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[axcxnj]

I got the interior mostly gutted over the weekend. I will be re-using the factory interior panels, but will figure out a good way to get blinds into all of the window openings. i have a few ideas ill have to try.

The big question i had going into this, is what was above the ceiling, and what was under the floor.



The floor has a good amount of holes drilled into it for all of the seats that were bolted through the van floor. ill have to work out any surface rust and seal up all of the holes before i proceed. The plan is to put down some sound deadening mat, then some 3/4 or 1 inch plywood (i saved the plywood i took out for marking up the new stuff. I want to go with a thicker plywood floor because i am planning on using that to anchor in the bed side boxes.



On top of the plywood i am going to try out those wood look foam tiles. I know they arent the most durable, but they should be easy to install and they are cheap and will add a little softness for walking around. we use them in our basement and i like them.



above the ceiling, it looks like there is a wonky roll cage like structure. the fiberglass top itself is pretty thin. Not what i was hoping for. I am planning to use some gutter mount thule roof racks on the artificial rain gutters, mounted higher on the fiberglass roof side. seeing that they are so thin, i will have to make sure i reinforce the back of the mounts enough.



There is a BUNCH of wiring from the original coach builder that i will have to either remove or just tape up and tuck away, as i wont be using it. someone got really lucky with a screw as well...



A new front carpet section is ordered as well, so the entire interior should be pretty fresh. lots of work to do..no turning back now!

[86Scotty]

Oh boy did they! Glad that was a ground. I've done it at least 3 times. The worst wasn't a wire though, the worst was when I shot a flooring screw right through the freon line to the rear air under the van.

All freon in these is one closed system, not a separate front and rear, so I got to watch all of that money and comfort hiss away into the atmosphere for a few minutes. Of course it was the middle of summer. #vanlife adventures.

[3zie]

Love the set up man. I am rocking with a similar van. We came across a 2011 E-150 Limo shuttle with 50K in the fall of last year. The interior is so cush I don’t want to screw it up! I watched a ton of build videos with visions of building a monster! But the more I looked into gear for the vision I had, the more road blocks I ran into because of the Contempo top on our van. Right now, me, the wife and five kiddos do a lot of camping, hiking & biking so I just need seats, shade & storage. Maybe once the kids are gone the wife and I will strip it down & build it back up. For now I look forward to some minor mods & the adventures. I’m digging the blacked out look too.

[axcxnj]

with the interior removed, i can get to the backside of the roof so i can install the roof racks, but before i install roof racks, i needed to do something about the horrible peeling clear coat.



I had considered vinyl, plastidip, maaco..etc. But i did realize that i had bought a good amount of raptor liner to re-do the bumpers in black (the first round i did was just a cheap spray on bedliner which flaked badly)


with 2 qts of raptor liner i was able to redo my bumpers and then give the full roof a coat after working all of the surfaces with a power sander. Im pretty pleased with how easy it was to apply. hopefully it will last for a while. now i can install the roof racks and not worry any more about the outside of the roof.


the sound deadening and new carpet should arrive this weekend, so i will be able to get started on putting the new floor in next week.

[axcxnj]

this week i got to spend a few evenings on the van. I finished stripping the interior out and spent a while plugging all of the old screw and bolt holes in the floor and wirebrushing a few small spots of surface rust.

started with the full front interior with the old green (why?) carpet



A couple of those seat bolts were a real PITA. cleaned up the old under carpet foam as well.



new grey carpet with sound deadening mat backing



all back together and driveable. i think i will replace the doghouse with one that has an updated center console and isnt covered in glue reside and holes. also put in some weathertech mats. they fit very nicely.



last thing i got done today was the sound deadening installation. I ordered a kit for a full floor, but i dont think it was meant for an EB van (or maybe it was and its not intended to cover the wheel wells?)

Like i said before. Due to the van being all windows, im not going to worry about insulating, so from here i will be installing a plywood sub floor.

[1der]

Nice progress!

If you have not yet purchased your plywood for flooring - 1/2” Baltic works fine and will hood screws well. 3/4” sanded multi-ply is fine, too. 1” is overkill, expensive, you lose anther 1/4” to 1/2” of height. Sections of floor can be biscuit joined and held together with Simpson Strong Tie Metal plates and screws. Your cabinets / bed will also tie the sheets. together. No need for a 2x4 anywhere in a van interior.

[shadetreevanman]

Yep. What 1der said. I used 1/2" Maple Ply and Biscuit Joined the pieces together. It took 3 sheets for my EB. Glued and screwed straight to the van. I ran the pieces sideways and had 2 joints running the width of the van. Sand and bondo the joints before laying flooring and you'll never see them again. With cabinets in place the exposed joints are just the floor between the cabinets.

Since I used Maple Ply, I was able to reuse the dropoff pieces for the Maple Cabinets I built.

[JWA]

When I've joined my 3/4" plywood its via 1/4 or 1/2" rabbits on opposing sides of course splitting the sheets length-wise so the joints are centered on one of the spaces created when the plywood is laid on top of the floor ribs. I then rip 3/4" poplar into strips that fit within those spaces and use #12 countersunk wood screws though the top sheets into the spacer underneath.

I make sure to NOT drill or screw into the painted floor sheet metal. Attaching the outside edges of the plywood is accomplished by cutting solid strips of poplar to snugly fit between the floor and lower flange located just about an inch about what is the new floor top surface. Screws downward into the solid strips keeps everything tightly in place. This also provides another attaching surface just over 1 1/2" tall if needed.

[axcxnj]

So i got the three floor panels cut and installed over the past few days. I ended up going with 3/4 inch marine grade plywood. couldnt find baltic birch at the local home depot. the old floors i pulled out made for an easy trace and cut.



I read through everyones recommendations on joining the three pieces, and after some thought, and considering the flooring im putting on top (foam) is soft and flexible. I really couldnt think of a reason that joining them would be superior to leaving them separate. So i ended up putting a rubber strip in between each panel instead of joining them. maybe ill regret this? Im not sure but i dont see why i would...



This weekend we are planning on using the van to head to VT for a gravel bicycle race. we will be sleeping in it friday night, and with the floor in and walls out, i figured this would be a good time to run a new wire for the main house light. This light was originally wired to the van 12v system, but i want to be able to run it off of my anker battery pack and have light this weekend, so i ran the wire and did a quick mockup of the switches and busses that i plan on using. These will be mounted on/within the passenger side bed support down the line...for now they will just bounce around and annoy me.



I know that the battery setup im using is a little un-kosher..but i went through a lot of thought for all of the standard setups that campers run, and this 444 Wh anker battery with inverter and USB ports should give me all the juice i need for some interior lights and USB charging. On occasion, i will be plugging in a laptop, so having the 110 outlet will be nice, and because i will be able to (will have to to charge it) remove it from the car, im not limited to only having power inside the van.



I will be using a second switch for under-bed LED lights, and then also hooking up two bedside USB ports for phone charging at night. that should be everything drawing through the 12v plug so i dont think ill have an issue.

Will probably just do some more cleanup and maybe mount my door shoe rack before the weekend trip. next week ill be looking at getting the plastic walls back in and mounting my blinds.

[Twoxentrix]

Just a suggestion, but Back in the day (way back) we used to build out the inside of friends vans (nothing like what many of you have been accomplishing), and one of the most import things we learned early on is to pull additional wire (couple heavy gauge also) while you have access.
Run a couple front to back, as well as left to right at the front and rear of the floor, and if possible across the top where you can. One day you may want to add a small fan, or additional outlets, or speakers, or lights, fridge, solar, or ????
Always easier now during your initial construction than later.

*Your progress is looking good.