When I did the original conversion I went for some grey corded carpet that was ok, but soon looked so bland and dull. This time I wanted something a bit brighter, still neutral but something that suits the van better. And I didn't want horrible corded carpet, this is not the seventies!
I ordered sand coloured carpet some from Mega van Mats, an offer which included 5 cans of high temperature adhesive. This was delivered very quickly.
I had already stripped the van, and just had some small bits of surface prep to finish. I have a few plans for organising the interior so where I needed fixings I drilled and installed rivnuts wherever possible. This includes some for MOLLE panels on the rear sides and a work light in the rear boot area.
With some help from my glamorous assistant (my girlfriend) we set about glueing the new carpet in place in 1 piece (per side). Ultimately this is more effort, but definitely worth it as the whole interior is now seamless.
A notoriously difficult area is the tail light "swell", but the carpet is so flexible these complex curves could be tackled with only a little swearing.
The MOLLE panel is actually part of a dog guard, with some MOLLE pouches looped through it, but it works well and keeps necessities handy (like poo bags, wet wipes and the dogs muzzle as seen here...).
As many different MOLLE pouches are available I plan to get a medics pouch for my first aid kit - essential this is easily accessible.
While I was tidying the van I got my torch out of the glove box and fitted some "quick fists" (unfortunate name) to the lower dash panel, sandwiching an aluminium treadplate trim panel in place. Not only is the maglite nice and bright but it's fitted with a glass breaker tailcap in case of emergencies.
For other emergencies, a small fire extinguisher was fitted to the rear D pillar, the plan is to cook at the rear of the van, so this is the best place for it. I will get another for the front soon.
I still need to cover the lower panels, but this will be in a different colour and after I have finished wiring in things like lights, sockets, flux capacitor, etc.
Now it's recovered the van feels so much more comfortable.
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