Cobblers's T25 Multivan (also T6 interior rebuild)

[cobblers]

So I bought this off here the other week. After spending 2 months chasing insane brake faults round my other one (which turned out to be due to faulty brake fluid that annihilated the rubber seals in every new brake part I fitted, bit by bit ) the absolute last thing I needed was another. But, when I was about 16 and most of my older mates had novas etc, one lad turned up in a T25 Multivan (Carat) and it blew my mind. I've always loved T25s, but never had a proper high spec one. I deeply regretted selling my Caravelle, so when this came up for sale and wasn't that far away, I felt the tired inevitability of another foolish purchase was inevitable. 

I should know better... I do know better. But I'm a fucking idiot and I've got a right lob on for these old vans. They're the last of the "old vws", and they were built inexplicably using strange flat 4 engines that were an utterly insane choice when VW had a range of tried and tested, cheap to build inline 4 engines that they had already developed the hardware to mount in these vans.

So on to this one.

It's pretty original, interior is very good, exterior very presentable bar the tailgate. Seats are so bloody comfy. Aside from a few niggles, it drove home quite nicely, with the main issue being that when I filled it up with fuel, it all started pissing on the floor and by the time I'd come back from paying, there was about twenty quids worth of super on the floor. It was squirting out of the tank breathers, both sides - the hoses were so rotten they had popped off entirely so there was basically a 5mm hose pouring fuel out!

I should really have known better than to brim the tank on a VW T25... but I suppose you've  got to try it to find out. I decided that if I just kept moving as fast as possible, I'd use the fuel more quickly and the stuff that was leaking would land far behind me 😂. It worked because I didn't burn to death or anything.

Quite an enjoyable drive back over the Cat and Fiddle (perhaps aided by the the petrol fumes?). Main annoyances were rubbish heater because the engine didn't actually get hot, and a super low clutch bite point combined with a bent gearstick (you had to punch the stereo through dash to get 2nd gear) made it a bit clunky. The aux belt was a bit loose too, screeching at low RPMs if I had the headlights on. Thankfully it held on until the exact second I pulled up outside work, when it immediately gave up in a cloud of smoke and snapped.

So, first job was sorting the aux belt out. There's 3 different lengths fitted to these 2.1 engines, 1075mm, 1090mm and 1100mm. Nobody knows what should fit what, you just buy the same as you already have. The one that fell off was an 1100, and the alternator was tensioned out to the max. Luckily, there was a new 1090mm belt in the box of spares that came with the van, so that was an easy win.

Next up is the clutch. I bled the system which improved it slightly, but you still had to bury the clutch into the mat to change gear. The clutch arm on the gearbox needed lubing (it needs a new bush, really but that's a gearbox off job) which improved it slightly again. Removing the master cylinder and adjusting the actuation rod to take up the 4mm of play made the biggest difference, though. It's about right, now.

Gearknob was an easy fix - removed it, bent it straight, put it back on (with cleaned up and greased pivots and mechanisms) 

Onto the cold running - Hertz had mentioned it ran a bit rich, which I think is down to the fact that the coolant never got much above "tepid", so I bought a new thermostat.

The cooling system had blue antifreeze in (and quite a weak concentration) so that needed dropping, flushing and g12 pink stuff putting in while I was doing the job. Thermostat cover bolts were all absolutely rotten and seized, so I had to take the whole stat housing out (along with disconnecting 78 various pipes) and get it in the vice to grind the bolts off and remove the cover.

 

Coolant system drained and flushed, I fitted the new stat and then pressurized the system to 1 bar to check for leaks. There were quite a few - the worst one up front where one of the coolant hoses had worked it's way off the plastic front-rear pipes and was just holding on by a couple of MM. Glad I caught that.

Once I'd got it to hold 15psi of air for half an hour, I filled it with premixed G12+ (10l for 17 quid delivered off amazon)

 

While I was at that, I couldn't ignore this lot of shit wiring for the oil pressure sensors and coolant temp sensor:

I had a spare wiring loom so I spliced in some replacement stuff. One worrying thing is that it has the wrong sensor fitted in the "blue" sensor (normally closed) position, meaning it's not had a working oil pressure sensor below 2000RPM. I've bought the correct sensor. I'm a bit nervous about what I will find when I fit it, however I have done 200 miles in the van and really thrashed the living daylights out of it - it's the quietest and smoothest 2.1 engine I've ever owned so I reckon it's probably going to be OK.

All this done while waiting a week for the tank breather seals to arrive, so I could get started sorting out the fuel leak issues (I've been using it as my daily despite this)

Initially I thought it was just the breathers, but it turns out that the fuel tank is rotten, the jubilee clips holding the fuel hoses on have rotten off and the hoses themselves are all absolutely annihilated (note to self... look underneath 35 year old vans a bit more thoroughly before purchase!) so I ordered a new tank and literally every inch of fuel hose on the van.

