Trophy renovation

Hi all, I am doing some work on my Trophy and will be documenting it in this blog [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] in the hope that it might be useful to others. I struggled to find information on how to go about the work that was needed so perhaps this will provide a good resource.

 Please feel free to offer advice and encouragement. 

Kieron

Love it, thanks for sharing.

My pleasure.  I have the cooker out just about so will share that later. It's nice just to see how the thing is put together to be honest and the cooker...ugh...worth it just to give the thing a clean

I shall watch this with interest, I am sure Betty will be in need of a bit more TLC as the years go by (I certainly do!).  I had to rope in help from the pros earlier this year to have all the wheel arches replaced and resprayed ... hurt the old camping funds a little 

Can I ask, did you need to clear the insides at all to prevent the accidental torching of Betty?

kwise wrote:Can I ask, did you need to clear the insides at all to prevent the accidental torching of Betty?

No, Betty stayed intact (though I did remove the gas bottles for safety).  It was done by a body shop as it is something well outside of my capabilities.  The inner arches also needed replacing and some sort of heat protection blanket was used to prevent said accidental torching   !

I was alarmed at the weld burn (that is what I was told it is called) on the high top.  This is something best described as a light 'toasting' of the gel-coat surface which resulted in brown speckles.  With some elbow grease, the surface was restored using Farecla rubbing compound and wax.  I would recommend that the high top is also protected during the welding as I am still hoping that this has not caused any long term damage.

Hi Kieron

I am a new member, also the owner of a VW Trophy, in north Hampshire. I've been looking at your blog with great interest as I am in the process of fitting some new seats in the back of my Trohpy, so I also have removed all the rear seating.  Your pictures are pretty much what the back of mine currently looks like! I am lucky in not having any major rust problems, but I'm trying to treat any rust I find very quickly. Can I ask where in the UK you are? Maybe we can get together and drink beer, set something fire, drill some holes in the wrong place etc...!

Regards

Chris

Ha, you guys have all the fun!!!

Hi Kieron.  How are the renovations going?

Can I ask, have you taken the blinds off above the bench seat?  I need to re-tension the silver blind on Betty but don't want to take out more screws than necessary.  Would be grateful for any advice.

Happy New Year and I look forward to your next blog update. 

Hi all,

thanks for the messages.  A quick update.  Sorry that the blog is not updated but in the course of 2 weeks two of my cameras broke so I was left with only a rubbish phone to take pictures and that kept running out of juice.  As a result I didn't document as much as I wanted.  the inside is pretty much done. I've replaced the head lining with some headlining from Auto sleepers. It's exactly the same but is beige rather than light grey/blue.  It's the same as was used in the Topaz so doesn't look out of place.  I've done the side panels in ribbed material as it pretty much was and I've replaced the carpet.  Because the light was so poor and time was at a premium (it took much longer than expected) I just got on with the job.  I was working quite late most nights and was too tired to do the blog.  However, I have a number of shots of the progress along the way and will update things this week/weekend so you can see the final outcome.  It's looks great and probably the best thing that can be said is that it looks the same as before expect that it is new and clean.  

Betty's mum.  As it happens I'm going to do the blinds above the bench seat this weekend and will let you know how I get on.  They need a bit of attention and a good clean.  I'm going to take the whole thing out as I need to replace the window trim which has been affected by UV over the years and is quite threadbare.  

Chris, I'm all the way down in Cornwall so probably not able to pop out for a quick pint at the local but if you're ever down here, do message me and we can go and break things and drink beer together :-)

Keep your eye on the blog as it should be updated this weekend if not sooner but I will post a message when it is done.  

Kieron

Hey Kieron great to hear it is all going okay! My Trophy is slower progress, I have removed the floor between the cupboards and the seats and will be fitting new steel boxes under two new seats in due course. These come from a local scrapyard, actually the boxes for under Ford Transit seats, which look like they will do the job nicely for £40. I need to figure out how to bolt them on, but this is all the fun of the game.

I have removed the window blind for the large offside window, so I have some experience here, if it helps. Having removed the horizontal wooded bar from under the window I found the whole window tori just came loose, having for the top screws. It took the whole lot of and into the garage for some tic. I also had serious UV damage, so I need to replace the ribbed lining material. Kieron where did you get yours from, if you bought new stuff? I have some ideas on this but wonder if you have w good source.

The window blinds all come apart easily...take out the tine self tapping screws on the small covers, as well as the main fixing screws that hold clips on either side. Then the whole unit comes apart for cleaning. I haven't yet re-tensioned but I am sure it will just be a case of rolling the rotating end round and round, holding it tight and then putting the plastic end on without it unwinding. Once together, it can be screwed back onto the frame good as new.
My plastic had bent a bit on the long sections, especially on the trim where the centre grip had pushed the frame each time it sprang back. I found I could re-set the plastic by some careful heating (from a distance) with a hot air paint stripper. Warming the plastic until it was hot to the touch, bending it back into shape and then letting it cool down naturally seemed to do the job. For the long sections I made a simple clamp with some lengths of wood that held the plastic lengths straight, heating them up and then leaving them overnight to settle. They came out quite a lot straighter but obviously be careful not to overheat as it will damage the plastic. I kept heating in quick passes, each time feeling the plastic by hand and then adding a bit more heat. Cumulative increase, slowly was better than long fast heating.

Hope that all helps, esp Bett's mum if you are doing your window blinds too!

HI Chris,

thanks for the info regarding the blinds.  I'll make good use of that this weekend.  I got my ribbed lining material from Martrim.co.uk.  By putting in these new seats are you going to lose use of the bed.  I'm trying to picture what you are doing.  Will be interesting to see the end results.

