KARWERX Caddy 2k.

[KarWerx]

Hi All

Ive been on here a while but haven't posted any pics of my caddy yet, so here are a few to start off my project thread.

Its a 57 Silver Tdi with the electric pack. Bought from a VW Van centre in Jan, Ive just started to mod her as my warranty runs out in January and i was trying to keep it more or less standard until it runs out, however ive been getting itchy fingers as I have a few bits ready to go on the van, namely wheels and coilovers but these will be going on after the winter I think.

The first thing I did was have a CAT 1 alarm fitted and upgraded the headunit to a new Alpine model.

Ive fitted the new Scirocco steering wheel and have some further plans for the interior which will happen over winter.

Outside Ive debadged the rear, had the rear windows tinted and ive just had the sidestrips and handles colour coded. There is more to be come which I hope to get done over the coming months.

I'll keep this thread updated as the project goes on.

Ill let the pics do the talking.

Russel

[BIGNICK]

Totally the best colour.

[KarWerx]

Totally the best colour.

Those with those grey caddy's might beg to differ , but I had the chance of both colours and i prefered the silver.

[DADDY]

Welcome to the forum dude look forward to seeing your build thread progress.

[lovelydubly]

Lovely Caddy dude, whats your plans for it?

[KarWerx]

Cheers guys.

Plans include a few common mods:

New seats.
Rear Carpeted.
ICE Install.
More painting.
OEM Alloys.
Coilovers.

[topsparky]

nice van bud
does the steering wheel still have the air bag????

[KarWerx]

nice van bud
does the steering wheel still have the air bag????

Do you mean the new wheel? If so yes its a complete unit. Ill post pics of it shortly.

[KarWerx]

Right guys, i can finally post some more progress pics. Ive been busy collecting various parts for my interior over the last few months and have decided to do it all in one go, rather than do bits and bobs.

Ive decided to keep a photo diary on my iPhone as i always have it with me, so apoligies for the photo quality to start with, my friend is a photographer, so ill get him to do some nice ones when its finished and ill put them up.

Right lets make a start, i bought this from VW so it came with the panel kit below, (Which is for sale btw ) this wasnt good enough so i removed it all to leave me the bare metal shell. I then removed everything in the van, all the seats, plastics, doorcards, floor, roof etc.





I plan to run a small 10" sub under the passenger seat and because im an audio lover im going to soundproof the van. I plan to add a bulkhead later as i want to isolate the stereo in the front, as well as leaving the back practical for stuff without it hitting me when i brake hard. Ive used Silent Coat before with great success, its slightly cheaper than Dynamat but still as good imo, ive still put over £300 worth of the stuff into this van, its addictive once you start, and the van wont sound like a tin can when im rocking some beats, so lets get it stuck on.











Because of the sub placement, i wanted to concentrate a lot around the footwell area, the box is 21 litres ish, and its custom made to fit in that area very snug. I applied 4mm Silent Coat here and double layered a lot of it, i also did the metal lip above a couple of times so everythings very solid. IVe then coverd most of the cabin area with 4mm Silent Coat Noise Isolator which should eliminate the road noise some what, and finally in the footwell i added 35mm Silent Coat Sound Absorber to keep the as much noise in the cabin as i can. VW forgot to put sound insulation here, but did the front part? So it should help to quieten down the exhaust and tyre noise, which in turn this should up the sound levels from the stereo.













That was all done in a good long weekend, it involved a lot of metal cleaning and rollering on but im sure the end result in sound quality will be worth it.

Ill update some more soon, comments more than welcome.

[thorn]

Wow looking good mate. I`m looking into sound deadening and have been informed normal roof flashing is just as good as silent coat / dynamat. What are your thoughts bearing in mind roof flashing is a fraction of the cost of silent coat / dynamat.

