Step on!

With the unusual run of good weather staying with us for two consecutive weekends, it's now on to a few of those finishing-off jobs that I should've got 'round to long before now. One of these jobs was wiring up a step light.

In true 'before and after' style; here's the before shot:

With just the downward light from the ceiling it is quite easy (after a few beers!) to trip-up into the van.

So, hey-presto, let there be light!

Wired in to the 12v DC socket that sits just inside the door and using a hidden switch just behind the rear seat kick-board, we now have super-bright LED light. The lights themselves are from IKEA; a great source of cheap LED lighting. This set is called DIODER and comes as four interconnecting strips and a 240v to 12v transformer. By simply leaving the transformer out of the loop we have easy-to-wire-up 12v LED lighting. A small rocker switch from Maplin completes the circuit.

I'll be fitting a few more sets in due course; one under the rear storage area and maybe a set to 'downlight' under the rear seat/bed for some optional moody lighting.

Roof cleaning...

I used to think life was too short to worry about how the roof looked on the van. Passers-by can't see it, so why should it matter? Living in a three-storey town house means I often catch a glimpse of the roof, covered in tar spots, tree sap and gifts from the local seagulls.

Time to break out the ammunition:

Today's weapon of choice is another Meguiar's product: Quik Detailer, which safely removes contaminants without scratching. I use this on the paintwork with a clay bar, but for the roof it needed something a little tougher - a very well used brillo pad. A quick spray of the detailer to loosen the grime, a light wipe with the brillo (no heavy grinding required) and then buff off with a cloth. Here's a half-and-half shot:

The van getting some attention:

Once buffed-off the roof then gets a quick coat of Meguiar's Deep Crystal Carnauba Wax to protect the paintwork from future dirt - this means the next time I clean it should be far easier than this was.

Here's the finished roof as seen from the living-room window:

Fingers-crossed for a nice dry (shiny-van) Summer!

Half-bra

Just a quick shot of the half-bra picked up from The Bra Factory at last weekend's Ultimate Dubs show. The Bra Factory is CMC's sister-company, where the original bra came from. Fit is generally very good; it needs a while out of the packaging to remove any creases and today being sunny was an ideal opportunity to let the bra warm up a bit before fitting - definitely the easy way of doing it.
As with the full-size bra, it will only be used in fair weather as dirt tends to get underneath and rub between the bra and the paintwork - never good.

You'll notice the gray plastics have been cleaned too, something that was becoming a real chore... until I found this trim restorer from Meguiar's. Ideal for interior and exterior plastics it really does bring tired-looking plastic back to life. Not too greasy and I'm hoping the sheen will dull a little in time. Certainly a massive improvement from before.

Show report: Ultimate Dubs

Not a show that I've been to before, Ultimate Dubs is primarily a water-cooled show held at the International Centre in Telford. We made the journey in the Caddy rather than the T5 which meant being at the mercy of cheap hotel deals with paper-thin walls, expensive bar prices and obnoxious guests - if we go again next year it will be in the camper!

The show is a one-day affair but it seems everyone arrives on Saturday and sets about cleaning their cars (something I took part in too!), the hotel car park was like a mini show'n'shine, pretty cool...

...but we left on Sunday feeling a little flat. Not just through lack of decent sleep but the water-cooled scene as a whole seems far too 'money' for me. And it's not a hater-thing; I have the utmost admiration for the cars and owners that have poured blood, sweat and tears into their rides - but a succession of nice paint, air-ride, Rotiform wheels, big stereo, RS4 seats, repeat, repeat, ~yawn~ fade-out... leaves me a little jaded. The show could benefit from more trade - more 'middle of the spectrum' trade rather than cheap stickers at one end and big-dollar conversions at the other.

Would I go again? Hmm... maybe. As a self-confessed 'wheel-perv' I could spend all day looking at different wheel and tyre setups - the kids call it 'fitment' and 'stance' but I think I'm too old for all that!?! The venue is pretty nice (and warm) but the car park is very limited - if you're not there first thing your ride will be in one of Telford's many shopper's car parks... we got there early!

Anyhoo, here's a few pics from the day. Not many T5s in attendance...

iKustoms' T5 on air looked stunning

Show-winning Caddy was a jaw-dropper

Super-simple Mk2: less is more!

A very tasty Passat wagon

Something for the air-cooled fans

Another perfect Mk2

Tidy Jetta on air

I certainly left feeling that our T5 needs to drop more than the current 40mm. Time to look for a coilover deal I think - air-ride would be great but there's no way I could justify the spend.

There's some more info on the show-winning Caddy over on the tdistyle blog.