1989 VW T25 - Journey to anywhere

Great news to have it back. I think a lot of us have had frustrations with bodyshops, it seems to common, especially for those of us with a real world budget.

Please take Glen's advice about the masking tape though, I have paid the price for this mistake before now!

Well doesn't that look bloody lovely! After all that time it must feel pretty good to fianlly have it back in your posession. Time to start bolting on all those lovingly restored parts. What's the plan on the Subaru install EJ20T, EJ25T or the epic route of an EZ30T for all the torque's?

Cheers guys! No turbos (yet), just a stock EJ25.

luckygti so strange, I was literally just re-reading your Doka thread for inspiration/checking for any updates and realised you've commented here.

I hear you on the bodywork. If I step within the vicinity of a bodyshop any time soon I will have full 'nam flashback triggers for sure. Your Doka is awesome, and definitely a keeper.

Thanks, I may well take you up on the offer of some scooby knowledge once I get to that stage


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Not a huge amount to update as we head into Christmas. The next stage is stripping the entire underside of all components, all old underseal followed by epoxy mastic and raptor. Something it's far far too cold to be doing at the moment (painting that is, I'm itching to get stuck in again).

In the meantime, it gives me a moment to let my finances recover and ponder how I'm going to tackle the daunting process of putting it all back together. Reckon I'm going to start with the front end first and work backwards. That way it'll only have 2 wheels off of the ground at once. I really want to minimise it being immobile as much as possible due to it blocking the Golf in. Not an issue now, but it will be next year.

After much deliberation, my wife suggested we buy a carcoon to try and keep the van as dry as possible over winter. Pleased about this as I was nervous leaving it in an 'unsealed' state after the body repairs. Another hefty investment but in all honesty, it'll pay for itself if it keeps the rust at bay. It was a real pain in the backside to set up as it's only JUST big enough for the van BUT, it's in!

It also decided to curse word with rain in the 30 mins the van was outside... with no windows...

Nothing crazy that wasn't dry-able but it did highlight my new windscreen and its new OEM rubber seal is leaking... awesome

I think I may need to run a strip of Arbomast under it which I think I can do without removing it again. All ears if anyone has experience with this stuff. I'm not having it rot the frame/floor out again!



We all love a bargain, right? I couldn't resist a cheeky bid on some ridiculously cheap 986 seats which unbelievably I won. Sh*t ...

This now brings the grand total of interiors in my attic to four

Some digging revealed this donated them:



Unfortunately being sat in a damp depo all weekend did them no favours:



Hazmat and some leather treatment saw them looking well again. Lucked out with them being from a low mileage car, they are in really great condition with all electrics working as they should.



I have no idea how they'll fit or even if they'll suit but that's a problem for future me.

That's all for now, next update will be more interesting. Happy Christmas y'all!

Quite haha!

Not too concerned about making them fit the tubs, more about whether they will sit too high. I'm a short a*se but have long legs

I like the idea of doing fabric centres (and maybe adding heating elements) but that'll depend on costs and how brave the other half is feeling on the ol' sewing machine. She did an awesome job on my GTI's buckets.

Whilst I'm raiding the Porsche parts bin (Wheels, steering wheel, brakes, seats, axles, potentially fabric) I'm super conscious of not having Porka logos everywhere. It's a VW van at the end of the day, not a 911, so will be doing my best to keep it all subtle.

Not sure how I've missed this. I'd love an old T25/T2. It would serve no purpose with 2 kids and a dog as no good as a daily and not big enough to go away in. An sadly faaaaarrrr to expensive for me to ever justify as a toy! I've had a couple of t4's and even there too expensive now for nakerd old vans🤣

That's had a serious amount of work to get to that stage (and money I don't doubt) but it shows!

Easy bit now, bolt it back together, chuck the Subaru engine in. Jobs jobbed!

Bookmarked!

Sorry, just seen you’d tagged me! Fitted Boxter seats in the DoKa, if they have the height adjusters they do sit a tad high. I had to flatten off the original seat runners and removed the original runners to gain an extra 10mm. Fitted heated seat elements myself, the covers are actually pretty easy to remove as well. Photos in a bit (though there might be some on the DoKa thread

Not the most exciting update but I’ve been plodding through stripping the underside, doing what I can whilst it’s confined to the tent and bubble. Next goal - entire underside stripped and epoxy primed.

My wife has nicknamed the engine bay as the ‘pit’ as I disappear through the decklid hole and down underneath - emerging a few hours later looking like I’ve been a coal miner for the last 30 years.



Blasting would be the dream here but with my home setup, thats just not practical. So the next best thing has been chugging away with knot wheels and a powerfile.

I’ve been trying out one of the Rustbuster products called Phoskleen B. Basically a mild formula of Phosphoric acid mixed with some form of detergent. It’s actually done a pretty good job of cleaning out pitted rust I can’t get abrasives in to.

You can see it doing it's thing here:









This and the powerfile have been invaluable



Most of the engine bay has had it's first coat of epoxy mastic primer:







Keep on keepin' on!

Don't envy you going down under there for sure - results look great though !

Can I ask what powerfile you are using ? Killed the last one I had so looking for recomendations.

James

Think they were just eBay specials. Two heat modes and just fitted the switch alongside the seat adjuster switches.