VW VIKING. GLE 811T. Being sold on my behalf by Warmans Motor Company, 302 Woodham Lane, New Haw, Surrey, KT15 3NZ. Tel: 01932 232383. THE VAN A 2 litre 1979 VW Van purchased from the Tottenham Motor Company on 22 May 1979 by a Mr Smith for Buyrights based in Ponders End, the van was put to good use but well cared for covering 9,000 miles in the first 12 months as shown in the VAG Service Schedule. The history from 23 June 1980 to 26 August 1988 is a little patchy. There was a service conducted on a July 6thwith mileage at 22.792 (recorded in VAG Service System book) but the year is not clear. This would seem to be when the van was converted to a Viking. The van was then purchased by another Mr Smith (any relation?) on 1stMay 1988 and from that point onwards until July 2008 all service receipts were retained and it was mainly looked after by Derick Gunning and subsequently Colin Gunning running their VW Specialist garage. It was sold to Mr Needham on 2nd March 2004 (who continued to use Colin) who then sold it to Mr Snell on 24 August 2012. At this point I suspect the vehicle was off the road with a worn clutch and potentially failed MOT. His intention was to restore the van but in 2014 once into the project decided not to continue and subsequently sold the van to the restoration company he was using. I bought the van as the bodywork was being restored and agreed for the company to finish the bodywork and get it MOT’d so I could finish off the mechanical upgrades in my own workshop over the winter of 2014. You will see from the pictures all the work that was done on the body with all rust cut out and replaced with fresh metal. It was no rot box though it was fundamentally sound and no major structural work was required. The repairs included new front wing sections and repairs to guttering were the main extra metal required before a full professional respray and waxoyl. The van sailed through the MOT with a new clutch and I bought it home in November 2014. Have a good look underneath – its all solid as a rock. Note that for all of this time, the van has been mainly based in and around Cheshunt and Hartford. The van is showing 113k miles which I believe is genuine. The van comes with all the original manuals and service books and a number of the old DVLA documents. THE SUPER VIKING CONVERSION The conversion carried out sometime in the mid-80s is a Viking Spacemaker which has a unique roof with a section that pushes out giving four large single beds in the roof and a double bed made up of the seats and seat backs in the van. There is a gas stove which can be used in the van (there is even a working two speed extractor fan!) or slid out from the rear and used outside. Also provided is a sink with running water. There is a three way fridge working on 240V, 12V (temp hold only) and gas (although gas powered setting has not been tested). The uniqueness of the conversion extends to the campers seats which are on movable bases with seat backs that can be switched for forward facing travel direction and rear facing for the picnic table. There are 7 seats in all in the van. There is plenty of storage under the seats and in the built in cupboards. The van is wired for 240v power and the zig unit powers the fridge, provides a powered plug socket and charges the van battery. There also appears to be all the wiring for a leisure battery (this would need verifying as no leisure battery is fitted). The gas bottle is located in the engine bay. The conversion is some 30 years old now so some of the chipboard and laminate is showing its age and some of the material has faded a little. In addition I have cut some additional boards to size and slot them in the sides of the beds to stop kids from rolling out of bed and landing on Mum and Dad at 2am in the morning… The van comes with all the original Viking documentation including brochure and user manuals/wiring diagrams for all the appliances and zig unit. 2014 MODIFICATIONS I wanted to build a safe, stable van with subtle In Car Entertainment that was going to be fun to camp in with my wife and three small children. Firstly I decided to lower the van. I needed to do this to get it into my workshop without letting the tyres down each time and also felt it would also help make the van more stable on the road. I have an extensive mechanical engineering background and my hobby is to build/ restore/race high performance track and road cars. After a lot of research I was surprised by the number of options out there for lowering these vans. I opted for:- · Dropped spindles at the front (VW Heritage). This keeps the fundamental suspension geometry right · Lowered rear spring plates (Red 9 Design) to keep the geometry correct. These are non-adjustable to retain the strength needed in the plate. · Thicker and stiffer front anti roll bar running on poly bushes · Addition of rear anti roll bar to help manage performance in cross winds · 21 way Spax adjustable shocks all round · Porsche replica Fuchs alloys running 185/55x15 at the front and 205/65x15 at the rear. This helped lower the front further but gives the right gearbox ratios at the rear. The tyres have good load rating for the van. · The speedo was recalibrated (running off the front wheels) to account for the change in tyre size · Overall the van was dropped