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  • New T4 Owner Pymouth

    Hello everybody! Recently purchased a 93 T4 Caravelle 2.4d with 97K on the clock.

    we have already named her Ruby we have been wanting a T4 for a while now and have finally found ourselves in the position to get one, although fairly clean she is not perfect so we are looking at working through the list slowly. Being new to all this any advice will be hugely appreciated.

    She has the odd rust spots and her sills are going to need attention in the near future, this being the case I am thinking of tackling the rust now before it gets any worse and before we pour money into stripping out and re-converting the interior, my plan is to have the rust removed and any welded needed carried out then maybe do a bottom half paint in black? Does anybody have any experience or any advice for this.

    Currently the back of the van has been retro fitted with the insides of an old touring caravan although functional it looks awful so we will be ripping out and gutting the van, is it possible to strip the van bare in the back for just the metal like a panel van and carpet it line it from there? Again does anybody have any experience or advice on how to do this

    on the log book she is registered as a motor Caravan is normal?

    and finally the last question for now lol! Is it possible to replace the current bumpers with bumpers from a modern caravelle so I can colour code to give the van a more modern look?

    Any hints and tips will be appreciated and listened to! And if anybody local to Plymouth would be interested in a meet, or would be kind enough to give the van a look over ( as I currently have no idea for what I’m looking for) to spot any common faults or lend a hand I would be more than happy to buy you a few pints!

    sorry for first post I did write all this but it did not appear on post!
    You do not have permission to view this gallery.
    This gallery has 6 photos.
    Last edited by Cjg1329; 19 May 2021, 10:25 AM.

  • #2
    Welcome aboard.
    Enjoy the journey with us.

    Comment


    • #3
      Good morning! Thank you looking forward to it, I have edited my post as for some reason when I added pictures the writing was deleted so hopefully people will see the questions and full post now.

      thanks Conor

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      • #4
        If its taxed, MOT'd and insured go use it and get a feel for T4vanlife. As soon as you start rust busting you may not see the benefits to all the effort.

        Park your plans and use it. The whole experience will aid your future with it and your motivation!

        The V5 camper classification is a good thing.

        Bumpers can be swapped albeit its not a straight exchange. Your current bumpers can fetch good money as they're desirable to some elements of the T4 scene. Take your time. Welding & bodywork unless you're a competent DIY'er can have you dipping deep into your pockets. Get it checked over with someone you trust or knows these vans. Early ones (pre'96 iirc) can be prone to rust.

        Use this site for info, parts, how to's and experience, oh and "support" as theyre can be lows during your term of ownership.

        Comment


        • #5
          Ah be ya and a warm welcome from the shire.Theres good and bad news as far as rust goes. Good news, its not a Transit,if it was it would have already crumbled away. Bad news all T4s are at least 20 odd years old so will rust to some degree.If its mot'd as Rob says use it but keep on top of any developing tin worm. Depends how hands on you are or how much your willing to learn. Just dont let it all build up to the point where its off the road for ages getting welded. Have a look at my Blindfaith Winter Project build threads, it'll give you an idea of where to look for problems

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          • #6
            Welcome along. Van looks pretty good. As has been said get out and use it. You’ll get a much better idea about what needs doing first. Good luck.


            Sent from my iPhone using Just T4s

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            • #7
              Pretty much as above really...

              Welcome.

              As it's an early van and they do like to rot I'd strip it extensively and address any rust before it disolves, pay attention to both cab steps, front outriggers, front and rear cross members and the sliding door step.

              Plenty have gutted complete vans on here and started from scratch, best way to do it. Theres many different ways to do it and everybody has their own take on best insulation/vapour barrier solutions. I went for a lot of cavity wax, cellotex in the voids, silver foil type vapour barrier and then 6mm ply panels and everyone's favourite 4 way stretch carpet.
              Plan it first, work out what you want, where and run all the wires/pipes etc first.

              I'd keep the nicer bumpers but if you mean your want the long nose front end, yes it can be swapped, you'd need wings, complete front panel and bonnet.

              I'd shy away from the bottom half done in black. just reminds me of the 70s/80s when cars used to rust badly and the stonechip would start on the sills and slowly creep up the car as the rust got worse.

              There's no need to not drive it though - if you check my build thread, it had a massive rebuild and was still used daily.

              Comment


              • #8
                Hi Conor and welcome aboard sir.

                All great advice above. When we first got our red one we got it MOT’d and ran around in it a bit. Yours is already tested so you’re one step ahead already. From there you can get an idea of what needs doing mechanically. Take a good root around and poke of the bodywork and the areas Reg mentioned above but I’d just add the inner arches to that list, especially the rears. I could almost fit a rugby ball through the hole from inside to the rear wheel once I’d ground a small hole out in search for good metal.

                Insulation: we went with foiled bubble wrap, 25mm/50mm celotex depending on depth of area and filled all the gaps with fire rated expanding foam and smoother off excess when dry and covered the seams with a rubberised foil flashing tape I used at work on roof lanterns. Then 4 way carpet. I did the floor with foil bubblecrap, 25mm celotex and battens and then another layer of foil and then 12mm ply iirc.

                As mentioned above, plan the entire build at the start, you’ll need to consider some of the later stages of the build early on, such as cable routing etc. I can some ducting behind carpet in areas where I knew I’d have shit loads of cables running. Going away in the van as it is now once or twice will really help you plan how you’re going to want to use it in future. Also, you’ll have had a couple trips to then keep you spurred on when the going gets tough and you’re inundated with jobs to do on a stripped and unusable van that you just want to set fire too and dance around ritualistically in a gimp mask.

                Start a build thread and keep everything on there for your own documentation at the very least. Plus, we’re a bunch of sad, lonely wankers that have nothing better to do than follow it so we’d appreciate it.


                Sent from my iPhone using Just T4s
                #vanlife

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                • #9
                  You speak for yourself Tommy you might be. But some of us aint

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by huskyman View Post
                    You speak for yourself Tommy you might be. But some of us aint
                    Denial.


                    Sent from my iPhone using Just T4s
                    #vanlife

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by huskyman View Post
                      You speak for yourself Tommy you might be. But some of us aint
                      I am.
                      ok, maybe not lonely but the rest is me all over. Especially the mask.

                      Welcome aboard Conner.
                      Me cago en la madre que te parió!

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by huskyman View Post
                        You speak for yourself Tommy you might be. But some of us aint
                        Are you getting a pop top fitted soon ?

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                        • #13
                          Hi. Yeah done collected it tonight. Dropped off Monday night

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by huskyman View Post
                            Hi. Yeah done collected it tonight. Dropped off Monday night
                            Cool don’t forget the pics , inside and out .

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                            • #15
                              Will take pics the weekend

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