[clm]

i just got my urban citroen dispatj. will ply line and insulate asap and spend a month in europe in the summer.  quite excited.

[Bonjoy]

After finally taking receipt of my van, Ive got lots to do before July's trip beckons! One of jobs I want to do soonish is insulate the roof and side walls, ideally with reflective foil backed foam stuff (suggestions?)

So anyone got any recommendations of insulation/supplier/tips.....in or near Sheffield....

(ideally needs to be no more than 20-30mm deep to go behind panelling and roof lining....)

cheers

The stuff you'll want is Celotex or Kingspan 25mm. I'm not sure who the cheapest local supplier is. I got mine through work, but i'm not there anymore. Ebay often have lots of offcuts/offsizes

[Bonjoy]

NCB - I don't know if it's any use to you now, but i have two spare sheets of Celotex, one at 12mm and one 25mm. Will pm you my number.

[clm]

it may be of use to me if he dont want it

[Pantontino]

About 3 weeks ago I didn't care about camper vans that much. Then one day my wife came home and declared that she'd had a van epiphany: we had to get one, and we had to get one soon! I resisted initially, but once she'd shown me a few websites I very quickly became obsessed and suddenly threads like this started to make sense. I experienced 'van envy' for the first time (you should see Pete Robins' flash T28) - I can't drive anywhere without gawping at other vans, even pulling over to check them out on the street. I've got van fever, and I've got it bad.

Anyway to cut a long story short, we've just got one (see avatar); pick it up next week. Can't wait - no more uncomfortable camping for me!

[BenF]

Good to hear Simon.  I too have been suffering from van envy, it seems to appear every summer and I'm going to have to do something about it soon.  Similar symptoms have been noticed amongst other members of the Liverpool collective and Owen and I have also be known to stop to admire vans, converted hearses and even mopeds with large panniers. 

[Nibile]

welcome on the bright side, pantontino.
youll never get back.
 

[Paul B]

Nice looking van, will you post some more pics when you collect it?
I'm looking at T4's to convert at the minute, a few things have troubled me a bit though, one being that you remove the factory fitted bulkhead which must surely effect the structural stability of the van come impact time? and then the same thing means that all of your cupboards etc. can come piling into the back of you.
Does yours have a reimo roof or something similar? it appears to have but the piccie is very small.

[monkey boy]

Factory fitted bulkheads come as an option on T4's depending on whether you buy i as a domestic or commercial vehicle, hence if you buy a combi version with 5 sats they come without, and i'm pretty certain that they don't effect the structural integrity of the vehicle, as they are just a bolt in bolt out skin.

[north_country_boy]

Sorry Paul, that last post was from me....busy at the foundry today 

[Paul B]

good answer. still worried about a R&R bed coming crashing into the back of me though. There's a really good on going conversion on the T4 forum's i'll post a link up later for anyone thats interested in converting one. The guy is doing a really neat job for a relatively low amount of cash.
Dan, cheers for all your previous info on Vito's, done some more research and they're not for me.

[Pantontino]

Here's some pics of our long wheel base T4 2.5 tdi:











And this is the awning that I'm just about to buy off a mate for £40:



The van is pretty basic at the moment in terms of conversion, but I liked that as we are already well set up for camping and travelling. I reckon I'll just add stuff in a piecemeal fashion as I suss out what I want/don't want.

Off to Ailefroide in it in August with the family. And I can't stop grinning whenever I think about the van. (even though I am now massively in debt)

[Paul B]

looks very nice indeed, I think i'll have to go SWB, the other half didn't even like driving my old camper, that thing was the dogs b*llocks!

[SA Chris]

We are thinking of getting a van too, would be ideal for trips to west coast with surfboards etc. Just had long weekend in Borders with mountain bikes and camping gear, bikes and climbing gear leave very little space for much else. Just waiting for old corsa to die before we can go shopping, but it just keeps on going.

Yours looks nice Somon, LWB ideal for carrying long surfboards.

[Pantontino]

If you're not a surfer and it's just you and yer missus I reckon SWB is probably best as it will be easier to drive and park and probably more efficient fuel wise. I had a quick spin in Pete Robins' T28 last week and it felt almost like a car!

