Project Fudge

[S49]

How the hell are you going to load in thro the back with a forklift with all that camping clutter in it? Joking aside love this build mate.

[No Sliders]

Cracking design, write-up and execution, thank you, still lots more to come but erm..... how tall are you both?

Cheers Rob. Luckily Jen and I are from Hobbit stock. The total length of the seat frames are 5' 7" or 1.7m. This leaves about 20mm ish between the end of frame and the wheel arch (LWB).
I'm a tad taller than Jen (although still a short arse), I've about an inch or so space left lying down on the frame alone. The drill will be the same as our previous van where we'll stuff the cushions off the seats in the gaps between both driver's and passenger seats and bed frame. This takes the overall length to well over 6 foot… plenty for us. One of the reasons for no slider was so we could go full width with the bed too, because let's face it, most rock n' roll beds are practically a single bed (width wise).

How do those brackets (great find) release their three fixed positions?

There's a catch at the bottom that you push and hold in to release the lock. You could fold the kick panels down on your own, but the easier and quicker routine will be; Jen at one end, me at the other to press the catches in and fold the kick panels down in one hit.
I'll be posting pics up which will show how I've left easy access to the catches. Here's a link to the brackets I used.

Whats the recessed floor sections for? Apologies if its previously explained?

No probs, yeah I briefly touched on these previously… they're for lap belts in the back which may or may not get used. 3 point belts are of course better but it's pretty unlikely we'll have passengers, plus the positioning for the shoulder mount was too far forward to work for my configuration. So, my thinking was something is better than nothing, and may as well take steps to include them whilst I was in the process of doing the floor. I've fitted seatbelt strengthening plates both above and below the floor/body, but again I'll touch on these and include some pics later on.

Do you actually need that bracing bar in the centre across such a small span?

It's actually quite a stretch, and although I've used 18mm ply (under the advice of Jen's dad - a retired chippy), there was no real harm in using the brace to prevent any bow or sag over time or prolonged use. Although neither of us are heavy, I suspect this could still happen with the changes in heat and humidity in the van.

Is it all manually moved and lifted?

Not quite sure how you mean? With the frames screwed together rigid, I could lift them in and out with ease… I'd step inside the frame and lift it up to carry… a bit like a school kid in a play, pretending to be in a boat (that's exactly what I did).
If you mean long term, then no, the frames will be permanently screwed down to the floor. This is part of the reason for the battens under the 12mm ply floor.

Hope this helps?

[No Sliders]

How the hell are you going to load in thro the back with a forklift with all that camping clutter in it? Joking aside love this build mate.

Aaah well, you see, there's this guy on here building this Doka… when he's finished he's gonna sell it to me for situations that call for a forklift

[Activ8]

Not quite sure how you mean? With the frames screwed together rigid, I could lift them in and out with ease… I'd step inside the frame and lift it up to carry… a bit like a school kid in a play, pretending to be in a boat (that's exactly what I did).
If you mean long term, then no, the frames will be permanently screwed down to the floor. This is part of the reason for the battens under the 12mm ply floor.

Cheers for the reply.

Ah OK, no it was with regard to electrifying the kick board function. I was thinking you could fit an actuators to the uprights to raise and lower the side kick boards.

[No Sliders]

Cheers for the reply.

Ah OK, no it was with regard to electrifying the kick board function. I was thinking you could fit an actuators to the uprights to raise and lower the side kick boards.

Wow, that's some foncy fandango electrickery right there. Nah, I love these vans for their lack of electric gizmos and gubbins, besides, I'd just break it.

[No Sliders]

As the end of September was approaching, Jen and I had booked a week off to head down south to visit the fam and catch up with friends.
Run the Ring 5 was also on the cards which meant Fudge would be completing this entire trip for us. This would be our first maiden voyage in Fudge of well over a 1000 miles over a relatively short period.

Build wise, although I try not to set any hard and fast targets, I was on track as ideally (in my head), I was wanting the back to be complete in as much as the floor and carpet lining done before heading off.
In fact, I was slightly ahead of my ideal point as the bed/seat frame was also now complete. This was good as this meant that any cargo could now be anchored to the frame without sliding and skating around in the back at every hill and turn.

I had about 2 thirds of a can of black fence preserver kicking around in the shed and decided to give my frame a couple of coats - more for aesthetic reasons than anything else. Then I carpet lined the panels at the cab end of my frame.…



I planed and sanded the corner of the long (inner most facing), top sections of wood to a smooth curve to allow the kick panels to fold up and over when the brackets are folded out.

