Dan’s Fishing Van

[DanW81]

Hi, Im Dan, I introduced myself on the new inductions section. I recently part ex'd my 69 indium grey caddy for a ravena blue dsg single cab t6.1.
So far, really enjoy the driving position and additional features that come on the highline model, compared to that of the caddy one.
Not done much mod wise, but purchased some travelin lite mudflaps that I had to slight modify the fronts to make them fit 'better'.
I am in the process of stripping out the plastic wheel liners, to clean behind and start to sound deaden the thinner metal panels.
Will slowly paint and tidy up the brakes, and wishbones prior to the new wheels to go on. Will document this to.
I have had a good browse across this forum for some ideas going forward.

Thanks again Dan

 

[Carp catcher]

Evening Dan, nice to see another carp angler from Essex on board.
Lovely looking van you’ve got yourself.
The forum is great, it will be your best friend & also your worst enemy, loads of great ideas for your van, all of which have the effect of emptying your wallet.
They are a great van for fishing, I’m off to Parco del Brenta end of August for a week, although it’s a long drive the van makes it very comfortable.
I can highly recommend Bognor Motors if you aren’t any good with the spanner’s & any upgrades you might be thinking about, just put the new rods, reels & the RT7 bait boat on hold for a bit!!!

 

[DanW81]

Evening Dan, nice to see another carp angler from Essex on board.
Lovely looking van you’ve got yourself.
The forum is great, it will be your best friend & also your worst enemy, loads of great ideas for your van, all of which have the effect of emptying your wallet.
They are a great van for fishing, I’m off to Parco del Brenta end of August for a week, although it’s a long drive the van makes it very comfortable.
I can highly recommend Bognor Motors if you aren’t any good with the spanner’s & any upgrades you might be thinking about, just put the new rods, reels & the RT7 bait boat on hold for a bit!!!

Hi there, thank you for the welcome.
You are right, compared to the caddy, they are a much nicer, quiter drive.
Sold a load of parts that I stripped off the caddy prior to trading it, so hopefully this will get me some new wheels, tyres, suspension (crs performance will be my go to. Going from the reviews on here) and upgrade to the 340mm t32 front brakes.
I will try and document as much as I can. At the moment doing the tidying up of the wishbones, hubs and existing brakes, and sine sound deadening in the arches whilst I have it pulled apart.
Enjoy your trip to Italy

 

[Al Gibson]

Morning Dan,

How did you find those mudflaps to fit? Do they use existing holes or did you have to drill new? How effective are they at keeping the sides of your van clean? (says the man with a white van!!)

 

[DanW81]

Morning Dan,

How did you find those mudflaps to fit? Do they use existing holes or did you have to drill new? How effective are they at keeping the sides of your van clean? (says the man with a white van!!)

Morning Al, tbh they are a nicely made mudflap for the money. They look and feel pretty much like the same ones that vw sold for the caddy platform vans. Solid but have a rubber flex to them.
I got the idea from another member who went this route on this forum, (sorry I can not remember their name, but kudos given).
Only had them fitted for a few days, so early to say really.
I offered them up, used a pencil to mark the front door profile, and with a sharp Stanley knife, was able to make a nice neat cut out and then used the blade to smooth it over.
The fronts need the underside to be also trimmed to accommodate the plastic cowling panels.
Did not need to drill into the wheel liners for the front ones. Used a pick tool to make the additional holes, and had some vw trim screws spare from my other vehicles to fit in to give it a more secure fixing. They supply some longer screws in the pack for the center part.
The rears where straightforward, remove the 2 factory liner screws and fit the mudflap in position. No fettling on this to do.
Hope this helps Al

 

[JumpShip]

I might look at some of them
Either that or make my own as a lot of these look very skinny when viewed from behind

 

[Al Gibson]

Morning Al, tbh they are a nicely made mudflap for the money. They look and feel pretty much like the same ones that vw sold for the caddy platform vans. Solid but have a rubber flex to them.
I got the idea from another member who went this route on this forum, (sorry I can not remember their name, but kudos given).
Only had them fitted for a few days, so early to say really.
I offered them up, used a pencil to mark the front door profile, and with a sharp Stanley knife, was able to make a nice neat cut out and then used the blade to smooth it over.
The fronts need the underside to be also trimmed to accommodate the plastic cowling panels.
Did not need to drill into the wheel liners for the front ones. Used a pick tool to make the additional holes, and had some vw trim screws spare from my other vehicles to fit in to give it a more secure fixing. They supply some longer screws in the pack for the center part.
The rears where straightforward, remove the 2 factory liner screws and fit the mudflap in position. No fettling on this to do.
Hope this helps Al

Thanks Dan,

I'll have a look at ordering a set tonight, when I get in after work.