Unfortunately I need the space. I've got 2 kids and and an enormous amount of associated paraphenalia - even with a LWB I'm wondering where everything is going to go, especially on long trips.

Chris: why not sell the Corsa now while you can still get a reasonable price for it? A vanhead friend of mine advised me to spend as much as I could afford, and then some more, as transporters really hold their value and last forever. You're going to need every last penny you can scrape together to invest in the van of your dreams.

[Paul B]

There's a thread called project power on the T4 forum if your interested in a bit more oompf. Depends on what engine you have but if its the one with the intercooler (102bhp) then all you need is bosch injectors and a remap to get it up to 155bhp and increased level of torque. You can also do it for the standard 88bhp model but its more of a faff however a remap can get increased torque, fuel efficiency, and increase bhp to around 118....
By all accounts the guy who does the remap (diesel specialist at chipwizards) seems to do more than just the generic remap, it gets put on a rolling road and he adjusts things to how you like it...

[SA Chris]

Chris: why not sell the Corsa now while you can still get a reasonable price for it? A vanhead friend of mine advised me to spend as much as I could afford, and then some more, as transporters really hold their value and last forever. You're going to need every last penny you can scrape together to invest in the van of your dreams.

Because no-one would give us a button for it. At the moment it costs owes us nothing and costs minimal to run (we share it for commuting to work and back), and keeping it on the road for as long as possible means we would build up more cash than we would if we sold it.

[The Sausage]

About 3 weeks ago I didn't care about camper vans that much.

Come on Panton, how about being snuggled up to me in St Govan's car park, steadfastly ignoring The Emmett and Wentworth banging on the side of the van at 6am 'cos they were so uncomfortable? i can't believe that wasn't the turning point... anyway, nice looking wheels. See you at the gogarth do. By the way, when you off to ailefroid? i'm off on a 3 month euro-epic in 2 weeks. would be good to meet up.

[Pantontino]

I'd forgotten about that trip. I seem to recall sending Tim and Chris off to find some water just to give them something to do and possibly wear them out/calm them down.

I guess I was always put off by the slow speed/high fuel cost of vans. Lately I'm more put off by the uncomfortable nature of camping.

I'm leaving for France straight after the Gogarth festival (subject to me finishing a stubborn new route project on the Ormes). Staying out there for about a month. Probably spend a chunk of that time at Ailefroide. Big George might be going with his family too, and Jethro and clan as well at some point. James Harrison lives out there now too. Could be an old school Llanberis reunion!

[Pantontino]

Picked the van up yesterday, which was great, but for one issue. It was quite a warm day driving back into Wales and I found that the air blower system didn't work properly. Basically the right and left vents would only emit warm air. I could block these off, but the ones directed at the windscreen can't be blocked and they also consistently emitted warm air. The 4 central vents blew coolish air - not really cold though. Consequently it got pretty hot inside the van - imagine driving through France in the proper sweltering heat! The only solution seemed to be opening the windows up every now and then.

I spoke to a mate who also has a T4 and he said he had the same problem.

I did find this thread, which suggests it might be a design issue, or possibly that there could be a faulty part/s:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3347214&postid=40432126


I wondered if any UKBers had come across this problem before?

[Paul B]

I'd ask on here if I were you:

http://vwt4.forumsplace.com/

sure they'll have a fix.

[SA Chris]

Well spring is nearly upon us and there is probably enough cash in the coffers to do some shopping.

Anyone got any opinions on the Mazda Bongos? Seem to be reasonably priced. I think we will go for a converted van rather than me try and do it myself, and cock it up totally. The 4WD option seems nice for getting about in the hills in winter and getting to some less accessable beaches, but is it worth the extra expense and loss of economy(?). Also automatic seems common, which I have never been that keen on.

[galpinos]

I'm looking into getting a Bongo too. You seem to get more for your money than a converted VW (the missus has put her foot down on me having a half converted van sat outside her flat for 6 months).

MPG isn't great (30?) but I'm quite keen on getting around at a reasonable speed and not breaking down every 5 seconds.

Anything I need to look out for?

[lagerstarfish]

Bongo owners website http://bongofury.co.uk/  has plenty of useful info

[SA Chris]

Cheers, had a good old look at that already. Found 3 dealers in Scotland I didn't know about.