Are you local?

Oh really? I think they're fairly common in clippers over here. If you weren't so far away I'd offer to sell them, though I think the shipping would cost more than the seats!

I've been thinking of getting some corrado seats or suchlike for a litlle while as it happens!

IT BEGINS!

Since my girlfriend got a new car, she very very kindly gave me her old one, which means the project is now fully underway!

Since I've gotten settled in the village, have made some really good friends in my street and at my local garage, and they've recommended two really good painters here, so the idea is that from now on the car won't leave the village until it can do so under its own (new) steam, and is a very different colour

I've just enrolled on a welding course at my local college, and I'm hoping to do everything myself apart from paint, though I'm sure there's lots of help to come from the lads in the garage when I get things wrong :roll:

So I started today with a little weight loss. The bad news is that the rear arch covers/extensions are now scrap as I snapped one of the mounting tabs on the first one by accident, and again on the second one because I am an impatient idiot.

The good news is that the arches themselves are super duper solid, despite the fact that half a ton of soil/dirt/gunk was living up there…







The nearside skirt halted progress, as there were a couple of stubborn screws and I couldn't get the car high enough to get a dril underneath, will try again on friday probably  :roll:

For your info, if you dont already know your cab VDL originally started life on the Isle of Wight. So cant have been driven very fast at the start of its like, as theres no motorways here and just one strech of dual about 1/2 mile long !

errr... not to sure about it not being abused on IoW. I have some relations down there and they say the DL on the number plates is so that tourists can spot the "dam loony" yokel drivers and give them a wide berth.......

Yeah I did actually, pretty interesting I think! The car's been around, I bought it from a guy in Carlisle, and I think it had been registered in Birmingham and Manchester before that!

I think it has been pretty well looked after until I got it and put 11k miles on in 9 months! Poor old girl  ops:

I'm still amazed at how good this was under the arches!!!

I know! Can't wait to get under the fronts now too  8)

Early-1800 said

errr… not to sure about it not being abused on IoW. I have some relations down there and they say the DL on the number plates is so that tourists can spot the "dam loony" yokel drivers and give them a wide berth…….

Like it - not heard that one "dam loony" yokel drivers  

What you trying to say about island drivers ! Got to agree tho, with having a very large elderly population (retiring to the seaside and all that) we have plenty of sunday drivers out monday to saturday - with the average speed barely into double figures.

And if anyone gets to bring there well loved golf to the island, i warn you - your in for a bumpy ride with our very ill repaired country lanes ! There used to be a sign after you arrived on the ferry warning you ' Island roads are different '. Believe me they were telling the truth.

Sorry back to topic - VDL is one well travel golf but does look very clean.

Wehey, it's underway! Another project started, another dream to be realised!

Looks good under the kit matty, can't believe it, if only my arches were as good! lol!

Good to see it started tho, what you rollin in now then? You'll miss driving it pretty soon i'm betting, it's been bout 6 months since i drove angus!

Never mind tho, it'll be worth it in the end! What's the plans for it then dude??

Eyup fella

Cheers for stopping by  :wink:

Basically going for the full resto, respray, loads of chrome, new (possibly slightly unusual) engine, perhaps mappable ignition, secret wheels (which I'm in the process of buying at the mo, pooping myself), coils, small bumpers, the lot basically.

Hoping to have it done within a year, so fingers crossed for that!

I'm currently rocking a Peugeot 106 Zest 2, with a crumpled wing and no nearside wing mirror!  

It's a bit beaten up but it's a good egg, cheap to run and most importantly was free cos my awesome girlfriend gave it to me  8)

Sounds like quite a handful dude, at least you've set a realistic deadline, unlike me and russ, we basically thought it would take a few months and now its like, as long as it's ready for VW fest then i'll be happy!

Liking the secretness too, hum????? Unusual engine you say, secret wheels?? All sounds very tasty indeed!

Another free car?? Russ got one off his lass too, i wish my lass would give me a car! Lol, it'll save the hassle of having to sell the laguna to fund my new daily, if i can still get it like, Passat 1.8t wagon, it's gonna be low, smooth and fat. Maybe a spot of light tweaking????

Well i wish you the best of luck in your endeavours dude, and i'll be watching this like a hawk!

I saw the message you dropped on the thread saying you were down this weekend and offering a helping hand, while that would be great, there isn't actually much left to do, we aren't even gonna be doin owt i think! just waiting on the car coming back! But there will be plenty to do when it does get here, if ya fancy it?? :y:

But if you drop me your number i'll give you a shout if we do head down to do the last couple of bits!

In a bit!

Cheers for the message dude! Will PM my number over in a second.

Have been continuing with trying to remove what's left of the clipper kit, thanks to rusty screws and my impatience very little is coming off in one piece - my NS skirt is now melted in places.

I decided that because of the fact that it's been raining off and on all weekend I'd just crack on with the interior instead, so this is how it looks after a couple of hours before my girlfriend talked me into going for lunch. I had lamb, it was nice.



The front doorcards have a bit of water damage around the speakers, so they'll be replaced before I re-trim. Rears are perfect, however! I do have two layers of sound deadening in the footwells though  

Haven't got anything near as much done as I wanted to this weekend which irritates me a bit, but hopefully I'll be able to get a bit more done tomorrow.

Oh and if anyone can advise on how to remove my knee bar without breaking it, I'd be much obliged!  :mrgreen:

Cheers
Mat

Knee bar is bolted to the side of the car, 4 fixings either side, 2 bolts and 2 nuts.  Have a feel behind there and you'll find them.

Aaaah ok, so the four plugs underneath just pull out do they?

Cheers buddy!
Mat

You want to remove the knee bar from the car, metal and all, or you've done that and want to remove the knee bar trim from the metal frame?

If you want to remove the whole thing from the car then as said 4 fixing either side (13mm socket required) There's 2 bolts, remove these and 2 nuts, just need to loosen these.  Take out 2 screws from centre console and pull the whole bar straight out.

If you need to remove the plastic trim from metal brace then there are several fixings all the way round, push the centres out (bit like the ones that hold the front grill in place) and withdraw the plug. trim comes off when all plugs are removed.

Oh ok, well everything is still in the car, and I was just going to remove the trim, do does the bar have to come out before I can remove the trim, or can I just pop the trim off?

Not too sure on that mate, only ever done it when the bar has been out.  I guess you can if you can see all the plugs when it's in situ.  
Dont quote me on this but I think there's 4 along the top and 4 along the bottom.  If you look at one of the plugs you will see a small circle at the centre of it, push these through with a tiny screwdriver or something then the rest of the plug will pull out.

Ah ok, definitely can't get at the top ones with the knee bar in, or the dash in for that matter. Maybe take the dash out first!

Cheers for the help though, exactly the info I needed mate!

Mat

5 fixings at the top, 4 at the bottom :wink:

All sorted buddy! Hope VW still have those fixings as I lost half the centers to all of the other ones around the car: Once you pop, they're lost!

Got a bit more done, progress is feeling a bit slow though I've been as methodical as I can unless something gets in the way. You may notice the boxes of freezer bags in the car  :mrgreen:

Anyway, quick pic. Need to get a tarp or something so that I can make the car watertight so the glass, hood, seals etc can all come out.



Doesn't look like much when it's in the car!



Probably won't be any real progress for a couple of weeks as I'm away from the car this coming weekend  :roll: