T6.05 VW Transporter

[RS Grant]

Bit of a curve ball and major reduction in pace here for me.. however, the E90 M3 (Readers' Cars thread here: Clicky) moved onto pastures new back in February and it's space in my unit is now occupied by this VW van, which removes the heavy overlap between the M3 and my other cars; being far more usable/suitable vehicle for me and my labrador to travel around in.

My previous (and only) van which I've owned was a 75ps Transit Connect, which had zero options, zero electrics, zero performance, zero comfort... so while I understand this VW might look/be pretty low spec to most, in comparison to my last van, it's basically a Rolls-Royce.


Basic Details:

T6 Transporter
Indium Grey
2.0 TDi (102bhp output)
Manual (5 Speed)
72,000 miles
DAB Radio
Bluetooth
Cruise Control
Swiveling Front Seat


Exterior Upgrades:

T6.1 Facelift
T6.1 Rear Lights
Gloss Black Grill Set & VW Badges
Gloss Black Caravelle Mirror Surrounds
Stance+ Coilovers
17" Fuel Covert Wheels
235/65/17 Cooper All Terrain Tyres
Front Splitter (most aggressive splitter I've ever seen fitted to any vehicle )
Lower Metal Side Bars


Interior/Camper Upgrades:

CamperGlass Windows (except drivers rear quarter, that is a CamperGlass black out glass panel not a window)
Fully Insulated With DoDo Pro
Interior Panels Finished in Audi Carpet
Karndean Flooring
Skyline Pop-Top
Scenic Canvas
Custom Ceiling Map Graphic
LED Lighting (separate switch)


Pictures:

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

[Northbrook]

Looks nice. Are you enjoying it?

[trails]

Ceiling looks very cool, can you actually put anything in it at all with that splitter/stance without losing your front bumper

[DirktheDaring]

Nice 6.1 conversion, impossible to tell that it’s a 6 underneath.

Generally the 102 doesn’t like to be mapped and tuners like Revo removed their map for this engine.

But I’d be tempted to get Pendle to do a mild tune to take it to 140ish and torque limit 1/2/3 gears.

Always run these on premium fuel and a squirt of additive like Millers to try and keep the egr valve and cooler clean, otherwise factor in replacing them every 50-70k miles.

I’m on Transporter number 3, I love them, the perfect family vehicle.

[normalbloke]

DirktheDaring said:

Nice 6.1 conversion, impossible to tell that it’s a 6 underneath.

Generally the 102 doesn’t like to be mapped and tuners like Revo removed their map for this engine.

But I’d be tempted to get Pendle to do a mild tune to take it to 140ish and torque limit 1/2/3 gears.

Always run these on premium fuel and a squirt of additive like Millers to try and keep the egr valve and cooler clean, otherwise factor in replacing them every 50-70k miles.

I’m on Transporter number 3, I love them, the perfect family vehicle.

What is it about the 102 that makes it unpopular to tune. Genuine question. I’d imagine 102 in that with a few weekend bits and bobs would make it a little glacial. Are Pendle still the go to for most VAG remaps?

[RS Grant]

Northbrook said:

Looks nice. Are you enjoying it?

On the whole, it's brilliant. The practicality of a van is something I've really missed.

I'm planning to get away with the dog at some point in the next month to give the pop-top a little test run and while the camping side of it will be a little ghetto to start with.. with disposable BBQs, etc.. I'm really looking forward to it.

Longer term, if I get into using it on a regular basis then I'll likely look to upgrade the interior with a leisure battery set up and further camper conversion parts.

[RS Grant]

trails said:

Ceiling looks very cool, can you actually put anything in it at all with that splitter/stance without losing your front bumper

Haha it is certainly less practical the way it sits!! However it's had three sets of wheels in it, taken a lawnmower to be serviced, etc.. so it's been really useful and saved the interior of the cars from carrying these things.

I'm quite keen to change the front splitter to something a little less aggressive at some point as it's not really my taste.

[RS Grant]

DirktheDaring said:

Nice 6.1 conversion, impossible to tell that it’s a 6 underneath.

Generally the 102 doesn’t like to be mapped and tuners like Revo removed their map for this engine.

But I’d be tempted to get Pendle to do a mild tune to take it to 140ish and torque limit 1/2/3 gears.

Always run these on premium fuel and a squirt of additive like Millers to try and keep the egr valve and cooler clean, otherwise factor in replacing them every 50-70k miles.

I’m on Transporter number 3, I love them, the perfect family vehicle.

Yep, I am wary of going down the remap route with it as the 5spd isn't meant to enjoy the increased slug of torque. There is a place up here who have mapped cars for me who list a reduced torque '5spd friendly' map for them. Never say never, but it's probably something I'll stay away from I think.

They are brilliant all rounders with a lot of different layouts to suit individual needs. Standard vans, day vans, people carriers, camper vans, etc. There is a lot of them out there and the aftermarket scene is massive, so there is something for everyone depending on what flavour you want.

Also, a lot of other Transporter drivers wave at you.. which reminds me of the old Subaru wave.

[RS Grant]

The van is going to be dropped off at a local specialist for some little changes, the biggest of which is a total suspension change. The ride quality on the Stance+ coilovers is not ok, so after a lot of research and countless hours looking at threads/videos on t'internet; I've gone with a set of the SoLow coilovers, which are actually Bilstein units.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

In addition to that, I wanted to change the wheels. The 'swamper' style wheels which are fitted aren't really to my taste and the chunky AT tyres on them catch the arch liners on big bumps, which I'm too old to accept.
So I've gone for some 20" wheels, with some correctly load rated Uniroyal Rainsport tyres.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

The final new addition is an upgraded set of headlights. I've been spoiled by Xenons and LEDs for too long, so going back to old skool halogen was a shock, they are woeful. So I've gone for some upgraded V2 units from TransporterHQ.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

I've seen a few photos of the light output after fitting and it looks like a sizeable difference, which is what I'm looking for. This is the photo from THQ's website to give you an idea of the comparison between old and new.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr


Once the ol' bank balance recovers from these upgrades, there are a couple of further changes and tweaks which I'd like to make in time:

Front splitter is a little OTT for me, so I'm keen to find a more restrained replacement and swap them over.

Steering wheel is worn and non-leather, so I'd like to upgrade to a leather wheel from the VW family parts bin. Ideally it would be a multi-function steering wheel with stereo/BT controls but I'd need to find someone up in Scotland who will be able to make any wiring/coding changes to activate the buttons as mine doesn't have any at present.

[Bobupndown]

Need more pictures please.

[DirktheDaring]

The 5 speed box is one issue, but I remember reading something about the turbo also being a weak spot when mapped to bigger figures (170ish).

General consensus is that the Euro 5 is safe to map and the Euro 6 not.

Thread here - https://www.t6forum.com/threads/102ps-with-2-turbo...

Regardless, enjoy, I love mine and wouldn’t swap it for anything except maybe a Crafter.

[RS Grant]

That's the van collected and while it wasn't a cheap trip, the difference that the changes has made is considerable. One of my friends had their van upgraded at the same time, that's the blue van in the photos.

The ride quality on the new Solow Coilovers is far better than the previous Stance+ set up, it wasn't unexpected, since the Solow are made by Bilstein and cost many times more.. but it's no less welcome.

The new wheels have got rid of the confused semi-swamper/semi-normal look with the 17" wheels and AT tyres.

The biggest difference is the headlights, they look fantastic, but the difference and improvement in performance whilst driving in darkness is hard to explain. The standard lights were really poor, even by other halogen standards, but the new full LED upgrade is brilliant and the beam pattern nice and sharp too.

I also had a new set of side bars fitted to replace the tired set which had been fitted and at the same time, the specialist who was carrying out the work had a new splitter in stock, so I cracked on and got them to fit one of those as well.

Anyway... here are the few pictures I've taken over the last few days since collecting it:

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr
Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

[trails]

Lovely wheel colour, I must say your mates wheels are very nice too, hopefully splitter will last...lights are going to mean it's mistaken for a UFO though

[Northbrook]

Looks good!

[Davie]

That looks good! Looks much more resolved with the new wheels and bumper set up than previously. I'm currently deliberating what to do suspension wise but it seems a complete minefield what with axle weights, overall weights, load capacity ratings then the myriad of aftermarket options to suit etc etc. In the good old days you'd just lop a coil off with an angle grinder and carry on.

[Its Just Adz]

Looks really good! These are so popular now.

[RS Grant]

trails said:

Lovely wheel colour, I must say your mates wheels are very nice too, hopefully splitter will last...lights are going to mean it's mistaken for a UFO though

Thanks, the van sits a little higher than it did and the splitter isn't as large as the previous one.. so fingers crossed for some longevity! The lights are definitely UFO-esque! ...apparently there are different plugs included with them which have different set ups with the DRLs and indicators, so I'll have a wee play with those at some point.

[RS Grant]

Davie said:

That looks good! Looks much more resolved with the new wheels and bumper set up than previously. I'm currently deliberating what to do suspension wise but it seems a complete minefield what with axle weights, overall weights, load capacity ratings then the myriad of aftermarket options to suit etc etc. In the good old days you'd just lop a coil off with an angle grinder and carry on.

Yeah it's a bit more involved, it seems that T32 is the only anomaly when it comes to suspension.. you should be ok otherwise. But you do need to pay attention to load rating on wheels and tyres because that does vary between models.

This link is useful: T6 Forum Link

It was much easier in the olden days, throw on a set of Koni or Spax adjustables and away you go. I've only driven one car with a chop'n'drop, it looked good, but god the handling was grim.

[RS Grant]

Had time to take all the old stuff out the van yesterday and it sits more level than it did before.. which I'm happy about.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

Barney also got his first run in the van after getting it back and gave it his seal of approval too.

Untitled by Grant F, on Flickr

[trails]

RS Grant said:

Thanks, the van sits a little higher than it did and the splitter isn't as large as the previous one.. so fingers crossed for some longevity! The lights are definitely UFO-esque! ...apparently there are different plugs included with them which have different set ups with the DRLs and indicators, so I'll have a wee play with those at some point.

I'll expect to see some photos if you and Barney in the Highlands having an impromptu disco once you have figured them out