What Have You Done To Your Van Today?

Dieseldonkey said:
I've been looking at those actuators too recently @andys . For a different purpose, namely to remotely rotate the rear overhead locker by 90 degrees, so that I can make the 6 x 9 speakers face forward. Better sound that way but better loading ability when they face downward.

Have you though of....

1) Ball valve and solenoid. As found in some central heating systems. Valve fully opens without pressure behind it.

2) A submerged pump with an outlet over the top of the tank. There would no required for a solenoid at all then.

3) Taking it to the edge of the envelope here, but a small 12v air compressor as used to blow your tyres up. Pressurise the tank with air and blow the waste out when the valves open. Would need non return valve on the inlet though.
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Some interesting ideas there :thumbsup: I had gone down the route of using a linear actuator, and sketched out a plan which I believed would work quite well, though I admit I'd become more interested in using the actuators than the end result. Think it was something to do with the little boy in me that always wanted to build robots but could never afford the parts...

When I actually got some time at home though and started measuring, I found that space constraints would make it impossible without extensively reengineering the area around the water tank, and I just don't think it's worth spending any more time on any projects like this for now. I'm going to start spending any free time I have getting out in the van over the next 6 months rather than working on it, and then I think I'll probably end up selling it in the autumn due to external factors.

If by some chance I've still got it next winter then all my list of potential mad projects are back on again :D
 
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Great video @kiter . Looks straight forward enough. Can I ask when you removed the original speaker, is there enough room to get your hand in the hole and cover the whole of the outer door skin in silent coat?

Also do you have the part number for the rubber funnels. Reckon the parts blokes eyes will glaze over when I ask for those bits.
 
andys said:
Think it was something to do with the little boy in me that always wanted to build robots but could never afford the parts...
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Ah yes, childhood. A time when every engineering challenge had a solution in Lego Technic. And when these little rolls of black powder paper caps Screenshot_20190406-191139_Firefox.jpg

could be easily adapted into........explosives........by an 11 year old. Sold by your local newsagent, to children! A time when you could gaffer tape 3 mini rocket fireworks to the back of your skateboard and set off down the street on it. (Also newsagent sourced.) Or set one off in a phone box and see how long it would ricochet about. Purely in the name of scientific research. The sense of elation when you managed to breath life into a Suffolk Punch driven lawn mower, and drive something petrol powered for the first time ever. Or superheat a can of Coke in a camp fire and watch as it instantaneously flashes off to steam. A reaction initiated by a well aimed air rifle pellet. Or better still, when the can, contained baked beans,..........or........WD40.

When a go kart was called a bogie. Built from ply, with old wheel chair wheels welded to angle bar axles.

A time when your mates dad could afford to buy him a Raleigh Banana. But you had a Universal.

Nowadays, I get nervous if my reversing lamps aren't E marked and type approved. My, how times have changed.

I do miss my childhood. Surprised I survived it, but miss it none the less.
 
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superflyguy said:
Just looked at the video and for someone like me it seems an easy diy option with good results, did you buy it direct from the company in Germany that are in the video clip ?
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It was pretty easy, better if I'd had an extra pair of hands when re fitting the door cards as the cables are quite short, but apart from that just follow the video. Defo a good option to get silent coat into the door skins when you got the old speakers out as you can get quite far in. Got the speakers from Jason at Absolut5, you can message him on here or absolute new | VW T5/T6 Specialists
 
Dieseldonkey said:
Ah yes, childhood. A time when every engineering challenge had a solution in Lego Technic. And when these little rolls of black powder paper caps.View attachment 40625

could be easily adapted into........explosives........by an 11 year old. Sold by your local newsagent, to children! A time when you could gaffer tape 3 mini rocket fireworks to the back of your skateboard and set off down the street on it. (Also newsagent sourced.) Or set one off in a phone box and see how long it would ricochet about. Purely in the name of scientific research. The sense of elation when you managed to breath life into a Suffolk Punch driven lawn mower, and drive something petrol powered for the first time ever. Or superheat a can of Coke in a camp fire and watch as it instantaneously flashes off to steam. A reaction initiated by a well aimed air rifle pellet. Or better still, when the can, contained baked beans,..........or........WD40.