Brackets up…





Run the Ring 5

This year was the first year they'd completely sold out, but unfortunately because of the 'panic buying fuel bullshit', not everyone could take part that had entered. We were pretty jammy throughout this situation, especially considering we'd travelled such a long way.

Gotta say at this point… I was well impressed with Fudge's performance. Must have ahelluva tank. We'd travelled well over 400 miles and still had almost half tank of fuel left. Probably sat at about 75 most of the way (comfortably).
In comparison to the 2.4 I had, the same journey would leave us needing to fill up almost straight away again with a near empty tank once arriving at our destination.
I reckoned a steady 70 all the way could possibly take us from our home in Scotland, down to Cornwall?

This was taken just before we set off on our journey…



Anyway, in case you're not familiar, the way RTR operates is like this; there are 4 main services around the M25 where everyone meets up. When you book to take part, you specify which services you want to leave from - for us this was South Mimms. This is so they can control numbers.
100% of the fee you pay goes to charity… in this case CoppaFeel. You can pay an extra fiver to offset your carbon footprint (which we did). This goes to The Woodland Trust. Not sure this offset our footprint, but we were down visiting folk anyway, so…

We rocked up at South Mimms the night before. I'd booked us into the services for the night as we weren't about to sleep inside the bed frames like a couple of vampires.
Come the morning, we had breakfast then walked out to a sea of Volkswagens where there was quite a buzz as dubs of all years, shapes and sizes were gathering every second. This brought a little grin to my otherwise tired face.

We casually walked around to stretch our legs whilst appreciating other VWs and chat to like-minded folk about their rides. Fudge got some love and appreciation too, with some folk picking up straight away on the fact that there was no slider, no seam down the 'C' pillars and the slide rail recesses on both sides had been deleted. I even took the number of someone that wanted to buy my wheels, so when/if I fancy a change, I'll give em' a bell.

I think we set off at about 8.30am? The gatherings at the other services are released at specific timings so that eventually there's a continuous unbroken ring of over a thousand Volkswagens travelling around the M25.
All-in-all we had a great time. Met some cool folk, had a good laugh and raised a shit tonne of cash for a good cause in the process… would do it again for sure.

Here's a few snaps. The ones of Fudge were mostly pilfered from other folk on the day…

















Lastly, I nabbed this from the Facebook page…

[No Sliders]

The following weekend after arriving back home, I tore back into the bed frames. Props to Fudge (as the yoof say), he'd earned his wings.

As the overall height of the frames is taller than the width of the walkway between them, this meant that the kick panel sections either side would be have to be split into 2 sections. 1 short fixed bottom section, and then a taller top section which would be fixed to the bracket and fold up over the walkway to meet its twin in the middle.
The 2 short bottom sections for both sides (let's call them skirting boards), were cut. I then cut out holes at either end with a hole saw so that the release catches could be accessed on the bottom of the brackets. These sections were then stained on the back/inside, carpeted and screwed up.

Next up were the taller top sections. Again, measured cut and routed some recesses out for some sprung flight case type handles I'd bought - on eBay I think?. Suppose I could have just routed some holes out to stick your hands in …but I didn't want to.
These were offered up to see if they'd sit just shy of the top of the frames (which they did). This was good as I'd allowed a few millimetres for the carpet thickness…



Although the brackets are more than adequate for the job these are quite long sections, and even though the panels will be resting along the top of the frame, there was no real support in the middle to prevent any bowing.
If they bowed and warped then the functionality would go out the window, so I had the idea of having 2 legs equidistantly placed under each panel that would fold down and lock for support.

In my head when I dream up these ideas, half the time I have no idea if the hardware even exists… I just presume and hope it does? Luckily, the hinges that played a vital role in the grand scheme of my idea, did actually exist. The first few minutes of sourcing such items normally consists of typing vague and obscure descriptions into google before I'm eventually led to what a grown up professional tradesman would call them.

The legs were cut allowing for some carpet to be stuck underneath to rest on. They were then screwed up and again, the panels were offered up for double-checking…




Happy, I stained the legs and panels, then finished them with carpet before fixing the legs and handles on…





So, on these leg hinges ^^^ as you pull them out to their vertical position they click and lock into place with no chance of folding back in on themselves. To release, you simply push the catch down towards the leg until it clicks free again and folds back up.
The way I positioned them under each panel is so that you basically grab the back of the leg with your fingers at the same time as pushing/squeezing the catch down with your thumb in one quick easy motion to release.

