[Guide] How To Line Your Own Van.

The first thing you should do to achieve a good line out of your T6 is prepare the vehicle properly. Now some of you will no doubt have nice new kombi's and panel vans but others may have second hand vans however the end result of preparation should be the same.

What we are looking for is a nice clean empty van with a key applied to specific areas of the inside of the vehicle to aid the bond of your spray adhesive prior to applying the carpet.
If you have a used van with ply lining I would suggest treating any holes that have been drilled for screws to be installed with zinc or red oxide paint and filling any holes in the floor with a little bit of polymer adhesive or similar to avoid future rust problems.

You will also need an M10 spline bit to remove the seat-belts and any floor lashing points.

Personally I would also remove both front seats to avoid getting glue on them and to give you more space to work.

Hopefully by now you have a nice empty van with all the rear lining panels removed (inc roof) and the B-Pillar trims removed.

Next you can remove the tailgate threshold and any sliding door steps.

If you have removed a steel bulkhead the lower part of the bracket will need to be cut out with an angle grinder however I would suggest removing the cab floor mat first and protecting all plastics from hot flying swarf as it will impregnate into them easily. Remember to rust proof up after cutting the bracket out.
Just what I’ve been waiting for.
 
Rookie mistake on my part - thought I'd be smart and ordered the slightly heavier duty 5.3mm ply kit, hidden clips wont work with this thickness of ply...……. so now its either buy non hidden clips or get 3.6mm ply. I suspect it will be new clips:(
 
Daft question alert... I'm about to start sound deadening and insulating my kombi and not thought too much about the carpeting yet, my question is, why do you need to fit 3.6mm ply to carpet, can you not use the original vw panels?

Or maybe I need to ask what's the benefits of doing it in ply? I'm not too fussed about the money side of it, just the vw panels seem to fit nicely ignoring the ugly fixings?

Thanks all
Rich
 
Daft question alert... I'm about to start sound deadening and insulating my kombi and not thought too much about the carpeting yet, my question is, why do you need to fit 3.6mm ply to carpet, can you not use the original vw panels?

Or maybe I need to ask what's the benefits of doing it in ply? I'm not too fussed about the money side of it, just the vw panels seem to fit nicely ignoring the ugly fixings?

Thanks all
Rich

I want to mount some storage nets on the panels to keep bits and bobs for the bikes, dogs leads etc in and the original VW panels are just not up to the job, hence the stronger ply panels.
 
I want to mount some storage nets on the panels to keep bits and bobs for the bikes, dogs leads etc in and the original VW panels are just not up to the job, hence the stronger ply panels.
Ahh didn't think about fixing things to them, makes sense for that reason!
 
Slightly different tack. I'm lining my T5.1 kombi at the moment. All good so far but I now want to cover the small panel covering the rear passenger seat belt retractor. It looks like I need a special head to undo the seatbelt. What should I be looking to buy? (Looks like a tork type bolt but not)
 
Rookie mistake on my part - thought I'd be smart and ordered the slightly heavier duty 5.3mm ply kit, hidden clips wont work with this thickness of ply...……. so now its either buy non hidden clips or get 3.6mm ply. I suspect it will be new clips:(

If you drill your 5.3mm ply then countersink it, the hidden clips from Harrison trim supplies fit perfectly.
 
Okay its been a while since I had time to further this thread but hope admins will tidy it up in to a nice how to one day in the future ;)
So once a nice clean van is achieved you want to start thinking about effectively soundproofing your van. always keep an eye on the weight of your van and the remaining maximum payload of your vehicle. its not rocket science is it? achieving a good level of soundproofing to the vehicle whilst striking a balance with keeping the van as light as possible is best for so many reasons. Like pretty much all good conversions company's I know of we start this process starts by adding an effective layer to the extrenal skin of the vehicle including rear wheel arches. This can be done internally or externally and if done properly works exactly the same either way. After trying many brands over the years we have settled on using Skinz Extreme products, they are a British brand which are lovely and sticky effective throughout the vehicle at just 2mm thick.

You may find yourself left with these in the rear of your vehicle. Many specific adhesive removing industrial chemicals will remove them quickly but we reccomend just getting yourself 2 or three cans of Skinz Preparation Spray from the below link when you buy your soundproofing its super effective (wear a vapour mask!! your using it in a confined space!)
Skinz Preparation Spray
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The Skinz spray can be used throughout the vehicle prior to applying soundproofing / spray adhesive to achive a perfect base surface for the following processes.

The next few snaps are how we soundproof a van these days to strike the weight to removal of panel resonance balance.

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Sadly I forgot to take pics of the roof and tailgate. You get the idea. If you want to see, we are trying to get pics of the complete process up on the website fairly soon.
Link for the soundproofing we use is........
Skinz Bulk Pack
See you in a month or two for the next nailbiting installment ;)
 
On a sub note... bit of advertising.
Mostly recently we have been pissing about on the CNC with this etching lark! :)
so if you fancy a custom bit of this with hidden fir trees then give us a shout :thumbsup:
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Or perhaps one of our customisable new roofs. These are fully fixed up using the genuine panel clips VW fixing holes no screws or glue and are rock solid. We can offer bespoke patterns, with / without courtesy lights got some pretty cool ideas with these and bossed panel details that we fancy doing if you like something new and unique. They can be prepped prior to arrival and fitted with new lights in under 2 hours so long as all roof panel fixings are available to make use of.
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All the marks brush out with an offcut of carpet. We just hadnt got round to it when i snapped these quickly in the workshop :thumbsup:
 
I like those ceilings.
I've chatted you on the phone about a pod and emailed you about what Rock and Roll beds your pods will work with, but guess you have been really busy at them moment.
I would like to have a chat to you about the roof as well please.

Pm incoming.
 
We are really busy. Hopefully we were helpful on the phone, sometimes the odd email slips through the cracks as we get dozens a day. Feel free to give us another call or email to bring your enquiry back into focus for us and we will be as helpful as possible. We are offering the celings at an amazing price when bought in a package with our lining and an electrics pack. That said we will fit it to any van at a sensible price as we know not many people like the finish of just having their factory hardboard panels carpeted or covered in headlining material and having them reinstalled using stealth fixings. :thumbsup:
 
We are really busy. Hopefully we were helpful on the phone, sometimes the odd email slips through the cracks as we get dozens a day. Feel free to give us another call or email to bring your enquiry back into focus for us and we will be as helpful as possible. We are offering the celings at an amazing price when bought in a package with our lining and an electrics pack. That said we will fit it to any van at a sensible price as we know not many people like the finish of just having their factory hardboard panels carpeted or covered in headlining material and having them reinstalled using stealth fixings. :thumbsup:

Yes, I was really happy with the info you supplied and our conversation on the on the phone. I know 1 email are easy to get missed, so Im not bothered about that. Thanks again
 
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