It's curtains for the old blinds

Here's a perfectly timed upgrade that we've been wanting to do for a while. The old internal window blinds have served us well but always felt a little 'temporary'. And since using the external cab blind more often, the internal ones were simply getting in the way... the solution; curtains.

We'd been aware of a curtain kit from Kiravans for quite a while but weren't in a position to justify the price. But thanks to a competition they were running we soon found ourselves with a nice voucher towards the purchase. As is usual in the land of Stone174, nothing is ever that simple - there's nothing in the Kiravans curtain range for the right hand sliding door on our twin slider... Time for a little Yorkshire ingenuity.

As we were keen to continue using the external cab blind, the kit ordered comprised of a curtain for the left hand sliding door, one for the tailgate, and another left hand sliding door kit (a right hand fixed window version would be too wide).

Pic: Kiravans

As you can see the curtains look nice and simple - they're always under tension so don't flap or move around - and the black-out option we went for certainly seems to work.

Fitting is relatively straightforward and the mounting kit is sufficient. Confidence with a drill is required! We started on the left hand sliding door first (all fine), then on to the tailgate (again, all fine with some very slight adjustment to the curve of the rail), and then on to the driver's side sliding door.

Here we simply 'flipped' the left hand version - the top rail is still the top rail but now mirrors the one at the other side, this fits fine without adjustment. Next we offered up the bottom rail - here it doesn't fit 'perfectly' at either end - the rear corner needed a tweak to fit and the front fouls against the door handle plastic cover.

At first I thought it would be case of 'out with the angle-grinder' and trim the rail... but on closer inspection (it's always wise to take a step back, have a brew, and mull things over for a bit) we decided to remove the door handle cover, trim it to the profile of the curtain rail, fit the rail, replace the cover - perfect!

Thanks Kiravans, not only for the curtains but for letting us be your competition winners!

More storage

As any fellow campervan'ers will know, it's all about the storage - especially us small-van'ers. They say every inch counts when it comes to hiding/storing all those little bits and bobs you seem to acquire over the years and then carry around with you.

One area of the van I felt could be improved upon is the sliding door; two large cavities that have been panelled over with no frills by Volkswagen on all but the top of the range Caravelles and Californias. Scouring the internet for good used door panels from these models and you're quickly well in to three figures - and with no guarantee of secondhand quality (and a few dubious sources) and I'm left looking elsewhere...

Here's the sliding door from inside as it has been since carpeting the van back in March 2009:

Fairly plain and boring, not living up to it's full potential, just adding to a sea of grey carpet.

Then a couple of weeks ago whilst browsing the T5 forum, I found a few other owners that had bought a new product from Kiravans that fits the brief. It's still in a pre-production test phase at the moment but this replacement panel complete with three storage compartments is going some way to maximise every useable space in the van:

It looks a little 'plain' at the moment, still in factory grey, but once trimmed along with the front door cards and refitted with blind clips to hide those standard clips it should feel much more at home. The top pocket is ideal for things like a few bungee cords or tent pegs, the middle pocket would take a few folded newspapers or magazines, the lower pocket is ideal for a full size umbrella which neatly clips in at either end.

Great service from Kiravans too; emails promptly answered, ordered Thursday afternoon and it was delivered at 9am Friday morning. Fitting takes around 10 minutes - a little longer depending on what you may have fitted to your door already.

Release the Hounds(tooth)!

After what seems like a relatively quick two weeks the van is back on the drive after it's trip to the trimmers. Our initial pre-pick up nerves soon diminished on seeing the finished results which far exceeded our expectations. As you'll know from previous posts we had given MJ a fairly tight brief - to the point that I had even photoshopped a T5 seat to explain where the fabric/leather meeting points should be (I've seen a few styles that I don't like and didn't want in my van) - I think we found the right point somewhere between 'client from hell' and 'knowing what you want'.

We also threw in a couple of last minute requests just before dropping the van off. One of which was to change the colour of all the seat plastics. Having seen a few retrims on the recent Busfest visit it was clear that good quality nappa leather meeting commercial van-grade light grey plastics wasn't going to look right. To achieve the no-compromise, factory OEM look, we had to change the colour of the plastics to the darker Caravelle-spec anthracite.

And that's quite a lot of plastic for two captain's seats:

This had obviously added to the initial one-week turnaround time, not a problem - we've waited five years for this moment! Going back to the previous posts you'll have seen my teaser as to the finish and materials chosen, a part of the brief that didn't change. Here's a few taster pics:

The front seats are pretty much perfect. Exactly the result I was hoping for - enough of a difference to make them stand out, yet not too far to look out of place - if that make sense? I'm not trying to make a 'luxury' vehicle with diamond stitching and fancy embroidery, just a quality finish that looks like something Volkswagen might have done with a bigger budget.

The rear seat trimmed to match has started the process of tying the two areas of the van together:

The bed frame might get a coat of darker paint just to help it blend in a little more. We had some fresh foam cut in the firmest grade possible (we both like a firm bed). The front edge roll makes for a really comfy seat and helps the otherwise 'square' foam look a little more rear-seat like. Another pair of headrest may also be added at a later date.

There's some exceptional attention to detail from MJ Interiors - I hardly need to say that they come highly recommended!

Another last-minute request was a pair of map pockets in the front seats:

A good shot showing the darker plastics:

A wider shot of the front seats, well worth the wait...

So that's it. Stage two will be dashboard, steering wheel, doorcards, A and B pillars, headlining, and a few other tweaks. Now to start saving up again, it won't be another five years I can assure you!

Preventative measures

Okay, so Winter might not be camping and show-going every weekend but it does make for a great time to sort any little issues you might be having with your van. We've got one. It's the dreaded dual mass flywheel.

Now it's not often that Stone174 gets his fingers dirty and starts talking about things under the bonnet, but there's so much forum-talk, speculation, doom and gloom about the subject, I thought I'd do a little research and put something up on here.

Dual Mass Wha...?
The dual mass flywheel (or DMF if you like) is fitted in most modern diesel and petrol engines, both passenger car and light commercial vehicles. In fact nearly all Diesel Light Commercial Vehicles built today benefit from a DMF, providing van drivers with smoother more refined vehicles.
Engine torsional vibration (TV) has increased over the years due to greater cylinder pressure and increased compression ratios. These increases have been so great that a cure had to be found for the extra vibration. The DMF absorbs all the torsional vibration and gives the added benefits of reducing noise, reducing fuel consumption and protecting the driveline from the harmful vibration and occasional injector misfire.

Worried yet - what are the symptoms?
We first noticed ours going after the van had been stood for a couple of weeks; engage first gear from cold, pull away with a bit of gas and judder, judder, judder...
Once warmed up it all goes away. Using the van daily and it doesn't happen. Leave the van for a week and it's back.
Many people say there's nothing to worry about, it's just a build up of condensation on the flywheel, perfectly normal. I'd say ours has got noticeably worse over the past 12 months.

Time to replace?
There's never a good time I suppose, but there's always a bad one. More often than not we're in the van doing something we've been looking forward to; heading to a show, a week off work etc. The last place we want to be is on the hard-shoulder and making small-talk for several hours in the back of a recovery wagon (no offence to the AA). So, combined with a 90,000 mile service and MOT, we've chosen to replace the DMF and clutch in one go.

Is there a cheap option?
In a word, no. We're not ones for scrimping on pattern-parts, this is one item that needs to be OEM.

Parts required for the 2.5 174 engine will be:
Genuine LuK 240mm Dual Mass Flywheel
Genuine SACHS SRE Organic / Sintered Clutch Disc
Genuine SACHS SRE Pressure Plate
Genuine SACHS Releaser
Flywheel and Pressure Plate Bolts 

This is an uprated direct replacement for the OE LUK Kit found on the 2.5 TDI Transporter T5 with the 6 Speed Gearbox. The Organic Clutch Disc are rated by Sachs to 390Ft/Lbs+

Parts cost is around £675. With roughly around 6 hours to fit.

What about going back to a Single Mass Flywheel?
Initially the unit cost may be lower, however in the long run damaging vibrations that were previously isolated by the DMF could affect or damage other parts of the vehicle. Failures can occur as a result of retro-fitting solid flywheels. Vibrations not eliminated by the flywheel have been known to destroy gearbox components, contribute to broken crankshafts and increase noise or resonance within the vehicle cabin to unacceptable levels.

So there you have it, not the sexiest of Christmas presents I've ever received; not quite the glamour of new alloys and airride of this time last year - but these part are just as important. The van is booked in to Aire Valley Workshop for the first Saturday in 2014 and they're keeping it for a week.

Front splitter wanted...

I'm currently on the look out for a slim-profiled front splitter to sit under the Sportline chin.

Must not be the popular Seat Leon Cupra R splitter that many others have fitted (too rounded). So far, I've looked at Mk2 and Mk3 Golf, Renault Espace, various Vauxhall splitters and plenty of eBay-specials!

The look I'm trying to achieve:

Just enough to visually lower the front a little further. All ideas and recommendations will be gratefully received - I'm quite happy to break out the Dremel and junior-hacksaw if required.

The Volksworld Show 2013 Roadtrip

Planning had begun back at the beginning of the year for a trip south, a day in London, a weekend at the Volksworld show, and an overnight stop on the way home. Like all best-laid-plans, things started to fall apart (literally) almost straight away.

Ready for the off...

The snow, hail and rain didn't dampen our spirits, but the cancellation of Sunday night's stay at the St. Neots C&CC site due to flooding meant some frantic last-minute rebooking was in order.

Our first port of call was the C&CC site at Chertsey. A nice, riverside site with great facilities and a friendly welcome. We were pitched up and in the pub in no time at all - an almost perfect first day...

Almost perfect? You ask. Well, we soon noticed on the way down that we have become a victim of the ever-popular frozen and split windscreen washer pipe.

Pitched up, hooked up and perfectly level

The Chertsey site is ideal for visiting the centre of London. Just a brisk walk across town to the railway station where we purchased a combined rail/underground pass for the day that delivers you into Waterloo in less than an hour. Trains are incredibly regular, compared to up North, and run late into the evening so you can enjoy a full day in London and avoid the evening rush hour.

Amazing to think roads were closed with drifting snow back home

Friday saw us head over to the Volksworld show. My only gripe with the whole show was being told on the paperwork that camping opened at 3pm - so we milled-around, killing time between leaving the campsite and getting to Sandown. When we arrived at the racecourse at 14:45 (expecting to queue) but we found people had been camped up for ages, bagging all the level spots, great!

I quickly jumped out of the van and found a not-quite-level spot that did look dry and firm under-foot - some campers were already stuck and being towed out.

Parked up and aired-out

By Sunday the temperature had dropped considerably; the windchill on the racecourse was freezing. I guess this kept the show attendance down, everyone was indoors at the show and I felt really sorry for anyone with an outside trade stand or display. I'll go into more detail about the show in a future post.

If only I could convey how cold it felt...

So we come to leave on Sunday lunchtime, a quick adjust of the mirrors and the driver's side (which had been on the exposed side to the weather all weekend) promptly fell off and cracked. A slow steady journey up to the C&CC site at Milton Keynes (our replacement site) was on the cards. A stiff drink was in order when we arrived. The Accuair eLevel touchpad had also given up on Sunday morning - I was starting to wonder what else could go wrong...

Monday dawned bright and cold, as we're both early risers we headed straight for the Volkswagen Van Centre in Bletchley near Milton Keynes. At this point we were all prepared for 'none in stock' or 'that'll be X hundred pounds' but we were greeted with a very helpful 'I'll see what we can do'.

A phone call to the TPS around the corner, a quick trip there to pay, and we're back with replacements for both sides - it seemed to make sense at just £30 each - I never liked the tinted glass that Merseyspeed had fitted; they had no anti-rattle prongs either which might have explained why one fell out!

Back to VW and the helpful girl on reception collared a young lad on his tea-break who followed us out and fitted them for free. We were on our way and very grateful for their help.

Our next stop, having left our traveling companions to make their way home, was back to iKustoms for a quick spanner-check of the airride install, fit some new top mounts, and hopefully diagnose the eLevel problem. I'll not go into too many details but a quick two-hour stop here turned into a marathon five hour visit with nothing going right. Many thanks must go to Iain at iKustoms for his persistence in sorting problems large and small when us lesser-mortals would have thrown in the towel and slammed the garage door shut!

By 16:30 we were on our way. Everything was working, we had everything crossed. Just the washer pipe to sort at a later date.

Prosport Problems

Clonking, honking, creaking, choppy, lurching and generally a bit vague?

Wonder what that could've been...

Airride - time for some pics

The novelty is far from wearing-off. Parking up becomes funny wherever you go; airing-out in front of unsuspecting passers-by with a loud 'Pttsssssshhhhh' seems to stop people in their tracks.

Here's a few 'aired-out' (that's all four bags devoid of any air pressure) pics to whet your appetite - click any pic for a larger version:

So far, the ilevel app has been faultless; being able to pre-set ride-heights and have the trim-mode set to permanently monitor ride-height is awesome.