just over 100mm at the front and the van sits 18mm higher at the rear so that when I add my kids mountain bikes onto the rear bike rack, the van sits level. · The van was set up by WIM in Chesham. They set up all my road and track cars, although the van gave them a few challenges they have done a fine job. The van rides extremely well, not too firm, no crashing and never bottoms out. However you can play with the shocks and all the suspension settings to your hearts content! · All the componentry to return the van to stock including the wheels, spindles, roll bar and spring plates is available. The original shocks were worn and have been discarded. Other mechanical work includes:- · Rebuilt steering including new idler pin and bushes and top and bottom front ball joints. The steering box has been adjusted to the right tolerances. · New front wheel bearings · Various new brake lines and braded hoses all round. The brakes are nice, strong and straight. · Titanium classic sport vintage speed gear shifter with replacement front gear shift link bushes · New battery of correct spec · Fitment of reversing light switch and wiring. VW included reversing lights on the rear lamp clusters but never actually fitted the switch or provided the wiring! I have added this feature primarily as a feed to the smartphone receiver (see later) · The fuel gauge sender unit has been replaced. I love the quote in the Haynes Manual Page “if the gauge reading falls to zero then your heart will fail too because the problem is in the sender unit and the tank must come out”. You need to remove the engine to take the tank out…. (officially!). The engine has not been touched other than a new thermostat. It runs sweetly, starts first time and doesn’t leak oil. Further modifications to the van include:- · Four professionally fitted seat belts for the rear seats. Giving six in total included the front belts. · Installation of a reconditioned Eberspracher Diesel heater under one seat to give auxiliary heating. A small diesel tank is also located under the same seat. · Oil pressure, temperature and rev counter gauge built using a load of cheap componentry from China. May not be to everyones taste, accuracy not guaranteed. Removable in 30 mins if required. · Under dash tray and door pockets · 15” DVD player with remote control, wi-fi headphone enabled · Pioneer Smartphone Receiver. This awesome piece of kit plugs into your iPhone and uploads your Apps onto the screen using Apple Car Play. Allows you to stream your own music and Spotify and Satellite Nav onto the screen so you always have up to date sat nav (working via a dash mounted GPS aerial). It works with other smartphones as well. Bizarrely the hands free car phone is astounding with even those right at the back of the bus clearly heard on the phone even when driving along. Its also connected to the reversing lights a simple to fit rear mounted reversing camera would now be fully functioning. In addition the DVD player could very simply be connected for awesome sound through the… · Rockfort Component 6.5 inch front speakers and compact Pioneer Amplified Sub. A further set of 6.5 inch Rockfort speakers are fitted in the rear. The aim of the system was to provide quality sound on the move to the front occupants whilst the back was occupied by small people watching DVDs. This is not a showy system - it just sounds fantastic. · Extra 10 wires in one single core routed from the engine bay to the dashboard for current and future projects. Whatever you want to do, the wiring is there ready and waiting. Currently 4 of the 10 wires are in use (3x gauges plus memory for the Smartphone Receiver Direct from the battery). · Curtains have been removed and replaced with blackout themo-mats which will be provided with the van. I can also dig out the curtains from the loft and provide FOC if required. I am looking for £18k for the van.
Further pictures including a summary of the restoration. Whilst the van is being sold on my behalf in New Haw, Surrey I live in Amersham, Buckinghamshire. Please feel free to contact me to talk through any details if you would prefer to.
Your bus looks great. Thanks for sharing the restoration pictures. We bought our shed (picture in-set) summer last year for £8k. I recon we have spent twice that on it so far and we are only jut getting started!! Had we not already committed we would have definitely made you an offer for your bus. All the best with the sale.
Yes T4. Schoolboy error on my part. Would be great if this forum opened up to other like minded people owning other vw vans as the t4 forums i have looked at arent a patch on this one. Very dull. this forum has been one of the best parts of owning my late bay! Will inform the new owners of course.
Despite the banter i think all are welcome tbh. Possibly not the best for tech issues for t4 though. You got something lined up. Post it up and get some abuse (light hearted of course)
Anyone can be a member, personally if I wanted to read about T3/T4/T5 vans I'd go elsewhere. Please note I did own a T3 & currently have a T4 as well as the Bay.
Its a t4 2.5 petrol auto. Jap import with 36k miles on the clock. Good as new really. Will be fitting a poptop and a leisure battery and leaving it at that. All paid for by the viking. Let the abuse begin.....
