My T5 van buildup

[T5Pete]

started building up the van for my uses. so far it seems to haul motorbikes to races, bails of hay to the horse and surfboards to the beach!











for some reason my picasa pics won't show unless you open them individually. they are all here https://picasaweb.google.com/PeteSmi...eat=directlink


basically I've put sound mat up on the inside and wheel arches (big difference) and boxed the arches out for storage and I can sit on them if I want. Inside will get carpeted as soon as I can find some carpet in stock somewhere.

[MultiplexMan]

Try Daley's for automotive upholstery. Be sure to get the "3-way stretch" unbacked carpet. I also purchased a drum of their glue. You can spray it or brush it on.

Their unbacked carpet stuff is very stretchy, and the roll I purchased was unbelievably hard on blades. I went through an entire OLFA blade trimming a single panel. I found trimming the carpet that commercial 4WD drawers are covered in to be very "easy" in comparison.

[Seano]

[T5Pete]

How'd you do that then?

[Seano]

[img]image URL[/img] is the required code to insert an image

But the easy way in the case of your pic I selected 'insert image' (third from the right icon in Quick Reply) and then pasted the image address https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_T...4/IMG_0744.jpg into the box and then pressed the go button

[T5Pete]

yeah wierd, I did that. maybe because i was logged in it had a diff url to the pic via my account. will do the public next time.

[T5Pete]

Ok, spent the weekend doing a few bits.

sealing around the motexion floor (a mission as the stuff is so sticky and thick!)
carpeting!!

results are pretty good. I've done the left rear and all around the back hatch. pretty happy with the result, even the wife likes it..

[Sunny43.5]

Nice work so far and I can speak with authority as I am a Motor Trimmer . I have two T5,s and have done both up , first thing was to remove every trim panel roof sides and tailgate side door front doors . next glued a product called triflex its an underlay made up of compressed chopped cotton and fabric . glued it to every outer area that we could get to including the roof except for front doors [glued it to the back of the actual door trim . Also in the rear we used slabs of 4inch foam cut into strips and forced them into every hollow double areas to stop vibrations etc. Side walls were covered in the same carpet you have used [great stuff] wheel arches etc, 8 ml plywood floor topped with same underlay as used on sides and carpeted with house grade carpet . Made up custom front carpet from same as rear , the van looks great and is so quiet , take my advise make sure that you do the tailgate and side doors they are a bit trickier but the more you cover the better it gets watch for moving parts locks etc when doing these as you don,t want to have them being obstructed . My van runs a very loud stereo with two 12inch subs behind drivers side seat and the one thing I hate is stereos fitted and the car is rattling its backside off , so the more effort into cutting out movement between double panels and outer skin the better the result , last thing small blocks of foam cut close to correct depth were glued behind the original side trims before refitting and covering . Hope your conversion goes well , Regards Howard PS remove taillights to stuff foam up pillars .

[T5Pete]

cheers Howard. how much of the rear door do you cover? to just inside the rubber seal? I'm not going crazy with the sound proofing. Witworths sell an engine bay foam for yachts that looks pretty good and I'll prob use that. Do you do the long side in 1 piece? the glue seems to go off pretty quick..

[Sunny43.5]

Hi again yes we did the tailgate with the floor carpet cut to shape of the trim thats there and then bind the edge and glue it in place you may need to use some small counter sunk screws to hold the carpet as it has a tendency to curl at the corners . If you use the stretchy stuff you can go to the rubber but remeber not to go over the area where the rubber seal contacts the tailgate or side door as well or you will have a water problem . I did do the long side in one piece but only glued up to the pillar first then glued the rest if its cool temperature gluing it one would work . The time for glue depends on whether you are spraying or brushing normally I glue a first coat then go over it a second time just to make sure its got enough on don,t overdo the glue or it may not dry properly if its too thick . If you need any other tips feel free to contact me .Regards Howard

[T5Pete]

cheers mate. I'll get all over it as soon as I have all my fittings sorted on the right side. maybe I'll attack the boot today as its raining.

[T5Pete]

well I did the back door yesterday, didn't get the cover panel done as my sheet of ply was about 1cm too short for the long end. did around the metal section and I can tell you that its a bitch of a job to get done. wish I'd taken the door off the van to do it! I ended up doing it in 2 sections after failing to do it in one. really hard not to get glue on the window tint, really hard to trim the carpet without scratching the window tint. I've started using a 2mm ply board to trim the carpet i can push hard on it. job came out ok but a bit tatty in places. I plan to find some 10mm black tape that will stick to the carpet to run over onto the door to tidy up the loose ends and cover the glue marks. looks ok from a distance but a little tatty really close up. I'm sure it'll get smashed up over time so it can always come off and I'd get it done better next time for sure.

[Sunny43.5]

Do you meen the side door or tailgate we took the side door off much easier you can mask up to where the seal sits and cut the carpet with stanley knife . Howard