bodmodbaby
New Member
my land rover is a hard top one ten. so it came with a poxy white headliner in the cab, a grey rubber tunnel cover, and some foam backed vinyl seatbox covers. all were in a bad state and the bare floors were covered only by some old LR rubber mats.
i was pretty much set on buying the exmoor trim carpet set, but then i found the samstrim store on ebay and liked the look of his set a lot better.
but then i looked closely and also watched the rugged guide video on youtube about how to fit the things, and i had a few concerns.
first of all, the seatbox carpets dont go up and over, and fail to cover the huge area underneath the seats and cubby box, secondly the tunnel carpets looked very thin compared to the rubber tunnel cover i had on as standard and the last thing i wanted was to take something away that was actually doing its job.
i decided the only thing to do was to make the carpet set myself.
my main criteria was:-
-----------------------
keep costs down, i could do this cheaper than £80
make a custom fit, i wanted to cover everything
choose thicker carpet
cover the existing tunnel rubber so i had a double layer
so with that sed i went down to the carpet shop lookin for an offcut roll for cheap. i found plenty and as i looked through them the salesmen advised me i needed foam backing in order for the glue to work and for the bends to not split the carpet. he also advised me about twill and which would be best for fitting around edges without opening the twill up so much that you could see through it to the backing.
as i looked through the rolls there was no black or dark colours, only sewage brown and a horrible navy blue that reminded me of an old velour trimmed jeep cherokee we once owned.
behind me was a huge roll of brand new foam backed black carpet, hard wearing yet flexible, and not too thick but not too thin.
i had the guy cut 4 metres by 1.2 metres and it cost me £30
i then thought about what glue to use, to be honest id have been happy to use spray glue like what comes in the exmoor kit, but i didnt wana pay £6 a can when i had a tube of evogrip at home not being used.
the next thing to do was to get busy with a million sheets of paper and some cellotape and scissors, making a template for the whole of the cab.
this is what i came up with. this is the only bit that is different to the trim kits available. the rest is the same apart from the tunnel cover being bigger to accomodate the existing rubber cover underneath
the main part covers the whole seatbox apart from the access panels.
i took the seats and cubby box and seatbelts out to make the templates and fit the carpets.
i put the evogrip on in blobs and spread it round with my finger onto the metal before fitting the carpets and pressing firmly.
some places i put in self tappers to make sure it would hold and other places the exisiting nuts and bolts from the seats etc did the job perfect.
i also made a long strip for behind the seats, on the floor from seatbelt fixing point to seatbelt fixing point. so the whole bottom layer is covered in carpet now.
i also put the rubber mats back in to protect it.
so how did i do.
its ten times quieter, the only main noise is the noisy transfer box i have, and im sure once i convert the rear space and insulate it, and fit a fume curtain ill be even happier with the results.
the heater works a lot faster now aswell. the cab as a whole just feels like a nicer less industrial place to be.
next on the list is seat retrim, and fitting the rad haz matting that arrived yesterday. ill take some photos and create a thread for those though.
for now, here are the carpets i fitted. pictures to follow
i was pretty much set on buying the exmoor trim carpet set, but then i found the samstrim store on ebay and liked the look of his set a lot better.
but then i looked closely and also watched the rugged guide video on youtube about how to fit the things, and i had a few concerns.
first of all, the seatbox carpets dont go up and over, and fail to cover the huge area underneath the seats and cubby box, secondly the tunnel carpets looked very thin compared to the rubber tunnel cover i had on as standard and the last thing i wanted was to take something away that was actually doing its job.
i decided the only thing to do was to make the carpet set myself.
my main criteria was:-
-----------------------
keep costs down, i could do this cheaper than £80
make a custom fit, i wanted to cover everything
choose thicker carpet
cover the existing tunnel rubber so i had a double layer
so with that sed i went down to the carpet shop lookin for an offcut roll for cheap. i found plenty and as i looked through them the salesmen advised me i needed foam backing in order for the glue to work and for the bends to not split the carpet. he also advised me about twill and which would be best for fitting around edges without opening the twill up so much that you could see through it to the backing.
as i looked through the rolls there was no black or dark colours, only sewage brown and a horrible navy blue that reminded me of an old velour trimmed jeep cherokee we once owned.
behind me was a huge roll of brand new foam backed black carpet, hard wearing yet flexible, and not too thick but not too thin.
i had the guy cut 4 metres by 1.2 metres and it cost me £30
i then thought about what glue to use, to be honest id have been happy to use spray glue like what comes in the exmoor kit, but i didnt wana pay £6 a can when i had a tube of evogrip at home not being used.
the next thing to do was to get busy with a million sheets of paper and some cellotape and scissors, making a template for the whole of the cab.
this is what i came up with. this is the only bit that is different to the trim kits available. the rest is the same apart from the tunnel cover being bigger to accomodate the existing rubber cover underneath
the main part covers the whole seatbox apart from the access panels.
i took the seats and cubby box and seatbelts out to make the templates and fit the carpets.
i put the evogrip on in blobs and spread it round with my finger onto the metal before fitting the carpets and pressing firmly.
some places i put in self tappers to make sure it would hold and other places the exisiting nuts and bolts from the seats etc did the job perfect.
i also made a long strip for behind the seats, on the floor from seatbelt fixing point to seatbelt fixing point. so the whole bottom layer is covered in carpet now.
i also put the rubber mats back in to protect it.
so how did i do.
its ten times quieter, the only main noise is the noisy transfer box i have, and im sure once i convert the rear space and insulate it, and fit a fume curtain ill be even happier with the results.
the heater works a lot faster now aswell. the cab as a whole just feels like a nicer less industrial place to be.
next on the list is seat retrim, and fitting the rad haz matting that arrived yesterday. ill take some photos and create a thread for those though.
for now, here are the carpets i fitted. pictures to follow
