1987 vw t25 LOW + ALLOYS

[Jox]

Hello all, After viewing this forum for along time I finally bought a vehicle worthy of been retro, well I hope so I came to retro rides with cobblers I made that blue mini motor bike type thing.

Anyways I bought a vw transporter panel van 2.1 manual.



First job was to strip out the old ply lining and refit new, the stuff smelt like pish! while I was doing that I stuck some flashing in there and some insulation for good measures






Oh I got cobblers looking at the eclectics and we narrowed it down to a nakered ecu, and it was! runs like a dream now .

Plans are a full respray in audi nimbus grey, mass lowerage some fancy pants wheels and ill finish the insides off with a custom camper interior. Updates may be a little slow as cobblers car is still making interesting rattling noises and I have to sell a few cars before I can get fully stuck in. Cheers Jon

[Rich]

2.1 eh? nice stuff. Best of the best that is! I have a 1.9 wasserboxxer myself, just its a bit different to the norm, T25 wise.

Have a pic of mine



Definitly retro enough in my books.. and yours looks like the ideal blank canvas! I'll be sure to keep a close eye on this thread

Rich

[cobblers]

Oct 18, 2009 20:52:05 GMT Rich said:

2.1 eh? nice stuff. Best of the best that is! I have a 1.9 wasserboxxer myself, just its a bit different to the norm, T25 wise.

Have a pic of mine



Definitly retro enough in my books.. and yours looks like the ideal blank canvas! I'll be sure to keep a close eye on this thread

Rich

I've been trying to convince Jon to lower it properly, but he keeps giving me curse word about "driveability" and other words that I care little for - I Suppose he's got a point though, I talked him into lowering his 106 gti and ended up cutting the front springs in half. Admittedly, it drove like a sack of anvils rolling down some stairs.

What springs are you running on yours? Looks a good height!

[Rich]

Oct 18, 2009 21:07:12 GMT cobblers said:

I've been trying to convince Jon to lower it properly, but he keeps giving me curse word about "driveability" and other words that I care little for - I Suppose he's got a point though, I talked him into lowering his 106 gti and ended up cutting the front springs in half. Admittedly, it drove like a sack of anvils rolling down some stairs.

What springs are you running on yours? Looks a good height!

Ah. Well. I have black and decker sportlines in the front, -2 Coils. Yea, chopped springs. They are 99p ebay bargains though so (tracking aside) I can swap them at will. 2 coils gives a 3.5" drop though. out back I have BMW cabriolet springs which give a standard soft ride with a 2" drop but I have 235/70R15 tires on the rear which puts the back nearly back to stock hieght.
So still not really lowered properly..

[rainking]

Nice!

2.1's are definitely the pick of the stock motors in T3's...

Currently got one in a westy club joker camper.... and had a Multivan with the 2.1 in prior to that...

We dropped the Multivan 60mm on Just Kampers springs and fitted the appropriate dampers and polybushed it, and with a short-shift kit too, it handled fantastically.. and the ride wasn't compromised at all (once we'd swapped the std 14's for some 17" RS6 reps with lower profile rubber)

WELL worth doing!

[Thrasher]

Good work, I've got the JK 60mm springs on my T3 ( DG 1.9 lump ) Drives SO much better....less floaty floaty..

[Jox]

Cheers for the comments guys! Ive never driven a t3 before never mind a 2.1 so I'm quite looking forward to it! But i have along way before that happens. Got it running quite nice just need to flush the water system, looks abit muddy lol. Then the gear linkages need a tonne of attention its like a stick in a bucket of sand haha. Then we come to the welding 4 new archs and 2 steps are in need and a tad under the back arch. Oh and i forgot about the bits of rust under the front and rear screen seals.

As for springs and dampers ive sourced some from cmc 70mm on the front and 50mm on the back but i think i may need to cut a coil or two heh

[Rich]

Oct 19, 2009 19:57:36 GMT Jox said:

Cheers for the comments guys! Ive never driven a t3 before never mind a 2.1 so I'm quite looking forward to it! But I have along way before that happens. Got it running quite nice just need to flush the water system, looks abit muddy lol. Then the gear linkages need a tonne of attention its like a stick in a bucket of sand haha. Then we come to the welding 4 new archs and 2 steps are in need and a tad under the back arch. Oh and I forgot about the bits of rust under the front and rear screen seals.

