Table of contents for Issue 66 in VWt

Are T4s falling by the wayside, or are we about to witness a resurgence of interest in the first generation, front-engined Transporters?

Are T4s falling by the wayside, or are we about to witness a resurgence of interest in the first generation, front-engined Transporters?

Is it just me, or has the number of modified T4s being built fallen in recent times? Maybe it’s a reflection of the industry as a whole, but with second hand T4 values seemingly bottoming out at £500-£1,000, and even the really top drawer ones only just cresting the £10k mark, are they at risk of being overlooked entirely by newcomers to the fold? Add in the fact that rust is now really getting a grip on all but the most pampered pre-2003 Vans and I’m left wondering what the future is for T4s. Certainly the conversion industry appears to have largely forgotten about them and is instead hedging its bets with the more financially sound prospects that are T5 and T6 conversions instead, but what about individual modifiers? There’s…

Camper the better

Product of the month MV Airo night heater Fancy spending slightly less on a night heater, but still getting a first-class product with everything you need for installation? Then the MV Airo could be for you. This 2kW diesel heater sips fuel from your tank, draws minimal current from your battery and can be fitted under the driver’s seat (or under the Van if you prefer) with the supplied mounting plate. Simply drop the tank, drill a couple of holes, mount the pump and you’ll be toasty warm. How much? £624 Who? www.kiravans.co.uk Outdoor Revolution Turismo XLS 2 Just one such bargain is this quick to erect, drive-away awning with a two-berth inner tent that fits most awning rails. What more could you possibly need? Who?…

Camper the better

All under one roof

“Five truly enormous halls of nothing but the very best in the business” It’s all too easy to get stuck in a rut with the styling and converting of our Vans. But step outside the recognised comfort zones, or what others perceive to be ‘cool, and you’ll find a whole new world of possibilities. On the surface, the Caravan, Camping and Motorhome show at the NEC might appear to be a very corporate, soul-less affair of little interest to our ‘scene,’ but approach it with an open mind and you’ll find every major player in the UK leisure vehicle industry in attendance, and the future of Van conversions mapped out for 2018 and beyond. Even with our love of performance and modifying, we were genuinely blown away by how good…

All under one roof

Nir-Van-a

Nir-Van-a

Ever since the swanky Sportline landed on UK shores at the start of 2017, the T6 has further reinforced its iconic status amongst modern day commercial vehicles. Apart from being a trendsetter that has spearheaded the movement of all manufacturers towards ‘sportier’ versions of their Vans, every OE manufacturer is trying to emulate VW’s success within the aftermarket leisure vehicle industry, too. Our recent visit to the Caravan, Camping and Motorhome Show really opened our eyes to this. Well House Leisure, for example, is trying to grab some of the VW market for Ford, but really, a £57k Transit? We think not, even with Guy Martin’s undoubtedly weighty ambassadorial approval. The thing is, anyone with a sensible fiscal head on their shoulders, and passion in their heart, opts for a…

Potential pitfalls

While the engine is obviously going to be brand new in a T6, so shouldn’t present any immediate problems, the 2.0TSi (EA888 Gen2 in the case of the T6) is already on the Gen3 version in VW’s latest MQB platform, and the earlier engines (pre-2011 mainly) are known to present a few issues over time. Don’t let this put you off, these are just things that have arisen over the years, and should now have been designed out in the latest revisions. Timing chain tensioner A potentially catastrophic failure point that any TSi owner should be aware of, but one VW acknowledged with an update kit (p/no. 06K 109 467K). It shouldn’t affect post-2012 2.0TSi engines but, to check what your engine has, remove the lower timing chain cover on…