This is the outlet of the tank - it was constantly dripping! I left the van parked inside work overnight and when I came back in the morning the landlord had nearly called the fire brigade overnight because a member of the public walking past had reported a strong fuel smell coming out under the door 🫣 (upside down photo for some reason)

Today, the seals finally arrived so I had a full* kit of parts to do the fuel tank swap, so after work I got cracking and drained the tank. It's just as well I did - I only got about ten litres out of it, despite the gauge stating three quarters full. With the tank empty, the gauge  still showed 1/4. So that's something else I need to look into..

Tank off... I wasn't jumping the gun. It's fucked, you could probably poke holes in the top with your finger!

FFM - BT!

All the new stuff to go on tomorrow, hopefully.

it wouldn't be one of my vehicles without me needlessly changing the wheels. So I've bought some Lotus Carlton type wheels (but 16s) for it, which I think will look really nice. I don't really want to piss about with the suspension if I can avoid it, because it drives real nice as it is. Tyres are on their way, should arrive tomorrow, but I'll need bolts and spacers etc which I'll work out when I've got the tyres on.

 

More updates tomorrow when I will have replaced the entire fuel system and maybe even sorted the stereo wiring out (it's choc(blok)tastic!!)

[Sheefag]

Those seats look damned comfortable.
Envious of the twin armrests.

 

[Snipes]

DeWalt spotted, thread ruined.

[cobblers]

58 minutes ago, Snipes said:

DeWalt spotted, thread ruined.

I didn't want to get my best Ryobi gear mucky 🤷‍♂️

[rusty_vw_man]

This is nice - very nice! Really like the multivan.

Good to see someone else adopting the go faster and leave the petrol behind approach, has worked well for me in the past as well, the breathers are a pain. 

The incorrect oil pressure switch and general bodgery I have found can often be an attempt to silence the buzzer of doom, rather than hiding a lack of oil pressure. 

Looking forward to seeing the minor niggles ironed out and it being used. 

[Hertz]

Sorry again about the fuel tank! We never filled it up past halfway as our old T25 leaked when brimmed so didn't want to test fate...

Looks like it's getting the extra love it needed.  Still miss it and I will be no doubt well jel when those new rims are fitted!

Did the new tach mph sticker arrive ok?

[cobblers]

On 18/10/2025 at 10:59, Hertz said:

Did the new tach mph sticker arrive ok?

Yup, but it had shrunk!

Hard to tell from the picture, but it was about 4mm smaller thanit needed to be, and none of the holes lined up. Very strange! So I just fitted a MPH face from an old speedo I had, and put a little label over it showing the odometer was in KM. It's not perfect:

 

So, the fuel hoses themselves were mostly OK, but every single hose clip from front to rear (20 in the engine bay alone!) had pretty much turned to dust. Most of the hoses were only still held on through force of habit, really - A quick wiggle to break the stiction and every one came off without removing the clamp. It's a miracle they hadn't popped off years ago!

18ish bits of fuel pipe replaced, all with nice new crimped connections:

 

Along with a new fuel filter (seeing as it looked like the last one was replaced pre- 9/11 

Also a brand new fuel tank on there, which I didn't take any pictures of because it's a big awkward bastard. 

Quite a boring job really. A bit like doing a cambelt - when you're done, the best case scenario is that the vehicle is not noticeably any different. That said, this one doesn't leak a pint of petrol on the floor overnight.

With all that done, I went at the head unit wiring and soldered all the choc block joined stuff and fitted a £29 Android Auto touchscreen stereo, which is actually quite good (but not very loud so I'm keeping an eye out for a better one)

I didn't take a photo of the wiring after. Just imagine it's very neat. 

Despite the fact that it does stop quite well, the front brakes aren't looking the best 👀

This side was rubbing a bit. The wheel bearing was loose, but they're a taper so I nipped it up a bit and "reconditioned" the brake disk:

 

 

That's shut it up for now. I'll order some new stuff off Autodoc, at some point. The old calipers off my pickup are in much better condition, so I'll give them a spruce up and swap em over.

 

With the cooling system and fuel system totally fixed forever, I borrowed next-doors tyre machine and stuck my tyres  on (Vredstein all-seasons). Dummied them up against the van, I'm waiting for some hardware to arrive to get em fitted. I think they'll look nice.

In doing this, I noticed that the rear spring that has been recently replaced is a "stock" one, whereas these bluestar vans are lowered 30mm from the factory. This is causing the van to sit wonky. None of the springs are in their first flush of youth so I'm keeping an eye out for a full set. 

