VW LT 4×4 Restoration

So those of you already subscribed to my Youtube know that I rescued a 4×4 VW LT from Lithuania! I now have it stored in a shared workshop space 20 minutes down the road from me near Lewes, Sussex. I have to say I am absolutely loving having the workshop space! I’m spending probably more time over there than I should, but I have a welder, an air compressor, a kitchen, and of course covered secure storage in which to crack on with the first phase of Walt’s existing (yes it’s a he, and he’s Walt from VOLT!) – restoration.

Ever since I met Ray Perry I fell in love with the idea of owning a 4×4 VW LT. I’ve been an LT owner since 2004 when I converted a LWB LT35 panel van into a camper myself – the Archiemobile (named after my son). After a brief respite from LT ownership during which we learned how boring the Fiat Ducato based Adria Twin was to drive (and expensive to own!) I returned to the fold and bought the legendary Westfalia Florida.

This is still my dream van I couldn’t possibly part with her (Flo) but I’ve always had one eye on the market and knowing how rare the series 1 4×4 VW LT was becoming when one came up at the right price I had to jump in! I knew it would be a restoration project as I missed out on one of the last affordable 4×4 fire engines which really were almost too good to be true (I even got carried away and planned my conversion on one!) so set to finding space to do the work & started to learn how to weld.

But first Walt needed some rear axle work. The achilles heel of the 4×4 VW LT is the rear differential which wears easily. Luckily there is a very good differential specialist in the south that knows their 4×4 VW LT’s and so Walt spent 3 months over xmas visiting Hardy Engineering in Leatherhead. After a wonderful drive back to the coast I started some work out the back of the house as you can see from my first few videos…

I removed the bulkhead and even raised £5 from recycling it as scrap at a local merchants!

I then managed to lift the roof on my friend Michael’s drive…

In the new workshop I decided that the first job would be to sort out the swivel seats. I wanted both to turn and found different solutions for each side. The drivers is fine with a standard base with a little faffing but the passengers needs to rise up and down to go over the engine cowl but be low enough to see out of the front while driving. I fitted a pedestal which need a little heavy lifting to get a full turn, but now it’s nice and neat…

My welding is coming on. How nice is it to get past the stage where you stop cutting out old metal and start welding in new. The lower sills all round need attention. It’s quite a trick fabricating new box sections and supporting structures but a great project to get my teeth into! Enjoy the updates…