Brilliant stuff…. smells amazing too!
What Have You Done To Your Van Today?
- Thread starter Daneeyre
- Start date
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- mod modification mods retrofit
Really impressedBrilliant stuff…. smells amazing too!
@bardellowski so far so good been looking at these for a while took the plunge as they go off before a window is broken or a door opens.
Easy to set up a bit of trial and error getting sensitivity right but easy to set up using Do Re Mi Fa So La The..
Yes the alarm plays this and you choose which note suits your sensitivity.
Also new is a cover guard on each alarm painted to match your colour
Not me, but a kind courier driver, decided to streamline the side of the van. Only had the van less than 4 weeks. What with everything else going on in the world, I can't get too annoyed, and fingers crossed will be sorted efficiently, and maybe even returned cleaned (a job I was going to do this weekend!)
Good to hear …. I’m guessing it was expensive!
Hope you get it sorted soon (and the courier is picking up the tab!)
Had a frustrating afternoon arranging a courtesy vehicle, but just been reassured after Googling the bodyshop and they have great reviews, which I think is the most important thing. Now, how can I go about convincing them they were LED rear lights, and the tailgate bike carrier was taken off and somehow since disappeared?!
You might end up with a single LED rear cluster!
Photoshop
New screen please! I was just supping my first Guinness when I read that!!!Photoshop
Not going to like that post mate
Admire your serenity - I would be incandescent. Really hope you get it sorted to your satisfaction ASAP. Feeling your pain - only 4 weeks old 
Washed it…
Then fitted a Rusty Lee single swivel seat base to the front passenger seat and wrote a ‘how to’ guide for the forum (click on the orange ‘up’ arrow in the post quote below to get the full version with pictures)
Then fitted a Rusty Lee single swivel seat base to the front passenger seat and wrote a ‘how to’ guide for the forum (click on the orange ‘up’ arrow in the post quote below to get the full version with pictures)
Continuing the mission to turn my T6.1 Kombi into the ultimate Swiss Army Van, today was the day that my Rusty Lee single swivel seat base arrived. This is for the front passenger single seat. I’m not planning to fit one to the drivers seat - don’t think I’ll need it, don’t want to compromise on the raised driving position, don’t want to muck about with hand brake lowering kits.
Why did I choose the Rusty Lee option? 2 reasons really…
1. The RIB/Kiravans version seems quality, but from what I understand, when you spin it around, it doesn’t lock in the rear facing position. Boo. They’re also way more money (at the time of posting), and the latch for the swivel is on the side of the base (Rusty Lee is on the front), so if you drop the seat adjuster height to the lowest setting once you’ve spun the seat around you’re hitting and distorting the grey plastic seat base. Yes you could Dremmel this problem away. But if you don’t have to because there’s an alternative, why would you?
2. Did m’research and they get good reviews. I don’t necessarily trust ‘influencers’ blindly but watched a couple of ‘Tube’ vids and liked what I saw, and THQ and Combe Valley Campers seem to rate ‘em as did a few kind folks on here after I asked a couple of q’s. Thanks gents, you know who you are.
Unpacking the box, have to say, pretty impressed with the quality - it’s a reassuringly weighty thing, with nylock nuts all over, good welds and a good job on the powder coating. The base of the unit is a good 5mm steel plate. Solid thing. Like the way x3 of the 4 base plate bolt holes have a little wiggle room in ‘em to ease fitting
There were no instructions though, so posting this in case it helps someone else. I’m sure this will be teaching many on here to such eggs, but it would have helped me, so here we go…
View attachment 149534View attachment 149535
Tools for the job? Couldn’t be more basic - a 13mm spanner (you’ll want one with the circular closed end), and a 5mm Allen key (if you’ve got a stubby one that’ll help, but not essential)…
View attachment 149541
First job, slide the front passenger seat all the way back, and tackle the nuts on the front of the seat rails (you’ll want to use the closed end of your 13mm spanner for this). The bolts are captive, so no need to worry about the underside. The bolts stay in place and stick up out of the seat base - you’ll use these to locate the Rusty Lee swivel when you get to that stage…
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Next, worth removing the single rear passenger seat from your 2+1 rear Kombi set-up, and folding down the seat upright on the double rear bench seat. This will give up you the space you need for the job…
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Then, slide the seat all the way forward, and again, just a 13mm closed ended spanner needed for the rear fixings (bolt tops on the rear, with captive nuts on the underside of the base). These ones…
View attachment 149611
After that, go and hide your keys somewhere, because when you disconnect the airbag connection on the underside of the seat, you don’t want to be turning the ignition on until you’ve reconnected the airbag (else you’ll likely log a fault code).