Event scene

Event scene

March 16-18 Dub Aid Whites Nurseries, Earls Barton, Northampton www.dubaid.co.uk 24 25 The VolksWorld Show We’ll be there! Sandown Park, Esher, KT10 9AJ www.volksworldshows.com 29-01 April Camperfest Chester Racecourse camperfest.co.uk April 6-8 Elemental VW Show Crouch Valley showground, Essex www.elementalvw.org.uk 6-8 Vee Dub Family Weekender Oak Tree Arena, Highbridge, Somerset, TA9 4HA 7-8 Dub Shed Elkon exhibition centre, Lisburn, Ireland www.dubshed.com 13-15 Bus Types VW Show Oswestry Showground, Shropshire, SY11 4AB www.bus-types.co.uk 15 Elsecar at the races Doncaster Racecourse www.elsecarattheraces.com 27 29 Big Bang Camper and Bus Show We’ll be there! Santa Pod Raceway Northants, NN29 7XA www.big-bang.co.uk 27-29 Dubs at the Mill Haselbury Mill, Crewkerne, TA18 7NY www.scrumpydubbers.co.uk May 4-7 The Only Meet is Essex The…

Bird’s the word

VWt: Hi Adrian, thanks for letting us feature your T4 in issue 62 of VWt. We’ve always liked your cars, but wondered if you work with vehicles as part of your 9-5? “customising is easy when you know how” AB: Firstly, thanks for the introduction. I don’t think I’ve ever been a trend setter before. Secondly, it was a pleasure, and thirdly, nope. I used to specialise in Zeppelin construction, but the work just isn’t about like it used to be. VWt: Are all your madcap ideas your own, or are friends involved in your projects? AB: I’m very lucky to have a couple of really close mates in Brent Ellicott and Richie Compton who, after more years than I care to remember, are still there to spur me on,…

Bird’s the word

This month ON PLANET JIMBO

• Caravan, Camping and Motorhome Show Hobnobbing with industry insiders at the NEC to see what’s in the hot seat for 2018 • Dubfreeze Popped up to Bingley Hall to check out the coolest (read: coldest) event on the calendar • Running water As it shows on pp80-83, I wired up a micro-switch tap and pump in #projectshed • VWt playlist Check out this month’s musical montage from the good folk at VWt: https://goo.gl/jZ51mm • New cone cutter It might not seem that exciting, but our Jimbo has been drilling holes everywhere • Album of the month Trombone Shorty – Backatown I just can’t stop listening to this New Orleans brass sensation…

This month ON PLANET JIMBO

THE

VOLKSWORLD

SHOW 2018

THE VOLKSWORLD SHOW 2018

The 2018 show is going to be a classic If you have not been to the show for a couple of years, make sure you come to the 2018 edition as it’s shaping up to be one of our best yet. The website is the place to go for all the latest news and information and while online, why not save some cash and buy your tickets in advance. www.volksworldshows.com Top European show vehicles We will have something to suit all tastes at The VolksWorld Show this year, with vehicles coming from all four corners of Europe. The one thing they have in common is that they are all finished to the very highest standard, with many making their debut at the event. If you have recently finished restoring a…

Lucky dip

Lucky dip

It’s not often anyone gets a second bite at the VWt cherry, but Ken Young and Sarah Burrows, owners of this wild 2003 T4, have joined that elite club. Eagle-eyed readers might recognise one or two features of this build that remain from its first incarnation in 2015 but, for those who missed it, here’s an American TV style ‘previously in VWt’ moment. It’s a long nose, 2.5, 888 Special, loaded with all the goodies that came with the X-pack, including electric windows and mirrors, remote central locking and cruise control. It needed to be loaded as Ken had to convince his wife-to-be, Sarah, to part with her 2003 Porsche Boxster in order that they could own it. The fact they are still planning their wedding proves the switch went…

Transporterholic

Transporterholic

Stop the world, it’s time to get off. Darren Smith from Doncaster in Yorkshire, the owner of this GTiinspired 2015 T5, has won at life. How? By discovering the perfect addiction. This particular addiction has no ill effects on your health, mental or otherwise, it won’t make you penniless and, rather than drive a wedge between you and your family, it can bring you closer together than ever. You already know the addiction because, through the simple act of picking this magazine up off the shelf and handing over your hard earned in exchange, you are already a Transporter-holic! For 36-year-old Darren, the symptoms began during his formative years in the world of car customisation. More narrow-minded people might label him a former ‘boy racer, and he definitely worked his…