The panels were secured to the brackets, the panels folded up, legs folded down and all locked into place…




You may have noticed that I decided to fix the handles on upside down, or at least some might consider them upside down? Either way, the position of the handles felt most natural this way to bend down and pull up on, plus, where the handle is actually hinged is at the lowest point on the panel meaning less effort or force is needed to pull the panels up… sumtimes I blow me own mind wiv me grasp uv fizziks.
At this point I had about 7 screws securing the frames down on each side, but still, the whole contraption was pretty damn solid. I trialed my system by sitting, lying down and walking along it - I was pretty chuffed with how solid and secure it felt so far.

Now on to the tops of the frames and the lids n' stuff.

First up were the sections that ran along closest to the 'walls' (on top of the dog legs). These would take up the curvature of the walls and the inconsistencies between the front and rear of the frames. It's not until you start to work on a project like this that you appreciate and notice the subtle changes in the shape of the van, so although at a glance my frames may look perfectly rectangular, they actually taper in slightly as they get further towards the back with the van. At the same time I had to keep the distance between them bang on equal and square at the walkway. This was quite a daunting task when I first started, but as I went, I measured and double-checked everything down to the millimetre. The further I progressed, I started to notice consistencies with other measurements, and as things tallied up as I went, I grew more confident in my working out of things.
Now I'm off track and waffling, again.

Back on track.
These lengths next to the sides would need to be at least 4" deep. This is because I've decided to have foam which is 4" thick. The fixed lengths would at least compensate for the back rests (or however it ends up being configured), to stay in place allowing the lids to still be folded up without too much resistance of foam.

The cleanest and easiest way of executing this was to screw these sections down after I'd lined them with carpet. Lining with carpet after fixing them in to place was not an option. The neatest way was do this was to still be able to hide the screws under the carpet after screwing them down somehow?
I'd heard of this method being done before, but I've never come across the procedure in pictures nor detail, or as to how exactly you achieve half decent results, so I've decided to cover it here. There may be a much easier ways to go about this, but this is how I did it.

The tools you'll need are: a sharp knife with a fresh blade and something long and thin to poke up through your pilot holes under the carpet.
This is what I used…



…The sharper your blade, the quicker you'll be able to work and the cleaner you'll cut, meaning the more invisible your finish will be. A larger Stanley blade is maybe a little cumbersome for the job, but would do.

Probably goes without saying, but ideally your pilot holes should be countersunk too.

Firstly, on the surface I was about to spray with contact adhesive and stick the carpet to, I taped over my pilot holes with masking tape.
A couple of reasons for this… A. to stop adhesive getting in the holes, and B. so that the carpet gets slightly less tack or purchase around the holes…



Spray both surfaces (carpet and ply), with your HT adhesive in sections, then remove the masking tape from the pilot holes as you go.
Depending on the size of your piece, depends on how large an area you'll want to cover at any one time, but the object here is to flip the piece over and cut slits in the carpet whilst it's still workable. Basically, what you don't want is for the adhesive to go off and dry fully before you can cut slits…



Once you've sprayed a section you feel you can comfortably work with, flip your piece over (carpet down), and locate the first pilot hole from the back/underside…



Now push the long thin tool through and flip the piece back over (carpet up), so you can see where the carpet is being pushed and raised up from the pressure. Make sure the tool is dead straight and vertical before cutting to ensure the slit is aligned accurately over the pilot hole.
Once you're happy everything is straight and centred, cut a straight slit as close to the tool underneath as possible. Doesn't matter at which position on the clock you make your cut, but the slit you cut should be approx double the length of the screw heads you're using…



When you've completely carpeted and cut your piece, go back and locate the pilot holes through the slits and drive your screws in just enough to take a hold. If you've done such an amazing job that you can't find the holes from the top, then just look underneath to remind yourself…



Now go offer your piece up so you're happy before for fixing in to place and driving in the first screw.

