White MK3 ex work van

[STP]

I am picking mine up next week, once it's been prepped by the dealer. Really looking forward to getting started on some tweaks and upgrades as it's a nice but plain ex works van. Since my day job is electronics, I'm fancying putting in some mods like connected WiFi and a microcontroller so I can monitor remote stuff like internal temp, cameras, locking status etc and possibly more. Also an OBD display of DPF status, regen in progress etc as well as nicer seats, probably Golf GTD, GTI wheels, adding a nice engine cover and sound deadening under the bonnet (mine has neither at the moment). Also looked at lowering kits (who hasn't) and notice some have plates / hangers for the rear axle leaf springs. I'm in Scotland so there should be no issues with the MOT with that stuff, unlike some countries.

Oh and better lighting, like most folk.

[STP]

Got the van, loving it! Smooth, quiet and pulls like a train! Handles nicely too, very little body roll. Drives very nice.

Had to hit eBay...

Rear pre cut tints have arrived so will get them fitted this weekend, had to put frosted film on for now (before the rear window tints arrived) as I had some already for a house task, so it's better than nowt but I like being able to see out the back. My last van had steel doors so I am used to just using the side mirrors but an added rear view is still better.

Also have the Ultinon 4k LED lamps to fit at the same time for the DRLs.

My headlights have the indicator at the top, does anyone know if these are the H7 or H4 ones? Have two lenses inside and haven't been able to pull the lights due to work / weather / time etc but I have a set of 200% nightbreakers in the loft from a previous van which I never fitted, so if it's H4 then it's going to save me buying another set. The standard lamps are rubbish.

[STP]

Looks like they're H4, so I've got a set of night breakers already, bonus!

Wind deflectors have been posted so they can get fitted asap too.

Also have an ultrasonic reversing sensor kit, wireless rear cameras and mirror monitor, Kenwood double din head unit (need VW surround) and a Nextbase dash cam to fit.

Currently looks like this: (note lovely Scottish weather. Pissing down, just how we like it )

[STP]

Seen a set of Caddy Life mirrors in Candy White for £200 as one of mine has a busted lower plastic arm, sounds not bad considering the price of standard van mirrors to the same spec as mine, being heated electric aspherical ones?

Might go for those, have posted on the general chat section asking if they're a direct fit since my post count request isn't approved yet so can only see limited forum sections.

Also planning to put sound deadening mat on and stretch carpet the rear, I love that look. (Never done it before but worth a good go. I'm fairly handy so if I take my time, hopefully I'll get a decent result)

Bonus discovery, the van has new Goodyear vector 4 tyres all round so when I get alloys, I can keep these as winter wheels and swap them out each year in autumn. I only do around 6K miles a year as I live very near to where I work, so they should last a while.

Now for a rant, why don't they fit glovebox doors to these! Did they think everyone would want all of their nick naks and stuff on show when parked? Wtf?

[Javito]

I think we have pretty much the same van although mine was 75hp before I got it remapped.
It also came with Ultinon Pro9100 which I was very impressed with.
I know we can code them so that the low beam will stay on while on high beam and I've been wondering if they would be able to handle the extra heat. I'd be gutted if I blew them.

I'm curious about this plans for displaying obd data. I have a cheap vgate obd adapter and I use the vag dpf app on my phone to monitor regens but having a permanent display with useful information could be pretty cool.

Keep us updated!

[STP]

Excellent! Ok so I'd be the same about the bulbs as they were not cheap for the Ultinons but Philips are high quality kit and stellar compared to Chinese stuff. Buy cheap, buy twice. So I'd not be surprised if they were not fine to use constantly. Think of this, if you were in a country wth constant 12hr+ of daylight, then the DRLs would almost never be off, so they should be fine here when combined with headlights.

I also use VAG DPF, but I am thinking along these lines, use a Liligo T-display S3 microcontroller (ESP32 based but has an integrated display) which is wired to an OBD flat ribbon cable, permanently plugged in with a low profile plug, reading the diagnostic CAN bus for the DPF data PIDs, and showing the required info on the screen at all times when running.

Programming is in C, using the Arduino IDE (which is easy to use) and there will be code on GitHub for reading OBD data and you need a CAN adaptor from Amazon to convert to the voltage levels but the ESP32 MCUs can already speak CAN so it's actually not hard to do.

Google ESP32 OBD and have a look, then watch some YouTube videos by a guy called Volos, he is a master at the display programming for the T-Display S3 ESP, lots of code examples on GitHub and the programming software is free. The ESPs as under £20 so worth a project for most people. I'm a programmer myself so I can always get it working and do a package for the folk on here so it can be gotten working for not too much money.

All diesels should show the status of the DPF and tell you when it's doing a regen, I never understood why they didn't do that as standard.

[Javito]

I also wondered why there's nothing to tell you a regen is happening but I guess the vast majority of drivers don't even know what a dpf is and that extra/unnecessary information would be counterproductive. Plus I think the regenerations are handled pretty well even without our intervention.
Having said that, a lilygo display would be pretty cool!!

Mmm I'm not sure if I misunderstood your message or if we have different headlights.

Mine have a separate bulb for DRL.



And the Ultinon has both the high and low LED on it... So coding it so the low beam stays on while on full beam would mean twice the amount of heat (or almost).




I'll have a look at Volos. Thanks for the info.

[STP]

Ah I get you. I thought you only meant the DRLs at the bottom. I bought Ultinons for the DRLs, fitting them as soon as I get a chance.

You can code the dips to stay on with main beams, but yeah maybe those LEDs would get hot. How do you find the LEDs in general? I'd love to get them but saw lots of people saying they flicker and don't last long. That was Chinese units however and I bet the Philips ones don't flicker?

[Javito]

They don't flicker at all. They flash a couple of times when you start the van. I think that's the bcm sending a few pulses to check the bulbs but that's about it.
They're colder and much brighter than normal halogen bulbs.. the difference is quite significant. They're not cheap but they're definitely worth it.

[STP]

I might give those a try! Where did you get them from and have you passed an MOT with these? Loads of counterfeit stuff on one online sales platform (not wanting to name them here but I'm sure you can guess)

Not that it's a huge issue to stick regular bulbs in for the MOT of course.