Let the build begin - Plushed/Bagged VR6

[C Chis]

Been a little quiet of late…. Just enjoying the van… however….

Made a start on making a couple of blanking plates for the barn door retainer holes



Prepped and painted them along with the reinforced strut plates for my barn door to tailgate conversion



Also fabricated the support (not primed yet) for between the outer cross member and the inner mounting for the tailgate hinges, still to cut in two and then to length and work out how thread them through the openings…




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[Mister_ShWa]

Looks fantastic, will have to find a bit of time and have a read from the beginning!

[FishermansFriend]

Hi C. Chis,

Just checking to see if you made any progress on your tailgate conversion. Did you make the strut brackets or is that something that can be got from VW?

[C Chis]

Hi [mention]FishermansFriend [/mention]

No progress since last post, my daughter’s bought a cottage that’s turned into a full renovation… only downside is she’s 400 miles away and my mates garage has been pretty much fully booked when I’ve been free

The brackets are repair brackets from VW to replace the flimsy OEM ones that have a tendency to crack around the threaded part.

Part numbers are 2K0827435 and 2K0827436. They are available from OEMVW parts or from eBay (~£26)

Hoping to get it done in the next couple of weeks before I head back down for round 4 of house renovations…


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[FishermansFriend]

Thanks for the info and part numbers. What is your thought on reinforcing for the struts, its the only thing putting me off. I've went through the parts diagrams a few times now and I can see the reinforced rear cross panel for the hinges but I cant see any part for strut reinforcement, so maybe there is none. Good luck with the renovations, hopefully all going according to plan.

[C Chis]

[mention]FishermansFriend [/mention]

The part numbers are for the strut plates, I’ve popped the left hand side one on with a magnet to give you an idea.



For the hinge mountings I traced the cut outs from a tailgate van, both the wiring and the hinge cutouts, just visible in the image below. I’ve fabricated a U shaped panel to weld into the hinge cut out to strengthen the rear roof member very similar to the actual reinforced roof member that VW used to sell. Still to cut it to make left and right hand brackets and then to size. The bracket might be overkill, however it seems the right thing to do and will also keep any rain out of hinge slot.

You might be able to find the cross member for a tailgate van, however, it will be a nightmare to install as the cross member is spot welded and bonded in.




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[C Chis]

Quick update, it’s been a while…

Made a start on the prep work for retrofitting a tailgate…

Top hinge mounts cut out, lined, welded and seam sealed








Strut mounts marked up, drilled, sealed and riveted on (blind and sealed pop rivets used)





Next up, offer up the tailgate, check alignment and adjust, wire it then remove tailgate and paint the shuts and the tailgate.


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[gazza31112]

Brave man! Looking good! Wanna get this done to mine but not got the balls to do it myself!

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[J_Con]

How big a job would you say it was Colin? Mines is still sat I’ve not even looked at it with moving house


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[C Chis]

[mention]J_Con [/mention]

Joe, so far, very straightforward and not a big job. Just seems it before you start the planning.

I’m doing as much preparation as I can ahead of installing the tailgate to keep my van on the road.

Cut, fabricate and weld in the hinge supports : ~ 4 hrs, second one was a lot faster as my welding was better meaning less grinding back and repeat welding.
Strut mounts : 20 minutes
Bump stops: likely around 1 hour
Fit blanking plates to barn door stops : 30 mins
Fit door catch and threshold bar : 30 minutes
Fit and align the tailgate : 1hr or a lot longer, that’s Tuesday’s job
Wiring up : 1 hour (with 2 hrs prep - diagrams,pins, etc)
Paint tailgate and shuts : not a clue, not done much spraying

Looking at around 9 hrs + painting, will have a more accurate time after Tuesday though. So, doable in a day, albeit a longish day.


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[C Chis]

Brave man! Looking good! Wanna get this done to mine but not got the balls to do it myself!

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Haha, cheers!

it’s taken me quite a few months to work up the courage to make the 1st cut, had the tailgate for quite a while!


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[C Chis]

Well, Tail gate is on! What a day it's been!

Pictures to follow once the forum/Tapatalk starts working again...

Barn doors removed, issues with the RHS taillight bolts being rusty and rounding out, took ages to get them out to give access to the door wiring.
threshold strip off, one of the covers went ping... and gone! into the abyss that's my mates garage....

Door catches... again, rusted bolts, rounded out. Had to drill them out and grind down the seized remains of the bolts, not needed for the tailgate conversion as the tailgate uses a smaller catch mounted in the rear most holes. had to chase the threads to get the replacement bolts in.

Tailgate : offered up, bolted on, alignment pretty much spot on. struts removed, cleaned and well... lets just say they were a little hard to compress to refit, well the first one was... discovered the door could be opened up a bit more, 2nd strut went on without the previous huffing and puffing from 2 old blokes. Threshold bar for tailgate also installed.

issue : I didn't get any hinge nuts with the tailgate, the seller had lost them down the wiring channel, gone to the great carpark in the sky... and my

Locking mechanism : seized with sitting in my container for over a year, eased and greased and now working, albeit a little stiff.

Door now closing and latching,

Wiring : both looms fed down the body channels to the left and right, no issues, easy enough and body grommets fitted. Not using the wiper or the washer as I'm going down the kill all wipers route so that wiring was tied back out of the way.

no number plate lights, no high level brake light, no central locking, had the door open indicator though... time to dig out the wiring schematics and see what I need to re-pin...

Well... all the wiring to the tailgate was coloured white apart from the one brown earth wire... next few hours were spent belling out each of the white wires and re-pinning the right wire from the tailgate to the right wire from the body to the right connector... Straight forward enough, just time consuming as I tested each circuit as I re-pinned them.

next on the list...

Central locking is unlocking but not locking... wiring issue or failed lock motor... that's today's task!
Replacement OEM high level brake light to fit
spoiler to fit
wiper motor to remove and wiper delete to fit

[gazza31112]

Yeah sounds like you had a day of it! Great car park in the sky.... I like that
Looking forward to seeing pictures, even tho it will probably make me want to spend more money that I havnt got!

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[C Chis]

Quick photo update on yesterdays progress..(forums been playing up)

Yesterday was a good day…

Tailgate hung, struts on, wiring loom and sealing grommets installed


How it looks from the back, just home after fitting


Tailgate wiring re-pinned and tidied up. Washer fluid pipe not in use


Tailgate spoiler fitted, needs a bit of work to get it smooth and nice looking before painting


Without the tape and with the old TDI badge removed


Wiper removed and “Kill all Wipers” delete plug installed


Tailgate catch removed, eased and greased again, door now closing with a solid “sounds like a golf” clunk, central locking all working now and interior panels refitted for now.

Now I’m thinking I need to make a rear window guard for the inside, hmm…


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