Bulkhead removed

Today I bought an angle grinder from B&Q and set upon taking out my bulkhead and thus make a bit more room in the van for swivel seats. It didn't come out as clean as I hoped but as I just wanted it out .. out it came. The hot sparks became a serious issue as they went everywhere at speed. I have even heard of them chipping the windscreen whilst doing this job.
On reflection I would use a spot weld drill bit to do it neater.
After it came out and I grinded everything back neatly, I then used red oxide to prevent rusting and white Hammerite paint to finish it off.

Insulation in walls

I bought some rock wool from B&Q (£20 a roll) and thick gauge plastic (£20) to use as a vapour barrier. I had already painted the entire van in Thompsons Roof Seal to prevent rust if I got my kayak stuff in there.

It was simple enough to install but takes time. I had looked at other options but most were too expensive or unavailable at the time. B&Q sold some lovely silver bubble wrap stuff that I would have possibly used instead if it wasn't £30 a roll and I needed two of them.

Gear selector problem

My dad jumped into the van for his first drive in a VW T4 and the gears broke! Upon inspection it seems the previous owner/garage had bodged a repair on the gear selector, as this is a common thing to go on T4's.

I went from Cardiff to Bristol to get the part as ALL the local dealers/scrapyards didn't have it. Cardiff said it was 10-days wait from Germany. So I paid £20 to the stealership for what appears to be a small bit of metal with a plastic ball-joint in it! I had no other choice, I as going to France in two days.

I then proceeded to TRY to fit the 'ball' shown on the picture into 'shoulder' on the new £20 part. JESUS what a job it was! I have done things on cars in the past and this topped them all in frustration. No matter what I tried to do they just would not fit together. I tried clamps, levers (which may have bent the attached part), hammers, etc, to no avail. The amount of force required to get it to go in was insane.

In the end me and a friend (who came over on 'day 2' to help) took the entire gear stick off, took it to a local garage, asked to use their heavy duty vice and with the correct angle/force it took a matter of seconds to pop in.
The weird thing was, I previously asked a VW mechanic how he did one a few weeks ago, and he said "it was a bitch of a job but I just levered it off the engine block with a metal bar". My effort with a shovel didn't come close and eventually broke a T-section on the water reservoir. How the hell he did this and avoided major damage is a mystery. Someone must be driving about with a damaged/broken gear selectors or he was VERY lucky.

Morale of the ordeal: 1> It is better to fix stuff yourself if you have the time, as a mechanic will probably fook it more. 2> Whenever doing stuff on vehicles it is easier to take the thing to pieces in the long run. There are no short cuts.