As for springs and dampers ive sourced some from cmc 70mm on the front and 50mm on the back but I think I may need to cut a coil or two heh

Make sure you use G12 antifreeze in it, not cheapo motorfactor guff. The 2.1 isn't so prone to the problems that the 1.9 had with snapping head studs because the 2.1 has S/Steel ones but these fair so much better with the real deal in.

When you bleed the system, make sure there is pressure starting to build up before you take the bleed screw out of the rad and don't do it with the expansion tank cap off- all your coolant will come back out of there!

Gearshift sounds about normal, bearing in mind thats a long old rod you are operating

No more than 1 coil should need to be cut with lowering springs but buy wisely as you cannot cut the rear springs

[Thrasher]

Agreed, proper G12 coolant all the way ( remember you'll need more than ONE bottle of it , big capacity cooling system !! :-o )

My shifter really is appaling as well, going to stump up for the repair kit and quick shift riser thing at the same time.

I also need.., another sliding door ( early type ), two cab doors and the driver side sill replacing. Nothing too bad, need to crack on with it really.

[shitemeister]

Hi from another T25 owner, 2.1i eh? very nice. I have a 1.9 but having a hi-top with all the camping interior dampens the performance somewhat.

As for the gearshift, its not the hardest job in the world to replace the bushes, the quality of my gearshift is a joy so you will be able to get a decent quality gear change.

[guz]

got cab doors here, £100/pair. good uns.

[Jox]

Well i noticed a while ago that the van is rusting under the windscreen rubber and same at the rear window, also one of the previous owners got abit happy with the drill on the dash so i thought id whip dash out and sort it out ;D. The dash came out bloody easy took about 15minutes after working out those damn shear bolts!, The plan is to smooth it spray it the same colour as the van and spray the vents and cowlings black, few progress pics!

Dash out!


Need to sort this nest out at some point



offending holes!



I cut a plate out so i can smooth the top vent thing



Few blobs of weld!



what holes ;D!



Bit of gobo!



Its only the first skim of filler, i stuck abit of primer on it so i can see high and low spots.



Quite happy with the out come! just need to buy some paint now, oh and a new spray gun i lost mine

Next job is to get windscreen out and see the damage. Cheers Jon

[jaykay]

16.5 half litres of antifreeze, 50/50 mix of g12 in mine. it was a curse word, 2.1 should fly, mines a 1.9 hi top and i really impressed with it, was a bit upset when i put interior back though, certainly dampened acceleration a bit . could heel and toe it in the wet though, quite impressive!

[cobblers]

16.5 half litres of antifreeze! Thats gonna cost you a pretty penny john! Christ

[Rich]

Oct 27, 2009 16:03:52 GMT cobblers said:

16.5 half litres of antifreeze! Thats gonna cost you a pretty penny john! Christ

16.5L in total, but its still over 8 litres of G12. It stings a bit but its worth it.

[grizz]

Nice one with the ugly duckling Jono.

I was Gazzumped years ago when I tried to buy one for about £200 from a pantihose wholesaler.... still want one, just 'coz.

Glad you are getting on with it.

Oh, and welcome to the board.

[Jox]

thanks for comments next job is to get windscreen out and sort the rust, while thats out I'm going to a pillars inside and door shuts.

So this g12 antifreeze everyone keeps banging on about, is it a vw dealer only or can i get it from gsf or similar places?

thanks Jon

[guz]

GSF do same spec stuff, cheaper than VAG dealer.

[Jox]

Well i had a bloody good day at busfreeze the other weekend and spent just about all my cash i had from selling a car! i got all the repair panels i need front and rear lights and indicators lowering springs and new dampers ohand a new spray gun!!


So today i got up and went to the paint shop and bought some paint. It turns out that the audi aviator paint i wanted is a perl, but i wanted to use 2k paint so i decided to use a RAL colour in 2k, its a rough match but should look nice hopefully.

I managed to get a couple of coats of filler primer on the dash today so tomorrow i can paint it ;D





I know its only primer but I'm quite happy with the finish, i just hope i can do the same with the top coat. Watch this space for tomorrow should have pics of the colour, gota say I'm actually excited lol

[Jox]

i got some paint on the dash but it all went to bolox! Turns out the new spray gun i bought had been put together with silicon and there was greese on the nozzle aswell. But the paint is the right colour and it went on like glass apart from the fisheyes in it.



Ill have to flat it off and start again and hope a new gun will solve the problem. Then i can get started on the van.