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

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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
 
Looking forward to seeing the results. I've never had the pleasure of being in a Landy with carpet in it. In fact until recently I thought that it was standard to have the seat box showing in painted metal (this is CSW spec I'm talking about).
Anyway, yes, pictures please.
 
might make a tunnel tray with cupholders this week.
bit of plywood cut to shape, with 3 bolts coming up from each cupholder and a ring section of steel welded on top.

should finish it off nice if i paint it all black
 
Eee, that's proper luxury is that. Looks plush though I'm not sure I'd want to put my muddy boots on it or even my kids. Nice job though. I might do just the seatbox and leave the floor covered in rubber.
 
Eee, that's proper luxury is that. Looks plush though I'm not sure I'd want to put my muddy boots on it or even my kids. Nice job though. I might do just the seatbox and leave the floor covered in rubber.


i intend on keepin the rubber floor mats in place but i carpeted under them anyway to reduce noise.
also i got some mud on the side of the tunnel carpeting by accident, i just let it dry and brushed it out with a small dustpan brush thing.

the carpet is tougher than it looks, its kind of bristley. meant for kids bedrooms the guy said, he had it in bright red, yellow, and bright blue aswell. i went for the sensible option
 
You really do need to be able to remove the one on the floor at least, be cause they will get wet as soon as it rains, and being foam back it will not dry out.
 
Looks a good job, but I agree with the others, I certainly wouldn't want carpet stuck on the floor with the amount of rain we're having!
 
I might do just the seatbox and leave the floor covered in rubber.

Thinking the same myself, looks a fairly easy job to do. Then purchase some of these Landrover Defender 2000- Tailored Car Floor Mats Black Carpet | eBay to sit on top of the rubber soundproofing.

Finished job should then have a great deal of the cab carpeted but with the advantage of being able to remove the floor area for cleaning and to dry out any water that makes it's way in there.
 
To be honest the problem of water getting in is not too bad (must have got lucky with decent door alignment and seals) although the weather this week is doing its best to put it to the test !!!
 
that looks really smart mate and well planned out any chance you could do another diagram with the dimensions cos i would mind doin that meself
 
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that looks really smart mate and well planned out any chance you could do another diagram with the dimensions cos i would mind doin that meself

sorry mate i didnt measure anything with real numbers. just made the template out of loadsa a4 paper and some newspaper sheets. ive chucked that now.

i just laid it out on the carpet i bought then cut round with a stanley knife.

it aint hard to make the templates, just takes a litte time, if you follow that picture i drew and map it all out so you end up with a massive paper template that resembles the one i drew, you should be fine.
 
and as for water gettin in, i did have a problem with water getting into the passenger footwell, but sorted that now, it was the window frame seal.

noticed when i did have the leak that the mat kept all the water in a puddle, as its kind of got a little brim round the edge of the mat so none went over the brim onto the carpet.

but this weather aint revealed any more leaks so hopefully i should be ok.

if the carpet on the floor does get wet i can rip it out and make a new panel , got a couple metres of the carpet left over.
 
Was just reading this - thanks for the write up.

I need new carpets but was thinking of roll on bed liner paint - any thoughts?
 
I've just done this same job myself :D I then did the van back. I installed 1cm thick closed cell foam first then automotive carpet, the sound different is very obvious and went down even further when the back was done. I'm doing the roof and sides next then a thick coat of stone chip paint under all the arches! Luckily I had the remnants of carpet in mine already so I was mainly able to draw round the old bits.
 

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