Cheers

 

[t6blo]

Welcome Dan - nice caddy and nice T6.1

I'm also from Essex but never got into fishing - my dad tried to get me interested when I was 13 but I got bored and apparently made too much noise and scared all the fish away. Oh and watching him put maggits in his mouth made me bilious

 

[DanW81]

I made a decsion on the wheels. I decided on a set of supermetal tridents in silver after seeing them in the vw parts brochure.
I must of emailed all the alloy wheel centers, and only one had them available to order. Some had them in stock, however these had a et35. I woukd have thought this would be to much.
Just need to finish tyding up the brakes now.
Bought a foliatec kit in stratos silver. Will use wruth galv zinc on the brake discs.
Hopefully will be able to make some more progress on sunday, once I get home from fishing.

Out of interest, I saved the genuine vw center caps from my pretoria's I had on my caddy. These dont fit the supermetals.

Would anyone know the correct vw center cap for these please?
Had a look on LLL parts but drawing a bit of a blank. I know the center cap outside diameter is 60mm. Will measure the inside of the supermetal ones with vernier gauge if need be for a more accurate measurement. Cheers

 

[Curlynot]

ZGB-6R0-071-410

I have been advised that the part number above is what VW supplied with accessory Tridents but cant confirm as I left the original Supermetal ones in.

I used the factory original wheel bolts but haven't been able to find any bolt covers to fit. The factory covers that fitted the 19mm headed wheel bolts wont go inside the hole of the Tridents.

 

[DanW81]

ZGB-6R0-071-410

I have been advised that the part number above is what VW supplied with accessory Tridents but cant confirm as I left the original Supermetal ones in.

I used the factory original wheel bolts but haven't been able to find any bolt covers to fit. The factory covers that fitted the 19mm headed wheel bolts wont go inside the hole of the Tridents.

Thank you for the reply buddy.
I think I may have found a set. I checked the measurements from the sellers pics with a vernier gauge and hopefully fingers crossed, the ones i have ordered will work.
Will post a link if do.

You are right regarding the wheel caps.
I have a set from my genuine pretoria's that I had fitted to my previous caddy. I tried these in the bolt holes to no avail. And these are for 17mm wheel bolts.

I may have found a set that may work from ebay. They were £6. So worth a punt.
Again, if they work will post up on here.

 

[DanW81]

With the lakes closed for spawning, I made a start on the wheel aches.
Like my caddy's, i just give them a spruce up. Removed the arch liners, any excess over spill body wax, and a thorough clean with bilt hamber suffix hd, gtechniq tar glue remover, gtechniq panel wipe and coated the liners with carpro pearl. Should hopefully make the washes going forward in this area, a bit more easier.

Whilst there, I fitted some sound deading around the thinner panels. Dont really bother with coating every part, was told this is not always worth while.

Last job was to remove the corroded rust marks of the lower wishbones, and coat them with my go to hammerite smooth one coat in black and silver.
Brakes were sorted out with a zinc galv spray on the disks, and foliatec stratos silver for the calipers. Used these in the past with good results tbh. Should keep them looking good behind the new wheels when fitted, and in the coming months when I get some more pennies together will look at getting the t32 340mm front brake setup.

 

[DanW81]

Now I am all about trying to buy and keep modifcations as OE as possible.
I really like the factory sportline, but with VW keeping these parts to legal registered owners only and righlty so, I was looking into the red grill trim that the sportline vans have.

I found one on vanstyles website, so for £30 I fought it was worth a punt.

It arrived well packaged and they do state on the item description that the front bumper needs to be removed.

First time I have done this, similiar to the caddys ones, but with a few more clips, torx screws to remove.

Removal of the chrome trim was relativley straightforward, used an aircraft skin wedge tool to disengage the clips and it pops out.
The vanstyle one just fits the exact same way, and with it being a non genuine part was surprised it is a pretty good fit.
I do like the red strip on these grills. Breaks the style up nicely imo.

Would recommend this to others.