Pump and dump

Pump and dump

If you want to officially re-classify your Van as a Campervan or leisure vehicle with the DVLA, a working sink and stove are mandatory. Even if you only ever plan to use your sink to keep a kettle in – as we do – or to brush your teeth and have a quick spruce up following a heavy night at a show, it still makes a lot of sense to wire in a 12V submersible pump, micro-switch tap and a pair of water tanks – one for fresh, one for waste. That way, should you ever change your mind, or come to sell your Van, it’s all set up for camping. While we were running some additional wiring, we also decided to bung a cheapo, eBay-sourced voltmeter and twin USB…

I am Ironvan

I am Ironvan

“Having an all-red Van and being called Pat, you can understand why I wanted to change it up a little” Ever had one of those days where nothing goes to plan on your Van? You know, one when you’ve spent hours attempting a job that every online ‘expert’ says is simple and takes five minutes (leading me to believe they’ve probably never attempted it) only, for one reason or another, things just don'tt to come together. Expletives and numerous visits to Screwfix aside, you’re left with a disabled Van, waiting on parts you didn’t know you needed and feeling down in the dumps with the unfinished job weighing heavy on your mind. Then you wake up, restless with a solution to the problem, and find yourself hot footing it to…

Readers’ rides

Readers’ rides

Speed costs… Stefan Parker, Barnsley The age-old adage of speed costs, how fast do you want to go? is something Stefan Parker and the team at SRS Automotive know only too well. Stefan: This is our 2005 Caddy that has undergone some major changes in the last few months. What started out as a gearbox swap from a six-speed manual to a seven-speed 4motion DSG with Wavetrac diffs quickly spiralled out of control, and it now has a 2.0-litre 16v common rail engine conversion from a 2015 Tiguan, with a Darkside Developments (SRS’s next-door neighbours) GTD2872VR ballbearing turbo, race cams and some other mods to help handle the extra power. Once it’s all finished and tuned, the power figure should exceed 350bhp. Suspension-wise, it now has KW Clubsport front coilovers…

Bébé à bord

Bébé à bord

“As Campervan novices... we hoped our experience under canvas would be transferable” “we didn’t want to spend more than two hours a day driving, for Luca’s sake” A Campervan, vineyards and Roman engineering might not be what spring to mind when you hear the term ‘shared parental leave, but when my husband, Chris, and I found out he could take extended parental leave during the first year of our baby’s life, we knew we wanted to use that as an opportunity to give our son the travelling bug we share. Luca was born prematurely in November 2016 and, after a rocky start where he spent eight weeks in hospital, he flourished and, by the time he was 10 months old, we felt confident enough to tackle our first family adventure.…

The generation game

The generation game

“the UK is soon to be awash with truly high performance Vans” Never before has VW Van ownership heralded such an important tuning milestone, yet no one seems sure exactly what the latest Euro6-compliant engine actually is. Some say it’s the latest version of the EA888 Gen3 engine (and not just because that features eight injectors with dual port injection), while others insist it’s a development of the Audi A4 (B8) EA888 Gen2 engine with variable valve lift (VVL). The latter is the truth, backed up by the fact the turbo upgrade path includes a Borg Warner K04-064 unit to replace the factory IHI RHF5 turbo. Having spoken at length with sources at VW, we can now confirm it’s a development of the 2010-on mainland Europe T5.1 2.0TSI CJKA /…

The VWt cool wall

It’s snowing outside as we write this, so no doubt we’re due a heavy fall of snow-day photos of Transporters immersed in the white stuff. But in the meantime, we’ve been focussing on bikes and Vans. MTB, road, Cyclocross, Moto-X… whatever really, the Transporter was built to facilitate any number of cycling-based outdoor pursuits, so this month we’ve pulled a velocipede-themed ‘lifestyle’ Cool wall together, and more could follow in its tyre tracks. So, whether it’s fishing at your favourite lake, kite surfing on the beach or towing your jet ski to the reservoir, we’d like to see what you lot get up to with your Vans. As always, send your pics to james.wallace@kelseymedia.co.uk…

The VWt cool wall