The heat is on...

At last, no more cold nights and chilly mornings - the Eberspacher heater is fitted:

Above is the view from the driver's footwell showing the air-inlet end of the Airtronic unit.

And here's the view from the rear of the seat base showing the hot air ducting exiting the unit. The benefits of mounting the unit here are threefold; it is inside the cab away from the elements, the amount of ducting required is reduced and therefore the unit is more efficient, and the unit can be flat-mounted as oppose to side-mounted under the van - this increases efficiency and reduces the chances of failure.

Here's a shot of the 'extra' ducting they've supplied:

We're back at Campershak in two weeks to have this reduced and tidied-up to look something more like this:

Here's where the magic happens:

We went for the seven-day timer due to our early starts five days a week - there's nothing more depressing than spending 20 minutes warming a van up in the cold and scraping ice off the windscreen just to go to work! So far we've worked out the thermostat control and set the clock - next is working out the programmable days and on/off times - reading the manual everything seems fairly straightforward.

Initial reports are that the unit is very quiet after it's initial start-up period, quiet enough to sleep through. And on full-power the air is very warm! Probably too warm!!! But its good to know we can get a good amount of warmth quickly after being out in the elements walking or biking.

Speaking of noise, we also went for the extra silencer, this sits above the plastic undertray - again, away from the elements. Here's a shot of the exhaust:

It should be quiet enough not to bother any neighboring campers - I'm now looking forward to the temperature dropping to put the Eber to the test!

The end of Summer...

Just a quick update post as I haven't really done anything with the van throughout October. The van has been used for ferrying mountainbikes around, getting musicians to gigs (the van makes quite a small but well-equipped tour-bus) and for the primary intention of a spot of weekend camping.

We spent last weekend at a small 12-pitch campsite on the outskirts of York run by The Lysander Arms, a small pub to the north of York, not far from the Clifton Moor Tesco and within easy reach of the Park & Ride into the city centre - ideal for exploring, shopping, drinking and eating.

The steel wheels are currently being shot-blasted before painting and refitting for the Winter months. The Eberspacher diesel heater is being fitted a the end of this week - report to follow soon - I'm still looking forward to a spot of mid-winter camping!

Driveshaft update

All repaired and back on the road. A mere £609 lighter - which is mainly for the parts (driver's side driveshaft and stubshaft, both stripped), labour came in at straight two hours which I'm quite happy with. The guys at Aire Valley Workshop also noticed a broken clip on the pipe that meets the airbox so I'm back in a day or so to fit a fresh one.

Fingers are still firmly crossed that we'll get a big chunk (£475) of the repair bill back after claiming on our AA Parts Insurance Policy which is like a mini-warranty of sorts; as long as your vehicle is serviced at a VAT registered garage (to keep it legit) the first £500 (less £25 excess) can be claimed on non-consumable repair parts. Something we've had for a number of years but this is the first time we've made a claim. Watch this space...

10th October UPDATE: The cheque's in the post! Thanks AA :)

15th October UPDATE: Cheque received and in the bank!

Back in the Loop...

The recent driveshaft failure has made us think about not using the van as a daily driver, raiding the savings account and bringing-forth the purchase of a cheap and economical daily driver...

Due to a work relocation, my journey to work has changed from 'steady-going country roads' to 'stop-start urban-annoyance' - you know the type; being cut-up at roundabouts by people* that won't wait in a queue but would rather pass in the other lane and then cut-in at the last minute. I will attribute some of the driveshaft abuse to this change in driving style - and having had a little one litre Lupo from Aire Valley Workshop for the last few days, I can safely say that I'd rather be commuting in the Lupo than in the van (something I never thought I'd say). After-all... who's rushing to get to work?!

Plus we're adding miles to the van at a fair rate, roughly 20,000 a year, if this continues the van will have 200K on the clock by the time we put a pop-up roof in!!! Time for a second vehicle again...

Our old Lupo GTi was by-far the best vehicle we've ever had; it had all the zing of a Mk1 Golf GTi (we had one of those too!) combined with the exclusivity of their being less than a 1,000 right-hand-drive GTi's imported for UK roads - it is rumoured there's only 600 left! The Lupo GTi always felt a bit special even on the most mundane of journeys.

Whilst I'd love another GTi, I don't think we can make ends meet when it comes to insurance and fuel costs. And all my fantasies of beasting around the Yorkshire Dales in a Land Rover Defender (or similar) just won't become a reality on my salary.

So the hunt is on (thankfully with no great rush) to find the perfect little Lupo. No more than £1,500, 1.0 or 1.4, petrol or diesel, preferably not yellow but I'm not fussy, don't mind a high-miler as long as there's history with it, not over-modified either but would be nice if already lowered (sorry, can't help myself!).

*Salesmen in BMWs, Fatcats in Audis, Wannabes in Range Rovers, School-run-mum's Picassos, Girls in New-Minis still doing their makeup on the way to work, the list is endless...

Place your bets...

When you see a T5 on the back of a recovery truck, there's only ever going to be one thing wrong:

Yep, that's right - there's goes a driveshaft!

It went whilst pulling out of works' car-park with the usual enthusiasm for getting away after an average day at work. Probably at around 4, maybe 4 and half thousand revs, bang...

No drive.

I knew almost straight away that's what it would be, quite a common occurrence on the 174s - hence why I'm probably fairly philosophical about it.

The guys from the AA were great; it seemed odd at first when two guys got out of the cab - the driver was on his first night(!) with an experienced mate along to offer tips and advice. I probably didn't help by saying 'please be careful, that's my pride-and-joy', but they both took great care in getting the van onto the low loader using extra chocks due to the lowering and being extra-careful with the straps around the alloys.

Amusingly, Mr First-timer wasn't really up to witty banter during the journey from Leeds back to Skipton, but his mate chipped in and we were soon chatting about the v-dub scene, scooters, mods, bad weather and the bloke that called the AA out asking them to clear his driveway of snow so he could get to work!

Right, I'm off to bed before anything else bad can happen today - will update with a full diagnosis from Aire Valley Workshop in due course.

7th October UPDATE: Initial diagnosis is gearbox and not driveshafts/stubshafts. This is now beginning to sound expensive; the 'box is coming out and being shipped over to a specialists in Leeds for further investigation. Will let you know the outcome in a day or two...

7th October UPDATE Nº2: Looks like we're back to it being the driveshaft/stubshaft splines that have stripped under acceleration. After a phone-call with Mr. Gearbox Specialist (who immediately said 'Driveshaft' the minute he heard the numbers 174!) we're thankfully back to it being a less-expensive and hopefully less time-consuming job. He pointed the guys at Aire Valley in the direction of the problem and my initial prognosis was correct.
Further updates to follow...

The chosen Winter wheel

After much deliberation and photoshop-ery, I've decided to go with a straight Audi Numbus Grey (or similar) for the steel wheels:

Pretty soon I'll be handing the wheels over to JC at JC Motors to arrange the tyre removal, shot blasting, prep and paint, and tyre refitting. Thankfully he's got loads of local contacts and the whole job shouldn't cost the earth.

I'm hoping the wheel colour will give the van a tough look and get us through the worst of the Winter extremities without looking too rough come next Spring.