With all this done, the van has repaid me by providing literally minutes of faultless service, driving nearly 800 yards before the clutch line exploded and I had to get dragged home on the truck of shame.

It's turned into a bigger project than anticipated. Oh well - It does drive nicely 🤷‍♂️

Luckily* I already had a clutch pipe in my basket at brickwerks (Who are now starting to put handfuls of stickers in with every order, I've spent about £900 with them this month!).  I noticed it looked "FFM, BT" when I was doing the fuel tank so I steered clear of it and made a mental note to replace it. I think the light from my head torch was probably enough to cause it to start leaking 😂

I've also ordered a set of power steering pipes, - the existing pipes look even more fucked than the clutch pipe, and there's about half a dozen repairs where bits of copper pipe are joined in with (leaking) compression fittings. 

Hopefully I'll have got all the mechanical stuff out of the way soon. But it still could probably do with a set of stainless front-rear coolant pipes

[Fabergé Greggs]

Great to see this getting thoroughly fettled! 

It’s also making me appreciate the simplicity of my non-PAS, air-cooled, carb fed, clutch-free T25. Speaking of which, any experience with the EPAS kits? There’s one on eBay for £400 fitted which seems VALU. 

[cobblers]

2 hours ago, Fabergé Greggs said:

Great to see this getting thoroughly fettled! 

It’s also making me appreciate the simplicity of my non-PAS, air-cooled, carb fed, clutch-free T25. Speaking of which, any experience with the EPAS kits? There’s one on eBay for £400 fitted which seems VALU. 

I've got one of the EPAS kits on my Syncro, it's really good. The kits come with a "basic" controller which means the steering can feel a bit light at speed. I upgraded to one with a built in GPS speed sensor so it reduces the assist once you're moving, and it now works absolutely seamlessly. The only annoyance is the motor poking out of the steering cowling.

Try and get one from a reputable and established place that will have public liability insurance - the steering shaft itself needs welding in a few places and if that snaps you really are in the shit. There was talk of one snapping a couple of months ago, luckily the guy was just pulling out of his drive at the time.

 

[Asimo]

I didn't know these could be had with powered steering. Do they need it really or is it just the expected luxury for Caravelle drivers?

[cobblers]

I've had them with and without it. They're not miserable to drive without PAS, it's not too heavy.

But when combined with all the extra soundproofing (and maybe an auto gearbox) {AS really turns what can be quite tinny, basic feeling vehicles into something quite pleasant. The difference between my 4x4 Doka and this Bluestar is like chalk and cheese, despite them both having the same engine etc.

 

[cobblers]

Had an hour on it after work - whipped the rear hubs off, pressed some longer wheel studs in and test fitted new wheels to my immobile and broken van 🤙

They fit nicely. I will probably get away without having to modify the sliding door hinge for clearance, which is nice.

New clutch and PAS hoses on their way, that can be this weekends job. I'll chuck a master cylinder on it too, since they're not expensive

[Fabergé Greggs]

8 minutes ago, cobblers said:

But when combined with all the extra soundproofing 

Interesting- this is also on my to-do list. Where do they have it? I'm planning under the front seats, cab floor and front panel. 

[andrew e]

Great stuff @cobblers 👍

Oddly the cheapest thing I ever did to my well worn T25 was having the snapped gear stick (enthusiastic panicking mate….) welded up for 20chf in Switzerland (which is buttons in swiss francs) by a grumpy Swiss garigiste. The tank leaked on that and the van was only a mere 17 years old then. BTW those alloys are just fabulous, who makes them? 

[cobblers]

1 hour ago, Fabergé Greggs said:

Interesting- this is also on my to-do list. Where do they have it? I'm planning under the front seats, cab floor and front panel. 

They have a thick layer (1 inch) of cork type stuff under the cab floor, entire rear floor and up the engine bulkhead, plus the "whistle strips" that seal along the outer front edge of the front doors to keep the wind from getting into the door shut area. I don't know how you'd recreate it - I tried in my old van, with 3 layers of flashband and 3 layers of 8mm thick self adhesive closed cell foam insulation. It didn't work well at all.

On top of that, all the vent "pipes" through the doors are sealed in with rubber bellows etc, and a few squares of bitumen stuff here and there.

 

1 hour ago, andrew e said:

Great stuff @cobblers 👍

Oddly the cheapest thing I ever did to my well worn T25 was having the snapped gear stick (enthusiastic panicking mate….) welded up for 20chf in Switzerland (which is buttons in swiss francs) by a grumpy Swiss garigiste. The tank leaked on that and the van was only a mere 17 years old then. BTW those alloys are just fabulous, who makes them? 

