So I guess it’s about time I chipped in, I’m the very lucky owner of this Westy
and will add to the post with all the highs and lows, feel free to ask any thing you want to know,
I will just start by saying a massive thanks to Mario and Daz from MV Engineering Telford for creating what must be one of the best T3 in the country, we have defiantly had our fair share of ups and downs and what looked like an unfinishable project is finally back in my hands.
So I bought my Westy Atlantic back in late 2011 with a semi knackered AAZ conversion and thought it’s in desperate need of a mechanical up date and after reading lots of info decided that an AFN and a rebuilt standard 5 speed box with longer crown wheel and pinion seem to be about as good as it gets, with in a feasible budget, at the time was and still is an excellent conversion choice.
So after being off work for Christmas 2011 2012 and contemplating the various issues of my pending conversion the gear box seemed to be the weakest link and I say this because I was lucky enough to have a previous bus of mine Subaru converted, I had the box re built and as anyone know who had one done they don’t come cheap, if you want to put big injectors in your tdi and remap it the poor old box is really on its upper limits of not only usability but reliability.
Buy comparison the Passat box was designed by VW to do 500,000 miles without so much of a crunch and more importantly cope with a modern tdi torque,.
So spoke to Mario who was keen to give it ago, but getting there was far from easy, To be fair I’ll be the first to admit I am a bit fussy and had high expectation and definitely wanted to keep the engine hatch totally standard, I wanted to be able to push the cruise control at 70mph and get good mpg and was also very tempted by all the benefits of a modern instrument cluster which looks awesome at night, MFA read out, fuel range average mpg next service indicator, flipped blade key, modern immobiliser system, be able to go to Volkswagen any were in Europe and have it serviced, plug it in to their computer if there any issues, the hydro mounts are something else, and as many parts as possible are off the shelf parts so should be able to buy most consumerable from your local dealer.
I know there are some sceptics out there who have reservations about the flipped gearbox and hands up they may be right, only time will tell, getting it fitted and working is the hard part, if it went bang this time next year its £100 for another one from your local dismantler delivered !
It’s all very impressive to look at all the shiny bits and I have just mot it this morning and everyone that works there was all over it, well impressed, but driving it is a whole different experience
It’s really hard to put in to words there’s so much that I like about it, but it’s weird it feels unmodified if that makes sense I’ve been in to car and vans for years and have had my fair share of modified cars and you always feel like they have been modified, some better than others, they seem to become much more of a compromise which this doesn’t, it just feels like you picked it up from a main dealer
it’s a bit like being able to ring Volkswagen direct and just order a brand new T3 its smooth and quite like a water boxer, and has two personalities drive it off boost and its effortlessly goes about its business and if you’re in a hurry it’s a bit like and I know its sound stupid but I have driven a lot of cars over the years and it was bugging me which one it was most like, but if you’ve ever drives an Audi RS6 the first time your in a hurry and the turbos spool up the fronts in the air and all that weight suddenly gone, and the scenery rushing buy seem so wrong but so right, a massive wave of torque and totally not what you were expecting, it’s not golf GTI quick it has that big car feel a bit like a big motorway cruiser.
so if you’re still not convinced, on the way to the mot centre this morning, after an enthusiastic blast down a dual carriageway I lost all power and it cut out and wouldn’t restart, expecting the worst, I called Mario and the first thing he said” don’t worry if you can’t get it sorted ill chuck some tools in my van and come straight down” which from Telford is just over 400 miles round trip so much appreciated, top bloke top quality installation and excellent after care.
Like a "idiot" I ran it out of fuel, the fuel gauge is running in reverse for the next couple of weeks Mario wasn’t able to sort it in time for this weekend and I wasn’t thinking about it being something so obvious.
All I can say is get saving, and get yours booked in, it’s awesome!!!
It totally exceeded my expectations and anyone that know me. that was never going to be easy.
I’m off to Car Fest in Basingstoke in the morning, and will be exhibiting on a VW bus stand so if your there come and say Hi.