Mk2 Caddy VR5 Build

[Mike.F]

looking good mate, nice to see some more progress made

[Sammo]

looking good mate, nice to see some more progress made

Thanks. Hopefully the progress will continue a little more swiftly now

[Sammo]

Got a spare hour this afternoon so decided to grind out the centre bore on one of the new steel wheels and try and get it to fit.

This is what I started with. A 6.5x15 steel wheel for an Astra.



I started off with a round edge file and after about 20 mins had a nice shiny centre bore and plenty of metal filings.





I tried the wheel on the van and hadn't taken enough off with the file. I went back and forth another couple of times before running out of patience and getting the die grinder out. A few minutes with that and the wheel finally fitted









The perfect fit I'll get the others filed down over the course of the week, give the bare metal a couple of coats of hammerite and then get the tyre's on them. Should keep the van looking pretty standard

[Sammo]

I must admit that I'm starting to get a bit frustrated with not being able to mount the engine. I don't have the skills to make a mount myself and my old Boss is so busy at the moment he doesn't have the time or space to have the van and make the mounts for me

[mitty85]

What sort of mount do you need?

[Sammo]

Soooooo, I don't really have much of an update to give

I still can't find anyone to make the engine mounts for me and being unable to weld means I can't make them myself. I've spoken to a few people about them but nobody can give me even a rough idea of cost and have shown no real interest in making them.

I did have a parcel arrive the other day though from Germany. It's a pair of Koni rear shocks for once the beam is flipped

[mitty85]

I’m sure Al sells those shocks in the caddy shop.
What mount do you need making?

[Sammo]

I’m sure Al sells those shocks in the caddy shop.
What mount do you need making?

I need the rear engine mount making.

[mitty85]

I need the rear engine mount making.

Do you know what it needs to look like? I might be able to help if you can get any photos of what one looks like

[Sammo]

Just a quick update to say I haven't given up on the van, however I have lost every ounce of motivation to work on it at the moment! I'm hoping to build some back up soon so I can get on with it!

[mitty85]

Just a quick update to say I haven't given up on the van, however I have lost every ounce of motivation to work on it at the moment! I'm hoping to build some back up soon so I can get on with it!

I got like that with my project van. To get over it I just bought another van

[ScotClayShooter]

Screenshot_2018-07-04-19-25-38.jpg

[Sammo]

Still haven't done any welding and still don't have any engine mounts, however I do now have a low entry trolley jack I've wanted one for ages but always had more important things to spend the money on. Anyway, I decided it was to splash out on one. I wasn't sure what size to go for and it's quite difficult to gauge an idea of size online. So to be safe I went for the 3 tonne version. Well, it's pretty big haha. The delivery guy nearly gave himself a hernia carrying/dragging it down the path.

Once I was set up I tested it out straight away and got the engine back off the steady bar so I could try and do a bit of measuring up for mounts.

[Sammo]

I’ve got a very small update

I will admit that recently I have completely lost interest in the van. I couldn’t find anyone to make the engine mounts for me without me having to try and mock something up (which I haven’t had time to do) and the list of things that needed doing were just never ending! Thankfully I have found a company pretty local to me that have agreed to take the van and make me some engine mounts It’s going over there in a couple of weeks time to have that all sorted and then hopefully it’ll spur me on to get the rest of the list sorted a bit quicker

Seeing as the van is going to have to move it means it’s going to need a steering wheel! Today seemed like a good day to do interior stuff so when my daughter fell asleep watching Harry Potter earlier (I was enjoying it and had to pause it!) I nipped outside in the pouring rain to try and tidy the interior up slightly!

This is how it was left last time I worked on the dash



Then I lost interest! Today I managed to get the dash centre panel fitted, although it’s pretty knackered so I’m on the look out for another one. I got the Polo centre console fitted and got the steering wheel in place at least.

[Sammo]

Spent a little more time on the interior today. I got the centre console secured down properly, fitted the handbrake lever gaiter, gear lever gaiter and found an old Momo gearknob to chuck on there for now. I also refitted the instrument cluster and then the steering wheel.

It’s not much but it’s suddenly made the pile of bits in the footwell much smaller and the interior actually looks like an interior again

[DMF666]

Keep chipping away at it mate. Good stuff.

[mitty85]

It’s bloody hard getting motivated again to get into a project. Well done for getting on with it

[Sammo]

Today was a day of tidying up and getting the van ready to go and have it’s engine mounts made

I started off with clearing all the crap out of the back that I’ve been hoarding in there for the last couple of years. Once I’d cleared it out and thrown a lot of stuff away I refilled the back with the remaining parts of the van This should make things much easier when it comes back!



Once that was done I needed to get the engine back onto the support bar so the van can be moved. I then removed any nuts and bolts I had resting in the engine bay!





Last but not least I have the cabin a clean It’s been full of interior bits, screws, rubbish, foam, more rubbish and all sorts of other things for as long as I can remember! I cleared everything out, threw away some more bits that weren’t needed and then gave it a much needed hoover. The last thing to do before packing up for the day was to put my vast array of engine mounts inside for the fabricator to take inspiration from haha!



That’s it for today. The van is being collected on Wednesday and I expect to have it back by the weekend Although I’m working next weekend so nothing will be happening then anyway.

[Sammo]

We have another update.

The van has gone to have its engine mounts made It was collected at about 10am this morning and off it went We had a slight issue getting it off the driveway (which turned out to be a flat rear tyre!) but apart from that it rolled out fine. I should have it back in a couple of days and then the fun begins!

[Sammo]

A quick update just to say, the engine mounts haven’t been started yet. I’ve told the guy not to rush and make sure he takes some photos that I can show you lot