Project What Ruffgeezer did next; 1995 VW Transporter 2.4d

[ruffgeezer]

As I have alluded to elsewhere, I have made a recent purchase, and I'm not referring to that horrid Corsa!

 

I'll take you back to around 2 years ago, when the family Ruff and I were still living in the mid terrace two up two down I'd bought when I was young and too stupid to know what to do with my money. The proceeding years had produced a wife and two children and what was once a modest bachelor pad had become the family home. As the children grew, it became clear that we would soon outgrown the little house, and it would be nice to give the girls and the dog a bit more outside space.

 

What does this have to do with buying tat I'm sure you are asking?

 

Well, one of the things that let our house down was the first thing that was seen on arrival, itself the result of a group of drunken Everton fans, and a Liverpool supporter who once lived there.

 

 

It's not immediately clear, but way back, a session in the pub lead to the house being painted blue with "EFC" just above the window, now I don't know what paint they used but I repainted two or three times whilst I lived there and never managed to get it to stay stuck, you can see the blue is evident upstairs.

 

Anyhow, we wanted to sell and I enlisted the services of a local decorator who we had come to know through my parents, it took him quite a few days, but eventually we ended up with this, which still looks as good today...

 

 

What took me more than the pain tjob however was the rather lived in decorator's van. I spoke at length with the decorator who told me he'd already bought it's replacement, and as and when it's mot was up, he'd be changing over to it.

 

Well, two years down the line, the call finally came, and here is what comes to those who wait...

 

 

It is a 2.4 5 cylinder diesel, last owner for 20 years and a shade under 200k. I will need to change the cambelt again next year but he has kept record of it's maintenance, most of which he carried out himself...

 

Oh and just for @dollywobbler, a bit of hot dual wiper action!

 

https://youtu.be/4xsbxzb3KKs

 

I will of course, keep you all updated, first port of call is a new DAB radio and a de-stickering session!

[Split_Pin]

That is an absolutely smashing looking house, nice job on that. I also like the story on the Transporter, I have my eye on a few cars which I hope the owners will sell one day!

[hairnet]

nice hoose

 

give him the dub back ffs

[Ghosty]

T3! They've aged really well.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Let me know how the radio swap goes.  I'm looking to do the same in my car.  It'll be different, I'm sure but I'd be very interested to see it!

 

Nice to see a van in a colour other than white, black or silver...

[ruffgeezer]

T3! They've aged really well.

I think it's a t4, but it looks good on it's years.

 

First point of call is some more seats in the back...

[Cavcraft]

Oh dear. The good news though is you could make it look fifty times worse, throw a mattress and MFI kitchen unit inside and Maltese Cross sticker outside and it’ll be worth ten times what you paid for it overnight.

[Jim Bell]

Needs a bonnet bra and a roof rack with Raleigh Grifters cable tied to it.

 

Well bought.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Needs a bonnet bra and a roof rack with Raleigh Grifters cable tied to it.

Well bought.

The ‘my tidy, large beard is groomed with styling products’ crew moved onto T5’s around twelvty years ago. I nose - I live in Cornwall.

 

Tidy looking T4 anyway. Looks like it’s been well looked after if the previous owner go to 20 years of plodding from it!

[Lacquer Peel]

What it really needs is hitting with the stick, brittle RS6 replica alloys, and iron cross/T4 stickers.

It is nice to see one of these unmolested, they're good vans.

[ruffgeezer]

I'm off to the scrapper tomorrow to get some more seats, there is a Delica Royal Exceed with a triple middle seat in that should do the trick!

[Uncle Jimmy]

Nice old van that; I think you'll enjoy driving it, I did mine.

They are a very comfortable place to sit, plodding along enjoying the view through the big windscreen.

[Zelandeth]

Best thing about the whole thing though: that five pot noise.

 

There's one that goes past here every day pretty much...sounds like an old XUD when it starts up, but once underway you just hear that lovely burbly exhaust note.

 

Don't think I've ever actually driven one of these now I think about it.

 

We used to have one turn up as a taxi for a while on a regular basis, I spent the entire trip every time just listening to it.

[ruffgeezer]

Managed to secure a mid row of delica seats with bade and belts at the scrappy, £50 all ib. Not too bad really

[Alan_Green]

Be careful with insurance.  Fitting seats in the back of a panel van is a "modification" that doubles the quotes, in my experience. And I speak as a serial 5-seat panel van owner.  But of all the vans an old VW is the one that's least likely to be affected.  Might even go on a classic policy.

[ruffgeezer]

I have it on my trade policy so will see what they say. That is for the heads up Alan.

 

BTW the Expert is still going, I've just had to replace the front springs and track down a non start issue, but she's good for another year at least!

[Alan_Green]

Cool. I have happy memories of that Peugeot Expert. It had charisma. I went all over the place in it. Have a Scotch scenic pic:

 

   

 

[ruffgeezer]

Spent a bit of time under the van this evening after the gear linkages shat themselves at the weekend...

 

The bush that holds this all in place has escaped entirely.

 

The bushes in this linkage are worn too, so I have ordered a replacement for this too.

 

 

Removal was not as easy as the internet how tos make it seem. In the end I resorted to two pairs of mole grips and some industrial swearwords.

 

 

Hopefully the parts will arrive by Wednesday as I'm due to go off to get more parts for it from Boston, I don't fancy going in the Ax.

[ruffgeezer]

Well the gear linkage parts are still in the hands of the postie, and so parts collectioning tomorrow falls to the Ax.

 

 

All loaded ready to go...

 

[dollywobbler]

Only just caught up with this. Twin rear wipers and a five-pot engine - perfect! I've a lot of love for these. Especially un-barried.

[hairnet]

T3! They've aged really well.

 

 

I think it's a t4, but it looks good on it's years.

 

First point of call is some more seats in the back...

T4 - T3 has engine in back

 

yon nerd need educatin'

[Wingz123]

This is a T3

[dollywobbler]

Unless you're British, in which case it's a T25, for no apparent reason.

[MorrisItalSLX]

And unless you're Australian, in which case it's a MK1 Transporter because the Type 2 in split and bay window guises are known as the Kombi and all subsequent models are called Transporters.

[Asimo]

It is, however, the third VW Commercial** to feature (T)ortion bar front suspension.

 

**Not including those Beetle/Type3 based oddities.

[ruffgeezer]

Well the bushes arrived but they were such a cunt to fit I got no pictures.

 

One of the new bushes broke during fitment but luckily it's equivalent old one was still serviceable.

 

Eventually I got it all squidged together in the press ready to refit tomorrow evening.

[Flat4]

Cool. I have happy memories of that Peugeot Expert. It had charisma. I went all over the place in it. Have a Scotch scenic pic:

 

 IMG_20150418_163505.jpg  DSC_0445.JPG

 

That first pic is up the Rest and Be Thankful, isn't it?

 

Those wipers in that video are so out of sync with each other it's actually really annoying me!

[bezzabsa]

that Pug expert looks lush!!!

 

mainly black with 7 seats and 20 zillion miles on round here

[ruffgeezer]

I er, had an unfortunate incident which ended with few cross words with missus Ruff a short while ago.

 

The upshot of this is that I prevented little'un managing to get the toothpaste into the toilet, and I proceeded directly to the dog house.

 

Oh and I angry fitted the gear linkages back on. They might work. Perhaps.

[DaveDorson]

This is a T3

 

I've got one of them in Autoshite Brown and Beige.