What a job this was. Taking out all of the seats, seat belt holders and trim was not as easy as I had originally thought. The two Captain Chairs behind the driver and passenger seats weren't that bad, but the rest were a huge hassle. The bench/bed has bolts that need to be held under the van in order to unscrew them. This means you need to get someone to go under the van to hold the nuts from spinning while you're inside the van loosening the bolts. Some of the seat belt holders are bolted under the truck in the same way. Then we get to the driver and passenger seats: The two front bolts are easy to get to, but the two bolts in the back of the seats are hidden behind a piece of plastic that wraps around the bottom seat frame. You need to take apart a few things to get to them. I wasn't looking forward to do these, so I'll leave them for another time.

So, what I ended up doing was half of the van for now. I removed the bench/bed and replaced the carpet from the back van doors to just where the side doors start. After taking out the bench/bed, I ripped up the carpet and used it as a pattern for the new carpet, it turned out very nice this way. I need to grab some more carpet and do the second half of the van (side doors to the front) when I have some more time. I'm not looking forward to this, but I just need to get it done.

 

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Nice. Me doing half of the van is starting to annoy me now. I have half of the van with nice clean carpet and the other half is dirty 15-year-old carpet. Having to look at that mess everyday will definitely get me out there to finish the job soon. I do like the new carpet smell that is starting to fill the van, though.

 

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I was looking at some of your pictures, your van definitely has a different method of installing/removing the seats than mine does. In your first picture, I can see you have the four bolts coming up from the floor where your bench/bed would attach to. My van has those four bolts going down under the van with a nut under there. I also see you have some metal mounting plates where some of your Captain Chairs sit, I do not have those at all. It looks like you had a much easier time with yours than I will be having with mine judging by how your bolts are looking. Also, my carpet is coming up really easy, so there is no cutting needed at all (at least so far that's how its been). I just need a bit of brute strength and I can manage to pull it up. Thanks for the heads up about the controller, though.

 

Nice work on the carpets !!!

Now, anyone talented enough to tackle the headliner? ? ?

 

Blackvan
from your carpet pictures I see the floor mounts for your chairs... I just picked up a pair of captains chairs from craigslist last weekend. They were on bases like I see on your pictures. I modified my stock seat bases in the front and mounted the chairs on those... probably would not pass engineering muster, but it works for me.

Where can I get chair bases like I see on your pictures?

 

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I've finally had some time to do a bit more work on the carpet. Since I found a really good deal on the carpet, the carpet was in a few smaller pieces and I had to lay down a piece of wood to cover up where the pieces came together. The roof of the van has a similar piece of wood trim, so I figured it wouldn't look too out of place. Maybe I can find a better alternative when I get some time to wander around Home Depot. I don't know.



The color is a bit too light and really wasn't what I was going for, but like I said, the price was right. We'll just have to be a bit more careful to not track any dirt in there when we enter.

I've also decided that I will not be adding back the other second row captains chair. I like having the extra free space and I really just didn't use or need it. Trying to squeeze by that chair going in and out of the van and going from the front to the back of the van was not fun. So, it's gone. Between the bench seat, the two front seats and the one second row captain, I think that is enough seating for my needs.

 

Hey, nice job!

I would be happy with this nice carpet and I'm sure you will be pleased with it too. I agree about losing the extra 2nd row captains chair, I've thought about doing that myself because its a pain to work around when loading through the side doors.

But everytime I climb in my van I'm sooo happy with my new carpet so I know you will be too