with fine emery strip you might be surprised what it will remove. Its how I clean the pistons up in hammers,plus modern seals will cope with quite a bit of damage so long as there's no sharp edges.

[Robsey]

Cool, that is good to know.

It looks like the pitting is towards the rear lip of the seal, so we should be good to go.

[Robsey]

Back at the ranch, with a bit of cable tidying to sort.

Engine bay first.
I wasn't happy with the slack fit of the gromit, so I made up and fittted a sheet metal edge protector.
Wires fed through. Not pretty, but less chance of snagging any wires or insulation.



Fed the wiring for the rear light clusters and for the number-plate lights.
Zip-tied into position.





Last job... to suss out these wires under the front passenger seat.



After some head scratching... and research, it appears that I have the auto-box park-neutral wiring.
This will need to be bypassed,
or run through an immobiliser switch in due course.

Fortunately I have some 70 amp relays rated higher than the 50 amp cables. Thus making the latter option easily achieveable.

[3cav3]

Wiring is the one bit of my project that I totally dread, guess that's the fun, easy part for you though. If its out of sight then don't worry if its not as pretty as original, safety comes before aesthetics in my book any day.

[Robsey]

As long as I do not leave any live cables strewn about, then all is good.
Especially those two fat red / black starter cables.
50 amp cables would give a lovely firework display if anything goes the shape of a pear.

UPDATE - I have already hard-wired a coil feed immobiliser - which also kills ignition live feed to the EFI ECU. No ignition and no injection power.

Do I really need a starter inhibit too.?
Don't know. Can always fit a hefty key switch for laying up over the winter. I do live in quite a dodgy area - lol.

[Envoy CDX]

Given the theft and targeting of vw van's the better you protect your investment.

[Robsey]

I don't think any vehicle is safe when they can be stripped for spares and sold on auction sites.

Although saying that, last few used parts that I bought online were little more than bin fodder.

[3cav3]

I would of thought that with vehicles of this age the theif is going to need to be 60+ to understand how to get the old time stuff running, lol. No OBD2 port or WiFi to connect to.

[Envoy CDX]

I don't think any vehicle is safe when they can be stripped for spares and sold on auction sites.

Although saying that, last few used parts that I bought online were little more than bin fodder.

It's up to you, but ultimately, you're that far into it for what it would take to put the immobiliser in.. it would be madness not too, but that is my opinion

[Envoy CDX]

I would of thought that with vehicles of this age the theif is going to need to be 60+ to understand how to get the old time stuff running, lol. No OBD2 port or WiFi to connect to.

Not sure it would be that difficult to figure out, and if its targeted, I'd imagine they know already.

[Robsey]

I plan to make it hard to steal,

but the fact of the matter is, that even an aftermarket immobiliser can be 'bypassed' if you know where the feed to the coil, ECU / injectors and starter are.

Luckily for me, it is very apparent that 95% of the van owners themselves do not know their way around the electrics of their vans.

So it is not a huge worry for me.

Immobilisers can sometimes be more trouble than they are worth when the electrics of the van or the immobiliser itself start to deteriorate

The old alarm / immobiliser on my Cavalier was shocking for false alarms... that is why I ripped it out and fitted my own.
At the moment though, the Cavalier is going nowhere with both front seats and the battery removed and an empty fuel tank - lol

[Envoy CDX]

Cavalier is in the same state mine usually was then, empty fuel tank!)

As long as it's not something you're going to come to regret I'm sure whatever you decide is for the best

[Robsey]

Cheers Gary,
Everything will be fine, I am sure.
There is an old school 125 dB alarm hard wired in, to annoy the neighbours.
There are also two immobiliser kill switches.
One in plain sight, but not obvious, and the other is hidden out of the way.

I have made bypasses for both, just in case I have a breakdown, and need to rule out the immobilisation wiring.

The van is currently locked away in Troy's unit in pieces, so unlikely to be pounding the roads for another 12 months yet.
----------------------------------

Similar situation for the Cavalier.
I have a proper Scorpion alarm and immobiliser fitted via the factory loom... not cuts and bodges.

Plus for meets and rallies, I have my Vectra-B remote alarm and kill switch.
All I need to do is swap out at the main factory connection.
And if there is an issue with either system, I have a factory bypass panel to get me home in an emergency.

Hopefully both vehicles will be safe and sound..

Fingers crossed to have the Cavalier terrorisation the streets in July, ready for VBOA.

[Envoy CDX]

Fingers crossed to have the Cavalier terrorisation the streets in July, ready for VBOA.

hopefully.

[Robsey]

Finally did a little bit of work on the van... well not me.

I spent a good hour or so, looking for parts to be welded into the van to finish the passenger side footwell.
Just two tiny pieces.
No sign, so looks like I will have to re-make them.

Had a good sort out inside the van though, so not completely wasted time.

Towards the end of the night, I started my attempt to remove the c.v. joints from the near side drive shaft.
I tried last year and failed.
In disgust I had bagged up the greasey article and threw it back into the van.
Tonight the shaft was equally reluctant to let go of the joints.
After a lot of hammering with a lump hammer and punch, the first joint relented and let go.
Troy managed to thump his hand very hard, but did not let the joint get the better of him.

Attention moved to a bit of welding.
The metal was quite dirty between the two layers causing a lot of fizzing and farting noises.
But now the main front panel was finally fully puddle welded in place.



I just need to grind the welds flat and epoxy mastic the panel next week.

Back to the drive shaft.
The second joint was stubborn but quickly followed.



I managed to do this joint, so I hadn't been completely lazy.

[3cav3]

The cv joints on my van also refused to play ball. As seen in my photos I had to resort to using the stretchy gaitors to replace the damaged ones. I've often found joints in the past to be stubborn but until my van i had never been beaten.
With the welding, its always great when another job can be ticked off the list.

[Robsey]

As much as I love the variety of jobs in the unit, it is nice to do something on my own van.

I have watched loads of videos on youtube, and they say.. and show the fella simply rest the joint on top of the jaws of a vice, and the shaft virtually drops straight out.

BUT
The shaft has never been repaired previously in its 40 years.
Both joints were completely worn when I first stripped off the outer flanges a two years ago.



A filthy smelly job.

I can buy complete new shafts with both joints pre-assembled , but they are not very durable and wear very quickly.

The VW market is flooded with naff quality parts, so you have to be savvy who's parts you buy... even if it costs that little bit more.

One of the worst makes is Topran - sadly they have flooded the ebay market.

[3cav3]

Sadly ebay also seems to have parts that are fakes. Recently I purchased some bearings, sold as Febi, I'm 99% certain that they are actually Chinese knock offs as they simply colapsed when I pushed them into the struts. Always thought Febi was supposed to be one of the better makes.

[Robsey]

Febi "were" one of the trusted go to makes of car parts five or more years ago.

They are still a big hitter, but now and again a 'dodgy' part slips through.
I had a fan switch in the van. Brand new out of the box.
Pushing the knob onto the shaft, and the whole back end of the switch ejected itself out of it's casing, into the bowels of my dash.

I wasn't chuffed as it wasn't from ebay, but the No 1 trusted VW parts specialist in Yorkshire.

[Envoy CDX]

It's a poor state of affairs parts wise these days. Hopefully you encounter less crap parts going forward, sounds like you're getting some cracking progress though even if it is fighting you a bit.