As you drive the screws in, stop to about a millimetre or 2 above the carpet before securing fully into place. For this next bit, I used a small flat head screwdriver.
Slide the screwdriver into the slit and gently work it around the screw so that you lift the carpet up over onto the top of screw head…



When you've worked the carpet fully over the screw, part it enough to get your screwdriver in and secure it fully into place. Do this gradually so as not to trap any of the carpet or fibres under the screw head…



Press the carpet down and give it a bit of a massage… yeah… that's it… feels good doesn't it… watch out for those carpet burns though. Fluff it a bit too if you want? Ooooh, yeah.
Just make sure it's well hidden…




I struggled to find this kind of info. It's not rocket science, but I hope this helps anyone else faced with a situation whereby carpeting a piece after it's fixed into place isn't an option.

[S49]

Great run by the looks of it. The modern rat beetle shows how lost in the translation the rat thing has gone.It was about home built as best as you could with what you had. Now the rust paint costs more than than a proper paint job.What a load a wank.The scrap yards are full of Transits that look like that.

[huskyman]

Si. The roads are full of transits that look like that

[Activ8]

Lovely job No Sliders, the amount of thought and prep - never mind the execution - that you apply is bordering on insane. Thanks once again for the write up.

Sent from my SM-G988B using Just T4s

[No Sliders]

Great run by the looks of it. The modern rat beetle shows how lost in the translation the rat thing has gone.It was about home built as best as you could with what you had. Now the rust paint costs more than than a proper paint job.What a load a wank.The scrap yards are full of Transits that look like that.

Transits and Vitos.
I do love an old aircooled or yank tank rat, but I wonder how many folk are convinced by it on a modern dub dripping with plastics? Even worse - I've seen a T6 with a vinyl wrap job made to look like a rat which would have also cost the same as a good respray.

[No Sliders]

Lovely job No Sliders, the amount of thought and prep - never mind the execution - that you apply is bordering on insane. Thanks once again for the write up.

Sent from my SM-G988B using Just T4s

Cheers Rob, appreciated!

[Fruitbat]

Great run by the looks of it. The modern rat beetle shows how lost in the translation the rat thing has gone.It was about home built as best as you could with what you had. Now the rust paint costs more than than a proper paint job.What a load a wank.The scrap yards are full of Transits that look like that.

I agree , I hate the rat look / forced Rat or forced Twat as I like to call it ....... it’s shit end of , genuine patina is great , but again forced patina is hideous .

[TommyP]

I’m all good with the charity side of things and it must have been a great atmosphere but please don’t tell me you call yourself a “ringer” like some do. This is an achingly painful and cringeworthy label that someone on here once described themselves as. Surely a term like this is acceptable if people have been to the Nurburgring, possibly frequent visitors but not someone who’s been stuck in traffic on the London orbital tarmac circle of gloom and despair for an event?

There’s something so very, very wrong with VW owners. Ford or BMW enthusiasts aren’t anything like as rare a breed as dub freaks are.

Really like that interior btw. Nicely done and a very practical layout. Some cracking touches. It’s always good to see your updates. Also, I agree on rock and roll beds. I often consider ripping out interior out and going again with a U shaped rear arrangement but it’s a SWB so it would come with its own drawbacks.


Sent from my iPhone using Just T4s

[No Sliders]

I’m all good with the charity side of things and it must have been a great atmosphere but please don’t tell me you call yourself a “ringer” like some do. This is an achingly painful and cringeworthy label that someone on here once described themselves as. Surely a term like this is acceptable if people have been to the Nurburgring, possibly frequent visitors but not someone who’s been stuck in traffic on the London orbital tarmac circle of gloom and despair for an event?

There’s something so very, very wrong with VW owners. Ford or BMW enthusiasts aren’t anything like as rare a breed as dub freaks are.

Really like that interior btw. Nicely done and a very practical layout. Some cracking touches. It’s always good to see your updates. Also, I agree on rock and roll beds. I often consider ripping out interior out and going again with a U shaped rear arrangement but it’s a SWB so it would come with its own drawbacks.


Sent from my iPhone using Just T4s

Ha, ha, the 'ringer' tag doesn't get adopted, but yeah it was a good crack and of course the main point being for charity like you say.

Cheers. Seen some pretty nifty 'U shaped' layouts, which imo, depending on your circumstances are arguably a better configuration, especially in a SWB with a slider. I think if I had a SWB, swivels seats would be a must. Didn't think there would be a massive noticeable difference in space between the LWB and SWB, but after looking over a couple SWB T4s for a friend and having a good dig around, I was pretty surprised by the comparison in space and what a difference it does actually make. Pop top maybe, if you don't have one? Some of them have decent sized beds up there.