You've got to keep chipping away

Scruffy looking tie down points

I've been meaning to finish off the rear of the van for a little while.  One benefit of doing little jobs one at a time is that you are more inclined to finish them off properly rather than rush ahead because you have a big stock of stuff that you can't wait to get installed.

I spent an hour or so this week concentrating on finishing off the back of the van, namely, the tie down points.  I got hold of the plastic mouldings from TPS (trade volkswagen parts) for roughly £2 each, they tried to sell me some machined cylindrical spacers but they wanted nearly £6 each for them...  I decided that they were unnecessary given than all I would ever me lashing down would be a mountain bike.

First thing I realised while trying to fit the 'cups' was that the holes in the ply floor were the wrong shape (teardrop rather than circular) so I decided to open them up using my Dremel rather than taking the whole floor out again.  I made a template and got to work.

Dremel'd holes

The keen eyed readers among you will realise that the picture above shows the van before the rear carpeting was finished.  Thats because I did this piece of work while waiting for the 'spline drive' bits to arrive.

spline drive bit set

I got a set off of ebay for about £5 and they were just the job.  It took me a few mins to remove the tie down metal work, give them a clean and re-assemble with the plastic cups.  I think it makes a hell of a difference.

tie-down cup fitted