Here's the van in setting 3 - 90% full - Ideal for getting on to campsites, rough terrain etc. Ride quality is good at this height if a little firm.

Here's another pic with the van set to pre-set 2 - daily driving - looks cool and driveable. Ride quality is fine at this height; similar to factory.

And between the presets we have any infinite variation of height and rake, perfect for leveling up at a campsite:

Nose up, back down - good for those sloping Welsh campsites.

Nose down, back up - for that hot-rod rake!

Being able to control all four corners independently means side-to-side slopes can also be dealt with. Here's driver's side front and rear up and passenger side front and rear down:

Camping whilst there's very little air in the bags also gives a firmer base - no longer when turning over in the night does it feel like the whole van is moving. Dubfreeze was a great night's sleep.

You'll notice there's no pics of the eLevel touch pad on the dash yet. I'm still undecided as to how I'm going to mount it. I'm tempted to remove one of the heater outlets next to the head-unit and flush-mount it there. For the time being it will sit loose on top of the dash.

So that's the airride in a nutshell. If you have any questions (just not 'how much?') feel free to get in touch using the ask Stone174 link at the top of the blog.

Stone174 airride specs:
Airrex front bagover struts and rear bags/dampers.
Viair twin 480 air compressors
Accuair 5 gallon air tank
Accuair VU4 solenoid valve unit
Accuair eLevel management
Accuair iLevel iphone integration module

Fitting/setup by iKustoms

On air...

Here's a quick 'first-look' at the van on airride. No doubt there will be many more pics soon.

Needless to say I'm over-the-moon and big, big thanks go to Iain at iKustoms for his work over the last 10 days. I can't stop giggling every time I see the van aired-out.

Sneaky peek...

Just a quick teaser shot before picking the van up:

Early progress...

Nothing like waking up to find an email sent late in the previous night:

Compressor mounts made and installed
Compressor wiring done and tested
ECU mounted
Valve block mounted
Power cables run
Wiring is into the dash area

Will be making tank mounts first thing and running the first air lines, Should be able to pressure up that side of it by lunch

Struts and bags will be going on Monday

The touchpad will be left loose for now, maybe mounted permanent at a later date. More updates soon...

And so it begins...

Parts arriving ready for dropping the van off on Wednesday.

Happy New Wheels!

And a Happy New Year to Stone174 readers! The Sportline wheels are on.

Initial reports are great; they are soooo much easier to clean than the BBS (great at this time of year), the Nexen tyres are good and quieter too. All-in-all a much more sensible wheel than previous.

Santa brings bags of joy

I don't get to play with them until February, but the struts are built and delivered to iKustoms ready for the big install.

So it's a Merry Christmas to all Stone174 readers! We're spending our first couple of nights under the pop-top roof during the break so will report back on how it goes...

Santa brings wheels

Okay so he's a few days early! A big part of the new modifications in 2013 will be the wheels - my reasons for selling the BBS were several; I was getting fed up with the fiddly cleaning regime, I was concerned that the new suspension setup may have been compromised with a wide tyre and not-so-'tuck'-friendly offset, and most importantly, I was concerned that the load rating on the tyres wasn't enough in the eyes of the law.

Maybe that's me growing up (ten years ago I probably wouldn't have bothered) but it was starting to niggle that, god-forbid, we were in an accident; in the eyes of either police or insurance, one look at the load rating might have landed us in seriously deep water.

So to combat this situation, a full complement of brand new Sportline alloys have been ordered. Along with correctly rated tyres (fitted and balanced), VW bolt covers, and a set of locking bolts - all brilliantly arranged and shipped by Banwy Vans in South Wales.

There's a bit more profile to these tyres too so I'm hoping they'll be a bit comfier than the 19's. They should wear better too and give a little better fuel economy. the only thing left to decide is whether to add a 'hotrod' inspired thin red band to the tyres...

Taking things to another level

So I guess you're thinking 'where does Stone174 go from here? - the van looks pretty sorted and perfectly fit for purpose as a campervan'. Well, as a closet-perfectionist, there's still loads of little details that I'm not happy with. One big detail that isn't to my liking is the suspension, time for the whole story...

When first taking the van over to Merseyspeed to discuss the colour-coding/facelift options, I mentioned that I was looking to swap the -40mm H&R lowering springs for coilovers. My reasons were that I wanted some adjustment in the front to lessen the gap between wheel arch and tyre, and to sit the (now slightly driver's-side heavy due to interior) van completely level - it was about an inch or so out at the back.