Sorry about all the typos above, wretched iPad just changes your words all the time! It is a pity we are so far apart Kieron, as it would have been great to get together, but thanks for doing the blog as it is really interesting. I will see if I can get one going as well. I forgot to say that I have also removed my carver cascade water heater. I am moving this about 50cms forward, so I have cut a new hole in the panel ready to receive it - this makes space for the seat to go adjacent to the cooker unit, with a footwell in front of the seat. I will box in the water heater to make it blend in with the AS style and fabric. Btw I also broke my water pump in EXACTLY the same way and place that you did, when I took out the bench seat!

Betty's Mum are you also a long way from Hampshire? Maybe we should set up a Trophy owners weekend or day meeting!? At the very least we can always just drink beer and reflect on the joy of having vehicles you can cut up and remodel... My son has a seven year old BMW and its hardly worthy owning a screwdriver for that car, as it is entirely built from (very expensive) non-user-serviceable units... While I can use a reciprocating saw on the Trophy and quite improve it... :-)

Great thanks Kieron, I had martrim on my list! Essentially I have removed both seats from either side of the Trophy, the single and the bench, storing them in the loft in case I need to revert everything back to AS original at some later point, I will therefore end up with four safe travelling seats in the back but no bed. It is unlikely that I will use the van as a camper and my DW has yet to be convinced that a camper is of any great value, so it will most likely be just me anyway :-( I will box the seat bases in with the original blue ribbing so I am hoping it will all look very AS-like.

I struggled to find the original blue ribbed material.  I searched everywhere but my understanding is that it was made for A/S.  I spoke to AS and they had non left in stock. In the end I went for grey (smoke) but it is almost impossible to tell the difference.  I have three different shades of grey in there now and it looks fine.  I was thinking of going for 50 shades of grey but the good lady thought that was a bit dodgy

The martrim hint is very helpful, thanks. I have some bookmarks that I had found that seem to supply the ribbed trim. It think the colour is 'Ocean', but am not too sure. as-trim, boyriven and martrim all seemed to have something along the right lines, with martrim being the clear favourite. Boyriven is only 20 minutes drive from me and seem to have a large stock so I might drive over to them soon and see what they have as well.

Hi Guys

Thanks for the advice and info - pretty sure I will have to replace the material around my window too as it seems to be disappearing all by itself!  

Kieron - I look forward to the pics on the blog, I think the change of lining colour to beige will lighten the interior of the van considerably, I do find the grey is a bit dull (though doesn't show the dirt!!).

Chris, I am on the Sussex coast, not far from the Sussex/Hants border so not so far away.  Did join the T4 owners forum but don't find it very useful as it tends to be more 'toys for the boys' than practical stuff for campervans.  Not sure there are enough Trophy owners around for an elite group (though a friend from Midhurst also owns one), but look out on FB for Hampshire Campers and T4 & T5 Forum Hampshire Region which have meets and campouts.

Keep the tips and blogs going ...
Tizzie

Thanks Tizzie! Inspired by Kieron's blog I have just started one of my own, hoping to track progress and also load up some pictures etc. I don't have (never had!) Facebook, so the blog is quite a venture but a bit more controlled. Hope it might be a useful way to share ideas and knowledge. Going to take me a few days to get some pictures taken and uploaded but should be able to post the link here soon.

At the moment my Trophy has a slightly depressing water ingress issue somewhere around the top left of the windscreen, I think, so it is covered and awaiting better weather so I can get up there and see what is going on. This means that for the time being it is off the road, but as soon as we get some good weather I hope to be out and about. I do come down towards Horsham if that is anywhere near to you, Tizzie? Sister and bro in law have a farm there so I hope to be parking up on their fields sometime soon!

Chris, sorry to hear about the water ingress.  Windscreen seal often plays up on VWs (I am told).  This is where I find facebook forums useful as you get quite a bit of advice on what the problem could be and where is the best place to get it sorted if you cannot achieve this yourself.

I still haven't got round to removing the window blinds yet as the weekends are proving to be just as busy as the weekdays but I am looking at a gap in my calendar in about two weekends' time!  

Until then, I will keep an eye out on Kieron's blog to see how things are progressing and to keep me inspired   

Tizzie

Ah feeling inspired to do mine now!!!

Thanks for words of encouragement Tizzie, appreciated! I have not been able to spend much time on the Trophy due to pressure of work, but some warmer drier weather might encourage me out again!
Meanwhile, out of interest, has anyone any experience of removing the front seats from a Trophy? I have my two replacement seats ready to install in the back, but I'd really prefer to put them in the front and put the original front seat in the back, where they will match the decor etc.. Trouble is I looked at the fastening bolts and think that they are only accessible (on the passenger side at least) by removing what I think is the petrol tank, which is slightly scary. Turning the bolts from above just makes them go round and round, so I think I need to get at them from underneath. Any suggestions most welcome...

I would have thought the seats would be similar to a Topaz, VW, if so, push seat back as far as it will go and there are two nuts / bolts undo these then push forward and undo the other two bolts at the front and lift seat off, if you want the base off there are 4 bolts one in each corner, then that will lift out, easier to do in two parts. can only help as that is how mine was / is now, my front seats in the Clubman have been in and out goodness how many times, got the hang of it now.

Thanks Margaret, I will have another look but the issue I have is that the bolts on the floor pan don't seem to be fixed or welded in, so the nuts are turning underneath. I suspect I have to get underneath the pan in order to hold them. Sounds like the ones on the Topaz are fixed....much better design, if so!
Chris

Can you get a tool forget what it is called, and hold it on  the underneath while you undo the top. had to do that on one seat.

daisy mae wrote:Can you get a tool forget what it is called, and hold it on  the underneath while you undo the top. had to do that on one seat.

Molegrips spring to mind !!