and of course lots of stickers:




This is one of the cars it will be towing:




Of course we plan a few more modofications but nothing too radical. Just a bit of RALLY-BLING. Mud flaps are a must and we might add a couple more lights to the front. We ordered a Mercedes grill too as the Dodge one is falling off. We are also planning on replacing the dampers with Bilsteins or KONIs and maybe a K&N air filter as well as more stickers.

Although only a 2005 it already has 250,000 miles on it so we won't be flogging it very hard even though it runs great. Already suffering from Sprinter cancer but only surface stuff, mostly around the windshield and right in the middle of some of the body panels. Have to take care of that soon. It needs a windshield anyway so popping this one out and painting the surround will have to be coordinated.

Now the van is officially the Michigan RALIVAN




Also got a Mercedes grill today:



Had to peel off the hood mounted chrome strip after bolting it in place. Left a terrible mess of goop that took half a can of Goop Off and a gallon of elbow gease to remove.



but worth it

but worth it







OK, needs a chrome Mercedes star and apparantly theres a trim that goes round it too.

A bit more Mercedes bling arrived over the weekend:

Wel, it's been a while since we updated this thread as we have just been enjoying the vehicle instead. Now it's time for a few fixes and improvements so I'm looking for advice. Here's what I need or want:

• Some sort of scanner to monitor transmission temperature, engine oil temperature, boost, etc in real time. Was thinking of ScanGauge or similar.
• Workshop manual
• Side visor or clips. I hate that there is no side visor
• iPhone mount.
• dampers. ours a definately done. Bilstein or Koni?

Anyone have any experience with any of this stuff?

I'm having trouble finding the Koni dampers for this thing. Twice now I've placed an order online and had it refunded without explaination. Any idea who has these? Need all four.

I think we need to catch up with our RALIVAN updates. Got a bit behind.
During the winter months we installed a ProClip iPhone mount in the cab:




No, this is not for phone use, I'm not that good a driver that I can talk and drive at the same time. This is so I can use the iPhone's navigation app, play my tunes through the stereo via the USB input and use the OBD2 diagnostic and gauge app. I bought. It also locates the iPhone's camera in a perfect spot for on-track in-van video should the need arise.

We also replaced the OE mud flaps with some bright red polyurathane rally mud flaps from Rally Armor, one of the lines we carry, because, well, it's the RALIVAN!




The OE holes allowed us to fab up some Rally-bling type brackets too:




Surprisingly (or not) Rally Armor don't make fitment specific mud flaps for the Sprinter so we used their universal model which comes without pre-cut holes or hardware. This allowed us to cut holes that lined up with the original mud flaps's holes and use the original screws with big fender washers where necessary.




A piece of copper pipe makes a great spacer to reach the original mounting bracket.

So then we were ready for all the snow and slush Mother Nature forgot to bring us this winter. Still, it looks RALLY.




While we had the wheels off we checked the brakes and discovered it was time for new rear pads:




Uh. ho! this don't look right:




That's more like it: