[APDX]

Hey all -

Pretty typical start to our build. The only thing I've done a bit different is using Thinsulate strips in the floor, and attaching our awning directly to a roof rack (and not on the van body).

Tires
KO2s size 245/75/16 Was tempted to stick with Cooper Discoverer AT/3s but to be honest I wanted a slightly more aggressive look to offset the "retirement home livery vehicle" vibe.

Fan
MaxxFan Deluxe 5100

Sound / insulation
CLD tiles @ ~30%, MLV on floor and wheel wells, Thinsulate all over.

Additional seat
L-track in floor, bolting in an OEM seat with OEM rails.

Floor
CLD strips in valleys, Thinsulate strips in valleys, 1/2" ply (3 pieces, finished both sides, adhered with silicone caulk), FloorMuffler, MLV, one piece coin mat. Careful observers will note a different order to the layers in an attached image -- was experimenting. Also, while I did not measure with a scientific device, my ears noticed a big difference in noise w/ and w/o the MLV in the floor.

Roof rack + awning
Aluminess "Adventurer" style, Fiamma 45s (attached to rack)

Appearance
Plastidipped wheels and door slider

Still to come:

- heater install
- benches / bed out of 80/20
- permanent place for the National Luna fridge (which also gets used in our 4Runner)
- wall panels
- very minimal headliner (at 6'3" I'm aiming to keep as much height as possible)
- removable Pit Bull restraint for my Husky 701
- removable MTB QRs

Thanks to everyone for sharing so much good stuff.

 

[Batman]

How is the plasti dip holding up on the door slider? It looks a lot better then the factory silver.

 

[vipvanilla]

i'm curious too! And how did you go about it... did you brush it on?

 

[klp]

Looks great - enjoy.

 

[APDX]

How is the plasti dip holding up on the door slider? It looks a lot better then the factory silver.

i'm curious too! And how did you go about it... did you brush it on?

Thanks, and I agree; helps the look of the black on white van quite a bit.

The rolling part of the slider mechanism only contacts the rail above and blow one's line of sight, so there's very little concern for the Plasti-dip rubbing off. That being said, it is holding up perfectly under there.

I taped off a big swath of van above/below/to the side of the rail and sprayed three coats. Turned out really well.

 

[swellguy]

Hey all -

Pretty typical start to our build. The only thing I've done a bit different is using Thinsulate strips in the floor, and attaching our awning directly to a roof rack (and not on the van body).

Tires
KO2s size 245/75/16 Was tempted to stick with Cooper Discoverer AT/3s but to be honest I wanted a slightly more aggressive look to offset the "retirement home livery vehicle" vibe.

Fan
MaxxFan Deluxe 5100

Sound / insulation
CLD tiles @ ~30%, MLV on floor and wheel wells, Thinsulate all over.

Additional seat
L-track in floor, bolting in an OEM seat with OEM rails.

Floor
CLD strips in valleys, Thinsulate strips in valleys, 1/2" ply (3 pieces, finished both sides, adhered with silicone caulk), FloorMuffler, MLV, one piece coin mat. Careful observers will note a different order to the layers in an attached image -- was experimenting. Also, while I did not measure with a scientific device, my ears noticed a big difference in noise w/ and w/o the MLV in the floor.

Roof rack + awning
Aluminess "Adventurer" style, Fiamma 45s (attached to rack)

Appearance
Plastidipped wheels and door slider

Still to come:

- heater install
- benches / bed out of 80/20
- permanent place for the National Luna fridge (which also gets used in our 4Runner)
- wall panels
- very minimal headliner (at 6'3" I'm aiming to keep as much height as possible)
- removable Pit Bull restraint for my Husky 701
- removable MTB QRs

Thanks to everyone for sharing so much good stuff.

Is that Thinsulate in backwards? I thought the backing was supposed to be facing the inside of the van?

 

[APDX]

Is that Thinsulate in backwards? I thought the backing was supposed to be facing the inside of the van?

I think you're correct in that Hein recommends installing it the other way around. I'm not sure if this is just to protect the Thinsulate or if there's another reason. As far as I can tell, dead air space is dead air space, so don't think switching orientation will make much of a difference.

