Dan's fishing van

[DW2207]

I thought I might add to this section of the forum.
I present to you my second caddy. I sold my first one after a moment of madness, realised I need a van again after going back to my car for my fishing transportation and purchased this 2012 1.6tdi dsg caddy last May.
It sort of happened by chance. Right place at the right time.

My first caddy

Then my now caddy

So after owning it for a few weeks and just tidying up the calipers and fitting new discs and pads all round, what started out as a that will do for this time round started to change course again. Buckled to my inner self satisfying needs

Next up was the purchase of some new genuine mk4 smoked tail lights from travelin lite. I'd seen a few caddys sporting this style of rears lights and really liked the clean more modern look these lights have. Was even better when I found the thread that made this quite possible on this years platform of van. I knew then I was going to keep as much of the mods from vw and to give it the oem plus look that so many of us go for.

Looking at how scruffy the alloys were, not my doing I mighten to add decided to look at some replacements.
I'd seen a few on here sporting the pretoria's and them being a vw wheel that I thought looked great, bit the bullet and order a set from Tunbridge VW.

I'll update the thread once I've sorted out the photos I've got.

Thanks for reading if you did so.

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[DW2207]

Pics of the tail lights as they don't seen to have came out properly on here.


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[DW2207]

Next up was to sort out the arch gaps and lowering. Looked at various options but settled on bilstein b4's b6's front and back, eibach 60mm front lowering springs, darkside developments rear shackle kit with centralising plates. Also changed out the top mounts and drop links. All other bushes and joints seemed OK.
Had this setup on a while now and can say it's perfect for me. Not to harsh but not over sprung at the same time. Seem to have a nice gap between the arches both front and back and nit had any scrapping issues so far on some of the tracks I've driven down.

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[FishermansFriend]

Some very nice mods you've completed, have your needs been satisfied? Did I read you had a engine conversion completed?

[DW2207]

Hi mate, you read correctly. Hef and medz fitted a 2.0tfsi for me. Wanted a stock engine and turbo as have absolutely no power plans for this van.
This as completely transformed the van now. As a bit more go especially for overtakes and pressing on.
Will keep this stock as it being a front wheel van apart from my self and some angling kit in the back, 200hp is more than adequate for my needs.
I'll get some pics up of this on the thread.

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[DW2207]

Next up was a mk6 mfsw, the usual swcm and basic stalks made this a simple plug and play setup. Didn't require cruise control so one thing less to worry about.
Like all things this lasted a few months before a mk7 vw wheel was fitted along with a spacewalker module and claudiu for some coding works. If I'm being honest wasn't a fan of the flat bottom wheels in vans, didn't think they looked right but once I saw a few in the flesh I changed my mindset on them.
What I found quite interesting was buying a brand new mk7 wheel and airbag from germany/Poland about £50 more expensive than the second hand offerings on ebay, go figure.

Front fog lights were next removed from the front. Never used them and liked the minimal look now on the lower grill with just the blanking plates. De coded them with my obdeleven as wasn't sure if they would throw up a fault light every time ignition is on.

Then and now

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[Handyandy]

Looking nice

[Lister79]

Looking good and what a stunning colour.


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[DW2207]

Cheers guys,
@Lister79 when you know, you know mate

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[DW2207]

Next mod was a reversing camera. Searched out a few types but ended up settling for the one that is drilled and fitted to the bottom of the number plate light plinth.
Nice plug and play system.
After this was the usual sliding door rail cover, and some caddy life mirrors.
The Eagle eyed amongst you will see the slight change of shade in the drivers door, this as since been rectified, honestly guv .


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[DW2207]

Fast forward a few months and the van headed up to anglesey.
Out with the 1.6tdi and in with the 2.0tfsi.
Along with the engine I had a genuine caddy petrol fuel tank, associated fuel lines, new in tank petrol lpfp, and associated fuel sticker, new charcoal cannister, new inline fuel filter, golf gti drive shafts, I think I'm right with the gearbox as it's is now the 6 speed DQ250 and some better brakes as heff and medz wasn't impressed with the 312mm ebc ones on mine .
Went for the plug and play mk5 golf r32 ones fitted with new ebc 345mm discs and red stuff pads. Now the van stops on the dot.
I've left the rear brakes as is. Very happy with the power and braking system now.
I big thanks to hef and medz, both great guys, love having some great banter with hef, and very happy with the works done. Would recommend them to others if you are going to go down this route.
I only have a few pics of thus but will get some more up later on.

A quick side not regarding the mk5 brake upgrades.
Because my 18's pretoria's have a et51, medz had to supply me with some 5mm shims to get me home.
I've since replaced these with some bimecc hubcentric 12mm spacers and bolts. Measured the hub spigot and I think the 10mm ones would have been extremely close to uncorrected fitment with the hub mating face so played it safe and opted for the 12mm ones. I now have a nice flush fitting wheel. I'll get some pics later of the fitting. Used these spacers on my first caddy and rate them highly on build quality and fitment.
Will be getting another set of these for the rear wheel soon to just bring them abit closer to the inside arch.

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[DW2207]

A few more pics of the pn of tank and stickers.
Love the new drive train. Certainly gives the van abit of a different dynamic in driving and sound.
Next phase is chasing an ultra quite resonated exhaust system the sits exactly the same as the factory one, hidden behind the bumper. Got a cat 2.5 down pipe and looking at the the vibrante ultra quite sound resonater to begin with. Will mate this to the existing back box and go from there. Found a company just round the corner who specialises in this sort if work so they understand what I want and what I need.

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[DW2207]

Next area now was to tackle the interior.
Now this is my fishing van and very rarely a work van.
My real enjoyment is cleaning, machine polishing and coating my vehicles. Now I'm no way an expert probably an over enthusiast drive way novice warrior .
So with this is being said everything in the cab as to be easy to wipe, hoover and leave be.
So I begun the task of ripping out the carpets, these are a pain in the arse to keep clean with the quality of them.
Sourced a nice conditioned rubber floor liner and with the vw caddy rubber mats got the perfect solution.
I'll be leaving everything else dashboard door cards wise alone on this van and plastic trim bits.
Next up will be fitting a genuine touran leather handbrake cover and silver push button to give the old worn out one a fresh lift. Matches nicely the grey stiching on the steering wheel.


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[DW2207]

In the process now of getting the bits to start to tackle the exhaust sound.
I've opted for a oe 2.5tfsi bwa catalyic downpipe along with a vibrante ultra quite resonater.
The company who I'm using will be able to alter any cuts or welds and utilise the factory exhaust hangers.
Going to couple this up to the standard tdi back box for the clean hidden look. I'm hoping this will give me the nice quite stealth exhaust note I'm looking for.
I've never done any thing like this so hoping what I've opted for will work nicely with everything else.
If anyone as any ownership suggestions would also appreciate this and your own experiences if you have gone down this path.

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[DW2207]

Finally got the mk4 rear bumper mode complete. All parts oreded through Fisher brothers vw commercial, reflectors I got from vanstyle as they had in stock the vw smoked ones to match the tail lights.
Rear sensors I opted to fit myself and just needed to swap the loom over and buy a 18.2mm punch press for the holes.
The company who made the loom I thought did a lash job on it so got some 6mm split black plastic conduit from ebay and fabric engine tape and began sleeving the loom and had to extend the plug points so they met the correct sensor.
Not good considering said company said this loom was the correct one for my vehicle.
All coded to the rns 315 headunit.
A couple of pics included

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