They're KW Turbos, but these were rebadged and sold by some company in Andorra. I've always quite liked them (basically knockoff Lotus Carlton wheels) and when these 16s came up for sale (before I'd even bought this van) I immediately thought they'd go brilliant on a T25, with a decent sized tyre on, too,

[MrBig]

That is a lovely looking thing. Having been the custodian of a couple of lower end T25's, I have always wanted a multivan, but not with any kind of factory VW engine option. Diesel and wasserboxer, I've blown them all up to the point where I can't bring myself to trust them anymore, but that's probably my fault for operating at the extreme opposite end of the market to this one!

A friend of mine put actual Lambo wheels on his and it looked awesome! And that interior is so comfortable.

 

[cobblers]

Righto! 

This was the general state of the PAS pipes.. They were rotten steel pipes, the feed pipe had been replaced with a number of copper sections using compression fittings where it'd blown. the return wasn't under pressure so just a handful of rubber pipes were let in, however what remained of it was basically porous. 

Clutch pipe basically the same.

 

Out with the old:

New stuff went in very easy really, it was only about a couple of hours job. 

While I was at it, I replaced the clutch master and slave cylinders as well as all the pipes. Pleased to say that this has vastly improved the clutch action, it's a lot lighter and the bite point is at a more comfortable height, and it doesn't wander about like it used to. 

The wheels and tyres are all fitted - it sits a little high at the back for my liking so I'm going to keep an eye out for a set of matching springs for it.

While underneath doing the clutch pipe I noticed one of the front-rear coolant hoses was weeping up at the back end of the van. Again it had two jubilee clips on it but one was rotten, and the non rotten one was fitted too far down the pipe and was clamping on the loose steel insert that had worked it's way out of the plastic pipe. Here's a fairly crap photo of the rubber hose with what's left of the steel insert inside:

I've pulled it out, pushed the rubber hose properly onto the plastic front-rear pipes and it's holding nicely. Long term I'd like to replace the coolant pipes with stainless ones, but realistically these are currently better than most t25s are running, so that's quite low down the list.

 

I sort of enjoy this stage of ownership, I've done loads of little things that have really hugely improved the experience.  Slightly surprisingly, the new bigger wheels have actually softened up the ride nicely, they're a lot quieter and more pliable than the old tyres.

While pissing about in the engine bay I gently leant on the dizzy cap while it was running and got a pretty decent belt off the thing - turns out it was fitted 180 degrees out of line so the locating notch was making it sit wonky causing the sparks to try and jump out of it rather than go where they should. Putting it the right way round and cleaning the slightly grubby contacts up made no difference to how the van runs but it was a nice easy win.

 

Overall verdict: bit fed up with fixing things so soon, but when I drive it I am reminded of why I like these vans and this one in particular drives like an absolute darling,

[Tickman]

Great result from the improvements, hope the drive and enjoy part arrives very soon.

[N Dentressangle]

All part of being that guy who ends up refreshing a 40 year old car, isn't it? Good to see you're doing a proper job 👍

[warninglight]

I don't really get T25s, but that pair you have are excellent.

[Fabergé Greggs]

Wheels and tires are looking great- there’s a particularly satisfying combination of dish and sidewall bulge at the back 👍

[Snipes]

I assumed these were all air cooled.

[camryv6]

2 hours ago, Snipes said:

I assumed these were all air cooled.

I assumed it was a fart 💩

[Asimo]

9 hours ago, Snipes said:

I assumed these were all air cooled.

They were initially, and should have stayed that way. Porsche tried to undo the water-damage with the B32...

[stuboy]

great work!!

[Dave_Q]

10 hours ago, N Dentressangle said:

All part of being that guy who ends up refreshing a 40 year old car, isn't it? Good to see you're doing a proper job 👍

Lads, it's Cobblers, the man couldn't cut a corner if you paid him.

Top work still.

[mat777]

Wowsers, I'm very envious of your skill at casually doing theses quite meaty jobs, and also of your workshop setup! 

You don't fancy taking on a project Ford do you? 😅

[Matty]

Im still trying to think of a job that @cobblers couldnt do. Its got to the point that ive added a Freelander 2 to the list of fault prone shit i have. Ive a suspicion that even JLR wouldnt stump him mind.

[rusty_vw_man]

On 30/10/2025 at 23:05, Matty said:

Im still trying to think of a job that @cobblers couldnt do.

I don’t know, reckon he’d struggle to stick a stamp on an envelope wonky and in the wrong corner….

I do love these threads though, it’s like seeing what I could have won if I had more skill!! 

[mat_the_cat]

On 30/10/2025 at 23:05, Matty said:

Im still trying to think of a job that @cobblers couldnt do.

Wire up a towbar using only Scotchlocks and insulating tape?