Initially I did spray some of the white surface and stuck it to the van. But that Thinsulate didn't expand nearly as much as I'd hoped it would. I didn't go overboard with the adhesive, but I think it was preventing some expansion. So I started spraying the scrim, and got much better results.

Still, I have room to do an additional layer of Thinsulate in many places, and I may do just that. I'm pleased with the performance and would like to see if another layer would result in diminishing returns or even more sound deadening / insulation.

 

[asdrew]

I like the wheels and door slider, I've always modified various trim pieces on my vehicles.

I recommend painting or plasti-dipping the lower white hinges too. I did them on my silver wagon and now they don't stick out like sore thumbs. 10 minute job with a can of Rust-Oleum metallic charcoal, almost a perfect match for the plastic cladding.

 

[fargy483]

Looks tight sir and off to a gr8 start. I like that rack. Is this a high roof or medium roof?

 

[vulf]

Looks great, thanks for sharing! Would you mind sharing any more pictures and details about your L track and seat install? This is one of my top priorities right now for my van.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[APDX]

Looks tight sir and off to a gr8 start. I like that rack. Is this a high roof or medium roof?

That's a medium roof. Still fairly tall!

 

[APDX]

Looks great, thanks for sharing! Would you mind sharing any more pictures and details about your L track and seat install? This is one of my top priorities right now for my van.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

I'm afraid I don't have any more useful pics but can share the process:

- Positioned L-track as far as towards the drivers side they could go and still fit the seat. In this position, dropping the tank was not necessary...but we didn't know this before dropping the tank!

- Cut spacers so that L-track would be flush with floor

- Drilled through spacers, marked holes in van floor

- Drilled through van floor; a few spots were really difficult. Sprayed holes with paint.

- Drilled larger holes in ends of L-track to accommodate larger hardware

- Cut and painted big "washers" out of steel plate for ends of L-Track. (These are underneath the van.)

- Secured L-tracks with stainless hardware and RTV. A few bolts ended up in the boxed cross members but given that there are so many others we didn't sweat it.

- Sprayed underside of van with 3M rubberized undercoating. Did the wheel wells too.

- Installed OEM rail on L-track after drilling new holes on the rails (to fit spacing of L-track)

- Installed seat on rails

Boom!

Hope this helps a little.

 

[vulf]

I'm afraid I don't have any more useful pics but can share the process:

- Positioned L-track as far as towards the drivers side they could go and still fit the seat. In this position, dropping the tank was not necessary...but we didn't know this before dropping the tank!

- Cut spacers so that L-track would be flush with floor

- Drilled through spacers, marked holes in van floor

- Drilled through van floor; a few spots were really difficult. Sprayed holes with paint.

- Drilled larger holes in ends of L-track to accommodate larger hardware

- Cut and painted big "washers" out of steel plate for ends of L-Track. (These are underneath the van.)

- Secured L-tracks with stainless hardware and RTV. A few bolts ended up in the boxed cross members but given that there are so many others we didn't sweat it.

- Sprayed underside of van with 3M rubberized undercoating. Did the wheel wells too.

- Installed OEM rail on L-track after drilling new holes on the rails (to fit spacing of L-track)

- Installed seat on rails

Boom!

Hope this helps a little.

Thanks, that is helpful. Did you just use information on this forum to do the install or did you rely on other sources as well? Did you have a good idea of what you were going to do before you started or was it me of a figure it out as you go type of process?

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[swellguy]

I'm afraid I don't have any more useful pics but can share the process:


- A few bolts ended up in the boxed cross members but given that there are so many others we didn't sweat it.

Sorry, how did you handle this? Did you drill through them and bolt them up with extra long bolts? I don't get it, sorry.

 

[APDX]

Sorry, how did you handle this? Did you drill through them and bolt them up with extra long bolts? I don't get it, sorry.

Sorry for the delay. No, we didn't drill though the cross member. We just didn't secure the bolts that ended up in there. With our enlarged hardware at at the extremes and all of the other bolts, I'm not concerned about the track pulling out, but YMMV!