Bloated Black Kombi Build - #vanlife2.0

[t6blo]

Introduction

Welcome to my build thread for my new (to me) Deep Pearl Black T6 Kombi.

Bloater is a nickname I’ve had since I was a teenager

This is my second Transporter - last one was a Reflex Silver panel van I did Kombi conversion on myself.

I had it 2.5 years and in that time is was lowered for a while, then it was a Swamper and during the time I had 3 different versions of interior including a kitchen pod and slide out rear pod/seating and an extra set of floor mounts to enable me to move the 3 seater bench back creating more interior space.











I sold the van in March 2021 and regretted it ever since.

Transporter Number 2

Fast forward to 2022 and I was on the hunt for another van.

 

[t6blo]

Hopefully scraped enough to money to trade in the car and buy another Transporter. I (stupidly) took advantage of the crazy trade in price of my last T6 in March 2021 - sold to WBAV for £5k more than I’d paid for it 2.5 years earlier. But I’ve regretted it bitterly ever since and I just can’t wait much longer as spring/summer is marching on.

Forecourt prices are very high, choice is low and px prices are almost back to pre-COVID which isn’t helpful - but I think I’ve found one within budget.

May 2019 T6 DSG KombI


So, I reserved the van online for a refundable £99 last night. Got paranoid and didn‘t want to miss this one by being pipped to the post today as there are virtually no low mileage SWB DSG T6s at ‘local’ main dealers and 12-18 month old DSG T6.1s, that seem more plentiful, are just out of budget

Visited the dealership this afternoon to see it in the flesh and drive it.

It is 3 years old virtually to the day, has had a second service and first MOT in the last few weeks and has done 25k. One local owner who apparently has bought several vans from them and traded this in for a crafter.

Exterior was dent free, there are a few 1-3cm minor scratches around it and the passenger side had been rubbed down some bushes or leaves which was more obvious as it is black. Couple of chips on the bonnet and a selection of swirls about the place. Will need a good session with the compound and mop. The rear bumper will also need a load lip cover as a couple of small gouges.

Exterior I’d say was 8.5/10.

Interior was really very clean, has cab carpet with rubber mats, comfort dash, heated seats and a Composition media head unit with CarPlay (which I checked was activated with my phone and a lightning cable). Going for a Kombi rather than a panel van this time makes me think it is a huge bonus as I converted my last one from a PV into a Kombi and didn’t enjoy doing the windows or dropping the fuel tank.

Interior was 9.5/10 - dropping half a point due to the rear inner arches being a little scuffed/scratched - which I will be covering with deadening and carpet.

Drives really well and just like my lower mileage T6 140 DSG did.

There was some confusion (on their part) about whether the advertised price was plus or including vat. It turned out that it was inc VAT - plus would have made it seriously overpriced!

And my trade-in didn’t show up on their HPI check as I only swapped back to the original registration yesterday afternoon so assume HPI systems hadn’t quite caught up. So I have no idea yet how much they might be offering me - will find out tomorrow so sleepless night for me tonight lol.

Felt great to be back in a transporter - hope this turns out to be the one



Plans include:

Paint correction
Alloys 19 or 20s
Suspension - leaning toward STX
Sound deaden and carpet line rear
Swivel passenger seat
Cranked leg round table
Black out the badges/chrome
Tint the rear and side windows more than the factory tint
Retro fit a tailgate reversing camera
Front splitter/maybe sportline
Headlights

 

[t6blo]

Update: I've bought it

Van is now going to the workshop for its 'approved used inspection' as it had only just come in and been advertised and then to the bodyshop for a machine polish all around so that will save me a job.

Got a decent trade in but absolutely nothing off the screen price - they know they're in the driving seat so to speak with the current market demand for used stock/new vans being unavailable.

 

[t6blo]

Decisions....

 

[t6blo]

Goodbye JCW, hello Transporter

 

[t6blo]

First job ( after taxing and insuring it ) was to do some coding with ODBEleven…

Full backup of every module
Tear drop wipe
Auto door locking at 10mph
Gauge needle sweep

Also scanned for any DTCs - there were none.

 

[t6blo]

Next up was to fit my dashcam - hard wired into a piggy back ignition live fuse.

How do you get to the fuse box in a T6 with a comfort dash?

Open the bottle cooler at the bottom, locate the round vent for the aircon that cools the bottle and just above it are two opposing black clips - these need to be squeezed together and then the bottle cooler can be pulled forward and out - exposing the fuse box.

Easy when you know how

Any of the middle row at the top are ignition lives.

Remove the glovebox and side panel where the airbag switch is (without unplugging the switch) and route the cable from the fuse box, behind the glovebox and out the side panel.

Then up the passenger side behind the rubber and across tucked into the headlining.

Nice and neat

 

[t6blo]

On my last van I had the ‘sounds like a golf‘ door rubbers and also the dash ‘hole of doom’ trim.

Ordered both of these for the new one from Travelinlite (amazing service with next day delivery as usual).