Coilovers are ideal for this as you can simply wind up or down each corner until everything sits perfectly level. I had done some research and was about to commit my hard-earned to Bluebird Customs for a set of Gaz coilovers when Merseyspeed offered us a deal on a set of Prosports with free fitting, seeing as the van was in for so much work.

Why didn't I listen to my own mantra of 'buy cheap, buy twice'? The Prosports were great for approx 200 miles when, after traversing a large speed bump at less than 5mph, the fronts seemed unsettled. Since then they have creaked, groaned and clonked in protest. I've had them checked-out in-situ and everything looks and feels fine, but it seems the spring just isn't seating correctly - just a few minutes research on the forums and it seems there's a whole batch of T5 owners on Prosport coilovers with exactly the same symptoms.

I don't blame Merseyspeed for this, they had fitted sets before without complaint. But I'm now forced to look at other options when they should have been a fit-and-forget item.

So in the true Stone174 style of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, here comes the solution...

Remember in old posts I used to say this was to be a 'no compromise' van. It has to be air ride. To begin with I started to repeat the 'buy cheap, buy twice' mantra (don't worry readers, I'm not going mad) and the research started. There's quite a few companies offering a variety of setups, some better than others, some with a good reputation, some that are obviously 'budget' and some that are in the realms of lottery winners. Whilst I was keen not to make similar mistakes as with the coilovers, I have had my eye on one setup that stands out amongst all the others - Accuair - and with the announcement of a very special add-on being released just as I have the funds to fit air, made it all the more an obvious choice.

All air ride setups consist of the same component parts; bags and struts, compressors, tank and valves, and a management system. One great feature of fitting this to a T5 is that it all mounts externally underneath and can be unbolted and transferred to the next van if required. No welding, no chopping.

Bags and struts
High durability 2-ply double convoluted air springs help provide both a comfortable ride at driving height and maximum drop when aired out. Compression fittings are used to ensure a reliable leak free seal when used with 6mm or ¼ inch DOT nylon air tubing.
The front strut is fully threaded to maximize adjustability similar to that of a coilover. You can easily adjust for maximum drop or for maximum comfort at driving height by simply loosening the lower lock collar and turning the damper and air spring assembly up or down, perfect to dial-in a sweet stance. The strut has a 12 click adjuster for damping and rebound.

Compressors, tank and valves
Using 2x 480 compressors and a 5 gallon tank will allow the bags to quickly replenish. The T5 won't be a dancing lowrider seen in music videos! As with any compressed air system, water tends to collect over time. The setup will have inline water traps that can be easily emptied by raising the van up to the highest setting and reaching in and draining. The valve unit is the element that sits in the middle between management and bags to distribute air to each corner - Accuair's is one of the best there is.

Management
This is the 'brain' of the setup. The absolute killer feature of the Accuair setup is that it 'knows' where each corner is at any given time - other systems work on calculating the air pressure at each corner, good but not precise. Pushrods and level sensors feed information back to the management system to keep the van at a pre-set constant. You could load a washing machine into one corner of the van and it would re-level to suit.

The e-Level touchpad (which will be somewhere on the dash) gives total control and three pre-sets;
90% full - this is almost like stock ride height
Drive height - a nice useable lowered setting
Low cruise - perfect for running low on the motorway where steering input is limited.

Then press and hold the 'all-out' button for five seconds to drop the van when parked.

Down the right hand side of the touchpad is a set of controls for individual adjust; both front up or down, both rear up and down, plus individual corner tweaking - this will be ideal for uneven campsites!

And the special add-on I mentioned? How about a replica of the touchpad on your iphone - yes please!

Here's a little demonstration:



The final component in the whole setup is possibly the most important of all - they guy who fits it (no pressure!). For this task I've chosen to go with iKustoms. For a number of reasons; firstly, they've had their own T5 running this setup so are familiar with it. Geographically they aren't a million miles away, like a lot of others offering Accuair. And finally, they are good people who take pride in everything they put their name to - from the very first email I've had nothing but sound advice, all my questions answered - and there have been some questions! - and a genuine excitement for getting the van in and starting the transformation.

Nut-cracked? I hope so. The struts are paid-for and are being built at the moment, I'll keep you informed of the other elements during the build up to the big day - the van goes in early February 2013 - and hopefully some in-progress pics will be up whilst the van is in.