 

[t6blo]

Now I am all about trying to buy and keep modifcations as OE as possible.
I really like the factory sportline, but with VW keeping these parts to legal registered owners only and righlty so, I was looking into the red grill trim that the sportline vans have.

I found one on vanstyles website, so for £30 I fought it was worth a punt.

It arrived well packaged and they do state on the item description that the front bumper needs to be removed.

First time I have done this, similiar to the caddys ones, but with a few more clips, torx screws to remove.

Removal of the chrome trim was relativley straightforward, used an aircraft skin wedge tool to disengage the clips and it pops out.
The vanstyle one just fits the exact same way, and with it being a non genuine part was surprised it is a pretty good fit.
I do like the red strip on these grills. Breaks the style up nicely imo.

Would recommend this to others.

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Looks good @DanW81


Please educate me more on the fishing use - do you park next to the water and fish from the back/side of the van or is it more about lugging all the fishing gear?

Or is it somewhere to get changed/eat food etc?

Interested in how it all works
Thanks

 

[DanW81]

Looks good @DanW81


Please educate me more on the fishing use - do you park next to the water and fish from the back/side of the van or is it more about lugging all the fishing gear?

Or is it somewhere to get changed/eat food etc?

Interested in how it all works
Thanks

Hi, thanks for the compliment.

Over here, I use the van soley as a means of transportation and once at the lake, it becomes my storage box that i can keep spare clothes, bait, water and food in.

In france, espeacially on the big public waters, I would park up by the spot you are fishing if possible and just sleep in the back rather than put up a bivvy.
Otherwise I would treat it the same as over here.

 

[DXX]

With the lakes closed for spawning, I made a start on the wheel aches.
Like my caddy's, i just give them a spruce up. Removed the arch liners, any excess over spill body wax, and a thorough clean with bilt hamber suffix hd, gtechniq tar glue remover, gtechniq panel wipe and coated the liners with carpro pearl. Should hopefully make the washes going forward in this area, a bit more easier.

Whilst there, I fitted some sound deading around the thinner panels. Dont really bother with coating every part, was told this is not always worth while.

Last job was to remove the corroded rust marks of the lower wishbones, and coat them with my go to hammerite smooth one coat in black and silver.
Brakes were sorted out with a zinc galv spray on the disks, and foliatec stratos silver for the calipers. Used these in the past with good results tbh. Should keep them looking good behind the new wheels when fitted, and in the coming months when I get some more pennies together will look at getting the t32 340mm front brake setup.

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Did you put the 10mm self adhesive foam on the back of the wheel arch liners?

 

[DanW81]

Did you put the 10mm self adhesive foam on the back of the wheel arch liners?

Hi, no. Just some 2mm sound deading pads on the thinner outer metal arch panels.
I am going to start to do the inside of the van over the coming months.
I have the new wheels and tyres fitted now and this as made a slight difderence to road noise.

 

[DanW81]

Having had a few vag group cars and vans over the past few years, the one thing I bought back in 2017 was obdeleven pro.
This has been a little gem throughout vehicle ownership.
I see there is a dedicated section for this, so will not repeat to much what as probably been talked about.
I did however use the app to change the vans throttle response.
This was quite a noticeable difference I might add. The van now feels more responsive, and as lost that slight lag in standard factory setup.
Worth doing imo.

 

[DanW81]

Finally got the wheels on the other day.
Opted for pirelli scorpian verdes in 255 40 20 103.
I dont think this is a placebo, but the road noise as been reduced a little more on the softer compound tyre. Still way quiter in standard guise than any caddy I have owned. And not really done much soind deadening inside as of yet.
Sourced a set of 60mm vw center caps from a seller online. They were from caps direct. They fit perfect and zero movement on them.
I was looking for a wheel bolt cap solution, but could not find any that would work on these wheels, so opted for some bimecc black wheel bolts and security bolts from elite tyres in rainham essex.
Same spec as the factory ones.
Cermaic coated wheels with my go to gtechniq c5. Did not bother with tyre dressing as the van needs a wash tbh.

Next job on the ride will be the suspension. Few other smaller mods on the horizon. Got a fee ideas from other builds on here.

 

[Curlynot]

I like the Trident wheels

Are your new bolts 17 or 19mm spanner size?

I've resorted to just blowing a bit of satin black over the head of my bolts now until I can find some caps that fit in the holes. Its a pity that Supermetal didn't make the holes big enough originally to accept the factory caps especially as they were offered as a VW dealer accessory!