When a go kart was called a bogie. Built from ply, with old wheel chair wheels welded to angle bar axles.

A time when your mates dad could afford to buy him a Raleigh Banana. But you had a Universal.

Nowadays, I get nervous if my reversing lamps aren't E marked and type approved. My, how times have changed.

I do miss my childhood. Surprised I survived it, but miss it none the less.
Click to expand...


haha I remember building numerous bogies, and going thru a pair of wellies in a matter of weeks as the heels got worn out from using them as the brakes:). I reckon growing up in the 70s and 80s was just the best, life was simple and fun.
 
kiter said:
haha I remember building numerous bogies, and going thru a pair of wellies in a matter of weeks as the heels got worn out from using them as the brakes:). I reckon growing up in the 70s and 80s was just the best, life was simple and fun.
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Correct mate. Back in th 80's, kids knew how to have fun. In today's world however, its terrorism. :whistle:
 
827FFA2D-B729-4A56-898F-ADF42FEFEC5D.jpeg

Removed the chrome strip from the bottom of my Caravelle exec tailgate. Haven’t decided yet if i want to tackle the ones on the sides...
 
Dieseldonkey said:
Correct mate. Back in th 80's, kids knew how to have fun. In today's world however, its terrorism. :whistle:
Click to expand...

Not wrong there, remember one instance, living on Islay and the there was a steep brae with several hairpins down to the distillery, must have been a good 3/4s of a mile from top to bottom. My mates uncle had a mk2 escort saloon and he had us both sitting in the boot with the lid open holding onto the 'steering rope' of the bogie to get us right to the top of the hill, jeez we had some fun in those days:)
 
Coming back on track after the nostalgia... (Which is totally correct btw)
Thought I'd try peelable paint out and see how this would look.
IMG_20190407_173905.jpg
A good friend is an Everton supporter and has an issue with the red... She has C of the blood so this should give her a chuckle.
Thanks to @Fish for the paint idea but it feels fairly flimsy on the chrome badge and started peeling as it stuck to the newspaper I sprayed it on, but would a coating of a lacquer stop it from peeling off later?
 
Busy weekend, reversing camera fitted, rear speakers fitted, extra rooflights fitted, fair bit of sound deadening added and the first part secured of the bulkhead/shelves I'm making behind the kombi rear seats... Unfortunately I didn't take a picture :(
 
Newf said:
Finished of fitting my Alpine dvd player (big thanks to @Fish for the mounting advice last month), that will keep my two little cherubs occupied on long journeys. It comes with 2 sets of wireless headphones so while the kids are quietly watching a movie I can subject the wife to my music back catalogue.
One issue with it for any of the resident electrical wizards. The led dome light on the dvd dims rather than going off when the van interior lights go off. If you turn the ignition key to the on position (not started) interior lights go out and led light on dvd goes fully out - like it is meant to. I saw in some other posts that folk were having similar issues when installing interior leds, but solution seemed to be to buy better leds. These are built into the dvd player so can't do that. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
DVD is hooked up to -ve ground point under passenger seat, I have run +ve and acc +ve from back of fuse box. The switched -ve for the led dome light is run to the switched -ve in the interior roof light (brown/red wite).

View attachment 40468
Hole cut in roof sheet. Then three layers of marine ply build up from roof. First fixed to roof with Sike-flex next two glued with Evostick wood glue.


Dvd all in place and ready to play.
View attachment 40469

View attachment 40470
View attachment 40471
It is in the centre of the roof design honest, just looks completely off centre due to angle of photo.
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Looks great, is this a stand alone DVD player or a Monitor?
 
12AB4A23-46E1-444D-AED5-915F6F8103CD.jpeg
Lined all my shelves with some non stick rubber matting held in place by Velcro at the corners. Got it from a marine supply shop - more robust than the stuff I tried from an online camping store.
 
Eli1264 said:
Looks great, is this a stand alone DVD player or a Monitor?
Click to expand...
Yes it's stand alone. It has a slot for DVDs , a usb slot to play movies etc from a memory stick, a spare hdmi input slot to allow hook up to other media or games consoles etc. It comes with a few other leads in case you want to hook up other monitors etc to it.
 
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