Weeman's T4

[Weeman]

Hi all,

Jumping over from the mk2 golf section, I've just recently purchased my dad's T4 off him that he's owned from new as he has just gone and upgraded to the T6.1, I think he still prefers the T4! It's still straight and tidy and has a great service history with only 122000 k's. Its the 2.5L petrol SWB model, 2002 I think.

I'll post whatever I get upto on it. My long term goal is to still be able to use it for transporting stuff around, like if I ever wanna get big sheets of something or pickup an engine, but also convert it to a camper. I'm from Tassie so there is lots of overnight trips to do only within a couple of hours. So the camper will only be set up for 1-2 night trips. The bed and whatever else will need to be somewhat removable or pack away quite nicely. So many ideas but hey, no deadlines at least!

First little change was putting in some new headlight bulbs. Osram Night Breaker Laser next gen so on so on. Lots better compared to the stock standard halogens. Took about 5 minutes to swap, no issues.

Just sold a set of wheels so I've got some money to put into a head unit. Want a reverse camera and some sort of navigation with it too and further potential for a good sound system for the back of the van. Will see what I come up with, all the fold-out single din stuff is currently sold out everywhere so I'll have to retro fit a double din screen in somehow...

Cheers,
Thomas

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[Silver Caravelle]

Hi Thomas,
Looks like a nice tidy rig. All the best with your upgrades.

Cheers, Scott.

[Sunny43.5]

Here you go feast your eyes on my son,s T4 from a few years back , I did the whole conversion including two 12 inch subs amps etc and fold out 7 inch screen in the dash and a huge 15 inch fold down DVD player / screen in the rear compartment . https://www.vwwatercooled.com/forums...Transporter+T4 I even did a complete drive train swap as his engine was originally a non turboed diesel . We got another van off ebay with the 2.5 petrol and swapped the whole box and dice over .

[Weeman]

@Silver Caravelle Cheers!

@Sunny43.5 Nice I had a little read, sounded like a bit of effort

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[Weeman]

So after much thought, decided to steer away from a new double din head unit or anything with a screen cause I didn't want to do any chopping around in my dash. I solved my reverse camera problem and got myself a Parkmate reverse mirror. Is touchscreen and has front and rear cameras which record. The screen is voice controlled too and works really well.

Took a fair while running the wiring through the pillars, then through the roof and down into the boot. There were a few tough spots of trying to thread wires through but nothing major.

Where I mounted the rear camera seemed like the best spot and if I ever need to see the towball, I can tilt the camera down easily. There wasn't really an ideal way to mount the camera low enough and still be able to see directly backwards, so just ran with it this way. Only drilled one hole which fed the wire through, all sikaflexed up to seal the hole, with a touch of paint on any fresh metal.

The screen seems great so far, it just straps around the original mirror. My only concern is when you try to look at the mirror with the screen on, it can be really glary but if you press the little tab on the original mirror that you press when someone blasts their high beams into you, this solves the problem.

I'll still be looking into a single din, but nothing with a touch screen display or anything. Just something that can power a sweet as sound system.

Cheers,
Thomas

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[Weeman]

Just gave Mr. Black a try for the first time, brilliant stuff! Will work perfectly on the mk2

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[Sunny43.5]

A single DIN fold out head unit will do the job and its Android with GPS Bluetooth facility for front and rear cameras and a lot of other stuff as well . Thats the sort I fitted to my sons one and it did him for the 5 years he had the van .Android 10.0 Universal Car Stereo Single 1Din CarPlay TPMS WiFi OBD2 DVR DAB+GPS | eBay

[Weeman]

Long time no post, did something today haven't seen any other T4's do. Installed a Narva Explora 22" single row light bar in the lower grill. Had the whole bumper and grill off, put nutserts into the top of the crash bar and mounted that way, keeping everything clean and the mounting points invisible (I want an OEM look, no number plate brackets or anything). Only modification was to the plastic grill which I cut with a little coping saw then gave the plastic edges a light sand.

I wanted to go bigger and fill the whole grill but didn't want flow issues, perhaps I would've had some, perhaps not. I'll never know lol. This looks nice and tidy for my liking. I hope to inspire some people cause I haven't seen any pictures on the web of this mounting style!

Cheers,
Thomas

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[Sunny43.5]

Nice work so far I take it this your first van ?

[Weeman]

Yea first van

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[Sunny43.5]

Yes loved my T4 2.5 petrol engined one right up until I hit the back of a car transporter trailer , crushed the drivers side guard headlight and the door skin right back to the door lock along with the whole front wheel and axle . Even buckled the roof as well , I nearly cried as I put so much stuff into that van it took me half a day just to remove the stereo as when the insurance wrote it off I dove in and took out everything that wasn,t bolted down ! The fire brigade turned up as it spilt its guts out onto the road by the axle being torn out of the gearbox , they had to mop up the oil for safety reasons . PS I walked away without a scratch as the trailer frame didn,t get past the inner door strengthener missed me by about 100mm .

[Weeman]

That doesn't sound good! Glad your alright

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[Sunny43.5]

As far as I know the old van got sold at Auction as a repairable right off , would be nice to know it survived as it was only 5 years old at the time . From memory it was bought by someone from down south as they rang me from the business number on the van at the time to find out its mechanical history .It would be fairly easy to identify as it would at the time be the only T4 with a fully built in sliding sunroof as I was fitting them back then .

[Weeman]

Few replacements today, had a snapped aerial and put on clear lights, makes it look a bit less of a work van.

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[jets]

I haven't got anything interesting to say except I think your van looks very tidy & from what you have said I think it will remain that way.
I have a stock standard Syncro Trakka but with the TDI engine. The only mod I have done is to replace the original interior light with one from a Seat something or other [probably a Cordoba] that has a separate switch & light for the navigator. I had a friend change the time delay with a different resistor & change it to LED. It fitted perfectly & only cost a few dollars from U Pull it.
My van is a '01 & has done around 134,000km.I will probably keep it until they take my license away.
I just thought of something to keep a look out for. They tend to form rust in the lower windscreen area. Mine had a very small spot when I bought it in '08. I put a very small amount of fisholine on the spot when it was completely dry. I check it every now & then & even though it hasn't grown at all I have put a second coat on it.
Enjoy your van.