Caddy Maxi - daily and camper build

[Poffe]

Background:

Me and my girlfriend has been talking for a while about building a camper. Okay, to be honest, it has mostly been me talking about it and she has been supportive. So buying and building a camper van isn’t out of the blue.

But I can honestly say that I wasn’t looking for a van when I stumbled upon this caddy maxi on a car auction site. It had low mileage, not too old and gave a decent impression.
It had a few faults an blemishes though, so some people will stay away from it. I started bidding without any hope of winning or even passing the reserve. I had a maximum amount that I was willing to pay for it. Quite soon it was just me and another bidder that was interested. I placed my final bid, a few hundred euros passed my own limit (as you do..), thinking I won’t win this. But the countdown ran out and I won! Still short of the reserve price.
A few days later my bid was accepted by the seller, I was for the first time a Vw and a caddy owner.

It has been a few years since I actually enjoyed having a car project. And most of my earlier cars has been Saabs and Volvos (no surprise for a swede, right?). But learning something new and building something I have never done before have made me really excited for this Caddy Maxi -14. I’m already deep in the rabbit hole with VCDS, MFSW, R32 brakes, sound proofing and so on. Were it ends, no body knows.

[Poffe]

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[Poffe]

A few weeks back I started with the sound proofing, 2mm silent coat. Not even close to done, but hey, at least I’ve started.



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[Poffe]

Also have started with my upcoming R32 brake swap:


Removed all of the blue powder coat and now I’m painting the cast iron parts black.

Ordered R stickers for them. Hope they’ll show up in the next week or so.

Also changed the sealings on the hydraulic side.


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[Poffe]

Tinted the rear window today. Really happy with the result!

Quite tricky to cut/trim the film to fit the window when the black off edge is so close the the edge of the steel frame edge.


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[Poffe]

Fitted new 18” alloys and M+S tires yesterday. Huge improvement from the 15” steel rims that came with the car.


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[Poffe]

Disassembled the control arms and subframe. Dismounted all the control arm bushings, cut ball joints. It is safe to say that the rear bushing was expired. Grinded the control arms with a steel brush on an angle grinder and painted them.

Assembled the control arms with new PU bushings and ball joints.

And, finally it all went back in! Everything seems to work properly with a nice and stiff feeling.



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[Philush]

Looking good man , just starting my maxi build too, will be a bit of a hybrid like yours also, how do you find the 18s? I'm torn between 17 n 18, that extra bit of tldubber makes all the difference on the bad roads over here

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[Poffe]

Thanks a lot!! How nice.
I think the 18”s I’m running actually is quite comfortable. I’m having quite a lot of rubber on them anyway. 235/45 works great.

What year, colour and engine do you have on/in yours?


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[Philush]

Mines bit older than yours , 09 , 1.9 diesel, massive milege but we'll looked after, white with barn doors, will look at the 18s options here, you might have me convinced!

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[Poffe]

Fitted a windscreen board yesterday. Went easier than I first expected.


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[Poffe]

Mines bit older than yours , 09 , 1.9 diesel, massive milege but we'll looked after, white with barn doors, will look at the 18s options here, you might have me convinced!

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Sweet! Massive mileage shouldnt be an issue for a diesel. Much more important how the previous owners have treated it.
Sound good mate! Keep me inte loop for your finds and upgrades

[Philush]

Sweet! Massive mileage shouldnt be an issue for a diesel. Much more important how the previous owners have treated it.
Sound good mate! Keep me inte loop for your finds and upgrades

Yeah previous owner minded it, has big wedge of service receipts, today's job is a bushing replacement at base of gear stick, stop it being sticky getting into first from time to time

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[Poffe]

today's job is a bushing replacement at base of gear stick, stop it being sticky getting into first from time to time

Every improvement counts! Can be quite handy being able to use the first gear

[Poffe]

Managed to fit an engine under tray, 1K0825237AG. It wasn’t OEM but very close by the looks of it. Although, it seemed like it was too small, like if I had shrunk 10% in/after the pressure moulding and the manufacturer didn’t consider the shrinkage. So, not a perfect fit, but will do the job.




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