Transporter

A few months ago I fitted this rather lovely multifunction steering wheel from a mk6 Golf GTi. Most would be content with this much higher end piece of kit being used for the simple but important purpose of steering but not me. This thing has bling buttons and I want to use them as reaching half a meter across to the head unit is clearly far too hard for me so I started the job of achieving the "impossible" and tried to convince my T5 it should chat to a golf steering wheel. Before we get started though I'd like to point out that I have written down my whole process to achieve this job. As such there are some false turns and dead ends so make sure you read the whole thing before going shopping yourself. Alternatively just skip to the end and use the shopping list there. I have done this so others can carry on from where I left off should they wish to try an alternative root. Right research head is on! First off I picked up a multi function steering wheel conv...

On The Rails This was a big job, where a lot has happened, be it good or bad. I haven't kept this to a simple check list but have presented it as more of a story. You will find plenty of other people who have carried out similar modifications, to different platforms, in mildly different ways so please excuse the slightly rambling narrative as I try to build on this and hopefully entertain along the way. I have tried to put headers at pertinent points to help you get to where you want to be if you are looking for a particular piece of information. Otherwise I hope you enjoy the ride. From the top I bought the van with a fairly nice day van interior that you can see over on the right. It comprised of an OEM leather tripple folding bench seat from a Executive Shuttle, properly mounted and a table shaped like a surfboard. The chequer pattern floor was made of vinyl tiles and the walls were fully insulated and carpeted as individual panels which made for a pretty good quali...

Hand cranking your windows open and closed  is a massive pain in the bum and is surprisingly distracting, something you only really notice when you go back to them after years of button podging. Well I'm missing that little hand crank now as my windows remain stubbornly closed. It all started when I went out to my van to try and add a new key remote to my van as the range was terrible at best. I started the procedure and realized I needed the window open but when I tried to open it they wouldn't budge. Neither window wanted to move in fact so I had a poke about at the fuses which were fine. There was no relay click either which got me thinking that I might be missing a hidden fuse or some such malarkey but no joy. My next port of call was to hit everything with WD40 to push out any water ingress and clean the contacts on plugs. Again though I was greeted by silence from my window motors. I read my Haynes manual which wasn't very helpful and the forums were the us...

Intro I don't remember having an issue with the remote central locking. I didn't really take any note of it whatsoever. There was however only one genuine key so I bought another off of eBay. I tried to add it to the vans memory by using the one key in the ignition and the other in the door technique that is shown on many youtube videos. Around here I gained my window not working fault mentioned later in this blog and I was unsuccessful in adding the keys remote to the system for a nice double fail. Key? As time wore on the remote range became noticeably worse, only working with the remote close to the vehicle. I swapped the battery and internals between the keys as I didn't have the VCDS at the time to program a new immobilizer but the range did not improve with this swap.  Are you hearing me? With the transmitter side seemingly okay, I next looked into the receiver side.  From what I could tell, all central locking was dealt with the Comfort Control ...

Intro Having previously owned a B7 Audi A4 S-line SE last edition, I had become used to a rather plush interior and I was having some problems with my T5 from the drivers seat. T5's are better appreciated from the outside than in. Much to my dismay this seems to be the case even for some modded vans I was finding on the internet. A wise man once said: " I'd rather live in a cave with a view of a palace than live in a palace with a view of a cave. " In fact it was Karl Pilkington and he is an idiot. The point he missed is that my T5 cave was clearly designed for a cave man and you still have to look at the inside of it whilst everyone else enjoyed the far prettier exterior. It's like a VW Dime bar only the crunchy inside is a mix of plastic and rubber that would do little for your teeth. So just like a Dime bar then. I'd like to stress that the interior isn't bad at all. It is perfectly functional and solid, it's just far from attracti...

Hunting Dubs Time wasn't much of a healer. The memory of the oil making 4-motion was with me as I searched the internet for a suitable replacement.  "It had been a bargain and what if it had been a simple fix"? I might have thrown away a genuine bargain and I was now struggling to find a van with similar speck and at a similar price without astronomical miles on it. Time however was on my side (healing properties omitted though they were) and one particular example did crop up on auction. Sat at a starting bid of £12,500  and no bids there was a silver 2.5 130ps LWB with electric pack,  barn doors and a few bits added to make it into a light day van. Some pimping Landrover alloys, coil overs, a rear spoiler and fancy headlamps also gave it a pretty gnarly look. The mileage was at 85k, not bad at all for a van, so after messaging the seller to see if they were happy with a bit of a wait I stuck a minimum bid on it. Which I won. I paid a holding deposit...