Fitted the door rubbers and the dash trim in about 10 mins - makes a really noticeable difference when shutting the doors.

Also fitted some LED DRL and sidelight bulbs until I decide what I am doing about headlights.

 

[t6blo]

My next priority is to lower the van - am settled on ST-X coilovers but as I am working from home less than I was I am unsure when is best to get them ordered - need to be in for delivery as unfair to expect the neighbours to take in such a large/heavy parcel.

After that will be wheels - Navis Twin 5 (virtually identical to the two sets of Amarok Canteras I had on the last van) is top of my list but also like the SuperMetal Cells. Might even go for another set of Canteras if I can find some. Would need a 15mm rear spacer if I did.

 

[t6blo]

Plans for the rear

As the van is not a campervan, it is used as my daily driver, for transporting bicycles when we go for bike rides and somewhere to have a cuppa, eat a picnic, get changed and chill out, I have been thinking about what I want to do in the back….

Of the 3 different furniture and seating arrangements I had (see further up) in the last van, the simplest one was definitely the best - single passenger seat, swivelled round with a round table fixed to the bottom of the b pillar and using the Kombi bench in its standard position.




So I intend to recreate something along these lines - the last van had twin sliders and this one has a single slider so I could use the space behind the drivers seat for storage or to stow the table.

I also built various cupboards/cabinets for storage and as somewhere to mount the rear speakers in the last van.

This time, I want the area behind the Kombi bench to remain clear/open so our bikes can both stand up diagonally, so I intend to build some storage/speaker boxes underneath the Kombi bench - making use of this space will enable the rear to be clear.

 

[t6blo]

Managed to order some bits today - working at home alot less has its advantages - I can drive my van around, but disadvantages that it is harder to get stuff delivered. Not fair on neighbours to expect them to take in heavy parcels like wheels and suspension.

10m Black Mega stretch carpet
10x Spray glue tins
100x Longer panel clips in black
Threshold bungs for the rear door

I am going to do something different with the carpet lining in this van - I am only going to carpet line the Kombi panels on the slider, down the sides and on the tailgate. The remainder will be the exposed factory black painted bits.

For the wheel arches, I will still sound deaden them but intend to get these plastic covers - to cover up the silent coat on the wheel arches and to protect them from any more damage when getting bikes in and out. These will go nice with the black painted bits and black carpeted panels.

 

[t6blo]

Any thoughts on these Range Rover 20s?

 

[bobbybasic]

Decisions....

View attachment 161324

+1 for top right

 

[t6blo]

ST-X coilovers incoming. Looking forward to losing the huge arch gap

 

[Trouts]

Any thoughts on these Range Rover 20s?

View attachment 162052

prefer your previous thoughts/options:

"After that will be wheels - Navis Twin 5 (virtually identical to the two sets of Amarok Canteras I had on the last van) is top of my list but also like the SuperMetal Cells. Might even go for another set of Canteras if I can find some. Would need a 15mm rear spacer if I did."

 

[david173]

+1 for top right

+1 on this too

 

[t6blo]

Bought some B&Q recycled bottle insulation.

Swapped my personal reg over to the van now that the logbook arrived.

Preparing to fit the STX coilovers that arrived yesterday by spraying some bolts/nuts with wd40.

 

[t6blo]

Spent a few minutes this morning with ODBEleven and activated the big speedo display.

Only actually one thing to code which is changing the dashboard region/language to Rest of World/ROW.

After that the other changes are done within the MFD settings itself - turning off alt display and then enabling the speed in the MFD settings.

Next up was to fold back the Kombi padded floor - I removed the rear and middle load lashings, rear threshold, Jack and then temporarily folded the floor up against the back of the second row bench seat.

Hoovered the dust and fluff up and then panel wiped the whole area. Once it was dry I then stuck Silent Coat sheets across the floor until I reached the rear threshold.

Then I reinstalled the floor and load lashings and threshold and Jack.

Will sound deaden the other half of the floor from the sliding door but will need to remove the bench seat and flip that backwards.

Also removed the offside rear Kombi cardboard panel and sound deadened the metal panel and also added some smaller, odd shaped bits to the lower metal panel.

Interestingly, my Kombi already had some foam pads stuck to the lower panel above the wheel arch - I never saw this on my previous panel van so must be a vague attempt by VW to reduce the harsh van sounds in the load area of a Kombi.

My van is my daily driver so don’t want to get into a position where I’ve stripped out too much in one go and then find the van is not driveable - hence the apparent haphazard approach being taken but there is some method/logic being applied.

 

[t6blo]

Just had some Meyle HD top mounts and drop links delivered.

Intending to remove the stock struts without taking off existing spring/top mount - saves killing myself with spring compressors anyway

Hopefully get started on fitting these after work today/tomorrow

 

[t6blo]

Managed to do one front coilover in 2.5 hrs

What a ball ache wish I’d paid the money for someone to do it.

Oh well, got the other front one to do which should be a bit quicker as I’ve now done one.

Then the rears that look to be piss easy in comparison - might have it done by Monday lol