Greetings from Brussels! (now its official!)

[bxl_lad]

Ey up (yes, I have Yorkshire roots...),
I did sort of introduce myself in another post when I was looking for some advice pre-buying, but now we've bought and now officially Cali owners, so suppose I should officially say hello...
A Brit formerly from Sheffield, though living in Brussels for the last 16 years... Having a California has been a dream for some time! We recently set out on a mission to find one and due to the scarcity in Belgium, we ended up in Germany to find one. Its now with us here in Belgium, registered and plated up and already has one trip under its timing belt with us
Its very green (especially since the bumpers and mirrors were also colour coded in its Ontario Green too!).
Its a 2000 Cali Coach, with 170k (km) on the clock. Drives like a dream and with the exception of a few teething troubles with the night-heater, everything seems to be working perfectly...

Looking forward to many, many trips in our 'Frog' (the name it got from the moment we saw it...)

Already found this forum very useful, thanks already for the support - I'm sure I'll have more questions in the coming months!

Cheers, Matt

 

[Hotel California]

So now a official welcome....
Frog....could have well gone for" Kermit...."
Is that the original color? Guess so becose there is an other on here recent from a German member.
Will keep an eye out if i ever spot you will wave , bet there are no two of those color in Belgium!

 

[Chriswoody]

Great Van Matt, love the colour, another entry for team green. It's not easy to lose a green van in a big car park or campsite. The matching bumpers are good as well, though I'm glad mine doesn't have them, because my wife can be a little spatially challenged at times!

 

[BerndRos]

I have a Fresco Green Cali T5.1... Love the colour and not many about....

 

[bxl_lad]

So now a official welcome....
Frog....could have well gone for" Kermit...."
Is that the original color? Guess so becose there is an other on here recent from a German member.
Will keep an eye out if i ever spot you will wave , bet there are no two of those color in Belgium!

Yep, original colour - I believe it was available until end of 2000 and then dropped in favour of the metallic colours for the last wave of the T4's...
Indeed we shouldn't be difficult to spot!
I get the feeling there are not many T4 Cali's in Belgium in General (and given the hassle of just trying to register it officially as a camper van (for the lower taxes), I'm not surprised ) - But we beat the system ...though i know others weren't so lucky (have seen folks selling theirs as they couldn't get the authorities to see sense )...
Will keep an eye open for the 'Hotel California'! (What colour by the way?)

 

[bxl_lad]

It's not easy to lose a green van in a big car park or campsite.

You're not wrong there! Almost glows in the dark!

 

[bxl_lad]

 

[theonecraw]

Awesome colour!!! You will never loose 'The Frog'.

 

[J0Xd4E]

I've got the high top, even more green! Have you noticed you can't take an accurate picture of the colour, it always comes out as far more blue/turquoise, whereas it's just green.

 

[bxl_lad]

I've got the high top, even more green! Have you noticed you can't take an accurate picture of the colour, it always comes out as far more blue/turquoise, whereas it's just green.

That's true!

 

[TwentyOneThirtyFive]

I had a black Golf when I lived in Germany. Could never find it in a car park.

There's a few Belgians with Westies about. Loads in the Netherlands, and all much faster than mine!

Enjoy your new van

 

[Chriswoody]

Matt, you asked me about the blacked out pillars on my van and I didn't know where they had come from. However having a quick mooch around some sites today I found these blackout kits. Maybe what your looking for?

 

[bxl_lad]

Matt, you asked me about the blacked out pillars on my van and I didn't know where they had come from. However having a quick mooch around some sites today I found these blackout kits. Maybe what your looking for?

Excellent! Thanks

 

[bxl_lad]

Matt, you asked me about the blacked out pillars on my van and I didn't know where they had come from. However having a quick mooch around some sites today I found these blackout kits. Maybe what your looking for?

I've also found these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182004618159?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
A full set B&C pillars, both sides
Have ordered a set... will see how it goes

 

[bxl_lad]

Matt, you asked me about the blacked out pillars on my van and I didn't know where they had come from. However having a quick mooch around some sites today I found these blackout kits. Maybe what your looking for?

So... took some time to get around to it, but began to fit the pillar vinyl decals today. Think they're going to turn out ok. Bit fiddly to fit, but using the soapy water trick they're going on fine...

 

[T6 CFO]

Looks a fine job


Mike

 

[ArcticMatt]

How do! (fellow yorkshire lad ) That van looks mint! You'll have to share the soapy water trick. I've just ordered some similar decals for my smurf-top and i'm not looking forward to mucking it up

 

[Suomi man]

Nice van, I´ll wave if I spot you around town

 

[bxl_lad]

How do! (fellow yorkshire lad ) That van looks mint! You'll have to share the soapy water trick. I've just ordered some similar decals for my smurf-top and i'm not looking forward to mucking it up

Yorkshire on tour! Mint indeed! Mint green! Actually it was it being so green that made me look into this idea - figured I needed to lose a little of the green'ness

Well it was a bit fiddly, but i don't think its doable without the soapy trick...
I suggest you watch this video for some inspiration (it helped me a lot):

For the front doors you can do like on the video and pull out the door rubbers - they come out easy and just far enough that you can work them on properly. Use also a heat gun (on low heat and don't linger on the vinyl too long), this especially helps when molding around corners. Getting them behind the sliding windows was tricky, but again, with the soapy trick (and eventually with some help from a thin feeler gauge), managed in the end to 'slide' them behind - so no need to remove the windows. The one that got me (see image), was the left side rear (non-sliding door side). The kit I had came in two parts to cover this section, but there's also the seam between the two sections of the van and here it doesn't take so well. I botched this one if i'm honest and one day vow to redo it... In hindsight i'd maybe look at cutting these to fit better over the seam, or even go so far as to run some filler of some description, to lose the seam... Not sure - maybe anyone who's done this before has some words of wisdom? All in all its a good 2-3hours work I'd say, but take your time, don't rush it (I did them over the course of a few evenings).
But good luck! I'm really happy with the result (despite the one i messed up a little!) and it just adds a little "je ne sais quoi" to the look of the van... But watch the video, it explains the process well...
Post some pics with your results!