I just want to sound proof from road noise as opposed to audio as you do, is there a difference?

looking forward to the rest of the interior mods, make sure you put plenty of pics up

[Guke]

Nice van and yes silent coat is very good . But if you are going to install a bullkhead why do you put so much damping in the back ? I have a closed bulkhead and only put silent coat in the front of the van . You better put some more in front on the wheel arches and so .
Another thing that is totally wrong is this


Why the top product : sound absorber may not come in contact with water . I only use it on the roof area and inside doorcards not on the floor because it sucks up water . If you whant more damping in the floor area use two layers of Noise Isolator . This is also mentioned on the silent coat site: in dutch (Gebruik Sound Absorber niet op de bodem onder de vloermat, gebruik hiervoor uitsluitend Noise Isolator. ) translation DON'T use it on floor underneath the carped .
Second mistake you made is you covert the holes where the water gets out of the car . You don't need to cover it completly just work around them before your car changes in a fish tank. And no this will not affect the damping because you coverd 95% of the metal .

[KarWerx]

Nice van and yes silent coat is very good . But if you are going to install a bullkhead why do you put so much damping in the back ? I have a closed bulkhead and only put silent coat in the front of the van . You better put some more in front on the wheel arches

Why the top product : sound absorber may not come in contact with water . I only use it on the roof area and inside doorcards not on the floor because it sucks up water . If you whant more damping in the floor area use two layers of Noise Isolator . This is also mentioned on the silent coat site: in dutch (Gebruik Sound Absorber niet op de bodem onder de vloermat, gebruik hiervoor uitsluitend Noise Isolator. ) translation DON'T use it on floor underneath the carped .
Second mistake you made is you covert the holes where the water gets out of the car . You don't need to cover it completly just work around them before your car changes in a fish tank. And no this will not affect the damping because you coverd 95% of the metal .

I've actually removed the sound absorber now as I was struggling to get the sub box in. I've used this product before in doors and it is actually Water Resistant so will tolerate the rain dripping on it from the glass above, but ive had to remove it from the floor so not to worry. I was using it more as sound insulation as per the front but I didn't realise that area got wet? Where would the water come from / in? I see the 2 holes in the channels in my first photo of the floor, should I cut around them?

[KarWerx]

Some more progress. Ive gone with some 6.5" Focals for the front which and are nice and clear. Ive heard them in a T5 and they were awesome for the money. I plan to run these in the standard speaker positions so i removed the dash tweeters and drew round them on 3.6mm ply and made a template, cut it out and i will cut a 45mm hole in the middle and drop in the focals, ill post some pics when they are in, hopefully by sat.



I also stripped down the passenger door and soundproofed it all using 4mm Silent Coat, and 8mm Silent Coat Noise Isolater. I will run the mids using some MDF rings i plan to make this weekend.







And i scooped up an Armrest after many phone calls, just needs a clean and a retrim. You can see the new seats in the background.



Some more to come..

[tmr]

Very clean, surprised how good silver looks with some colour coding. Look forward to updates

[KarWerx]

Wow looking good mate. I`m looking into sound deadening and have been informed normal roof flashing is just as good as silent coat / dynamat. What are your thoughts bearing in mind roof flashing is a fraction of the cost of silent coat / dynamat.

I just want to sound proof from road noise as opposed to audio as you do, is there a difference?

looking forward to the rest of the interior mods, make sure you put plenty of pics up

To be honest, i prefer the Silent Coat as it was designed for the job. The flashing is bitumen based, and it was designed to go on roofs. It might smell in hot weather and could come away from the metal work although ive no proof of either, its just what ive heard.

A bulkpack of Silent Coat is £80 which was designed for the job, and you might spend £30 on a roofing product that isnt as good. I dont see the point in arguing over £50 when your spending as much as i am, however on a budget it might please some people.

You need to use some Noise Isolator to eliminate road noise, the deadening just takes the ringing out of the panels, it does add to the effect but you would need to use some isolator to do what you want it to.

The 8mm or 12mm Noise Isolator are great products and do the job, use it on top of the deadening to eliminate road noise. It goes on easy and costs about £7/£8 a sheet.