The connector under the seat that you want to unplug is shown in the pic below (circled in red, and shown disconnected). I have heated seats, but you don’t need to disconnect either of the connector blocks circled in green. This pic was taken looking under the rear of the seat before I realised the easiest way to disconnect the airbag connector block was by tilting the seat back (after you’ve freed it from the seat base on all 4 corners) and accessing the connector block from the front as shown in the second pic below…
View attachment 149612
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At this stage you can now lift the front passenger seat out - I found the easiest way to do this was to stand in the walk-through between the driver and passenger seat and lift it up and onto your folded down rear bench seat (lying on it’s back - worth putting a sheet between them).
Next, you can fit the swivel base. First you need to turn the swivel base slightly to give you easy access to the bolt holes that will secure it to the seat base. It’s bloody stiff, but don’t worry, it will spin freely once fitted. I did take the opportunity however to spray both the swivel mechanism and the seat height adjuster mechanics under the seat with some GT85 before fitting, because why not. There is one round bolt hole and x3 elongated square bolt holes (to give you a little wiggle room for locating it in place). Locate it with the round hole in the position circled red in the pic below. Use the original seat fixings (nuts on front, bolts on back), to secure the swivel base to the seat base using your 13mm spanner. Then, leaving the swivel base in the slightly turned position shown below, remove the fixings that will secure the swivel base to your seat (circled in green in the pic below). 5mm Allen key underneath and a 13mm spanner on top to remove…
View attachment 149614
Now you can lift the passenger seat back onto the swivel base. Secure the swivel base to the seat runners using the Allen bolt and a washer on the underside, then another washer and 13mm nut on top, on each corner. Top tip at this point, only lightly engage each 13mm nut onto the thread of the Allen bolts on ALL 4 corners before you start to tighten them up, then go around each corner in turn, tightening each one little by little until all 4 are nice and tight. This will help you both easily locate the swivel base on each corner and ensure even tightness of all 4 fixings.
And you’re done
Best way to operate the swivel seat is to jack the height adjuster up to its highest setting (this way you won’t rub against the plastic seat base trim when you’re turning the seat), and slide the seat right forwards on the runners before turning. Easy as pie this way. Once the seat is turned and locked in place, drop the seat height and slide it back for max legroom. Reverse the procedure to turn it forwards again.
Then sit back, and relax in your throne
View attachment 149619
Hope this helps someone. Really easy to do - took about 40 minutes including taking a few photos along the way.
Oh, one last thing to mention, the rear seat base plastic cover won’t fit with the swivel base in place. So your options are to either Dremmel the top off it to get it to fit, or buy yourself and aftermarket cover that fixes on with magnets. No biggie either way, but worth mentioning. I’ll probably do the latter.
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Tell them you accidentally put Fairy Liquid in the dishwasher!
Where your electric bikes still on it when it happens
Top job @GONA66 - looks great. I’ve used Hammerite Smooth Red on calipers before - good rich colour, and very resilient to the heat temps required. I’ve found that better and easier to apply than dedicated caliper paints in the past.
I need to do this on mine - have a 2.5 tonne trolley jack and a couple of 2 tonne (each) axle stands in the garage, used on my old Audi S3, but not sure if these will cut the mustard on the van? Wondering if I need to get a beefier jack and stands? What are you using to lift and support yours pal?
You’ll be fine as you won’t be rocking the van. Just take things easy and chock the wheels on the ground
