KOMBI: The Final Push to Near Completion

3/06/16, Friday, the start of, WA Day (Foundation Day) Long Weekend..

By Will.

Hi everyone, how's the start of this warm Southern Hemisphere winter treating you all, amazingly it was 25C in Perth today !!! 

I hope you are all busy planning your own next adventure, be it an exciting day trip to the local park. A fantastic long weekend away or multi month tour...

The plans for our next OS travel adventure are coming along nicely, roll on October !

Lots has occurred over the past month, Jenny's busy currently drafting that exciting wiljen's Adventures blog update. So once again I'll stick to the Vee-Dub Kombi Camper only update.

So where were we friends ? Ah that's right the Electronic Control Panel was constructed but still required vanishing .

Weather resisting Watson Varnish, I do 3 coats over 48 hours.

Time to refit the Poptop roof hatch hardware, I'm using Stainless Steel Fasteners. Also check out the new LED light?

The Rubber o-rings are from metal roof tech screws. The finish looks heaps better then when we first bought the Kombi. Which consisted of rusty screws & scabby old silicon.

I have the car resto "Mojo" so work into the night !

Cabinet is all vanished so time to put it back together.

I tidy up the wiring behind it.

I've discovered that while I'm capable of finishing this Kombi refit task, every job seems to take me 5 times as long as a professional !  For example the interior trim cards, should have been easy but turned into a , major mission. The problem being, the trim Retaining Spring Clips weren't long enough. The current solution was to fit household wall plugs then screw into them. Not perfect but acceptable enough for now. 

It's all coming together nicely now, especially after Jen & I solved the interior panel card problem.

It was a scary job trying to cut the new RnR seat/bed kick panel with my cheap Chinese brand Jig Saw. I use the old one as a template.

Amazingly (with some luck) it fitted in well.

A new  400 watt 12v to 240v inverter has been fitted, I may need to run a thicker (50 amp) positive cable for it.

Jenny is busy sewing & fitting the new "Funky" curtains . We bought the material from Spotlight in Mandurah. Also, see the manual pump Tap, it now works !

How good do the new "Jenny" curtains look. I earlier put in camper curtain rails from Just Kampers.

Time to refit the old (original) Rock-n-Roll seat/bed.

After some small modifications the RnR seat is in position and ready for action.

Most jobs on the wiljen VW Dixie Kombi Van are now done, all that remains are :

* Fit Pop-Top Roof Lining, we are farming this job out to Andy & Co. at Mandurah Canvas.

* Attach Roof Rails & Awning. This has been purchased from ARB Mandurah. The 3 x Roof Rails are from Rhino Racks & the Awning is ARB brand, it is a good size, 2.5m x 2.5m , it is also interchangeable with our Toyota Landcruiser. 

Funny story obtaining these roof rails, I pull into the ARB Mandurah car park surrounded  by Pimped Up Off Road 4wd Vehicles, I'm in the little orange Kombi. I ask about some roof rails and they almost laugh at me (the guys are cool I've dealt with them before),

 "it's not everyday we get a VW T2 Kombi Van in here" says one of the staff. They don't think they can assist me in my mission.

Fortunately I have done my research and Rhino Rack make a roof bar for Kombi's. Unbeknown to Mh ARB they are the only retailer in the nearby vicinity. After a quick computer search they agree it's doable ! Success, Bars, Fittings & Awning all arrive 2 days later !

* Cover the new mattress section that infills the space on the drivers side left by the removal of the "old cabinets". The mattress section is 1900mm x 400mm, with a few grooves cut in it to match the contours of the interior van body.

* Finished making the Curtains, 2 more to go. This is Jenny's area of expertise and they look really good.

Grant at Clark Rubber, Mandurah did a great job cutting the white piece of foam to fit. Even after I did my best to confuse him.

Lastly there seems to be an Alternator fault. 

When I picked Jenny up from the hospital on Wednesday the 1st of June, the Battery Fault Light on the dash started glowing. I checked the connections, fitted the new Deep Cycle battery , checked some other possible reasons and finally came to the conclusion that it's either a Voltage Regulator (internally fitted into alternator) of some other Alternator problem, diodes ?

While Jen had knee surgery I ran around town doing Kombi Jobs. Then the call came to pick her up after 8 hours in Hospital. The Kombi turned out to be a good option for old Jip Leg Jen. Pity the Alternator decided to cark it in the way home.

So next Tuesday I'll take our Dixie Van up to our "Tame" VW Mechanic, Carl at the Volks Shop in O'Connor Perth. Hopefully they can resolve the Battery Light Fault, then do a full service & maybe even repair a couple of small oil leaks.

Dixie will then be ready for a winter "shake down" adventure !