Insulation and hidden panel clips

by Unknown December 20, 2015 0 comments Conversion Hidden Panel Clips Insulation Ply Panels

Tonight I had my first meal in the van, albeit, it was on the driveway outside the house and I was surrounded in insulation cut offs! Hard to beat one of Han's curries and what better than a pint of the black stuff to christen the van.


This morning I finished off the sound deadening, all except the nearside wheel arch, which has the mount for the jack on it. I need to take this off first, but luckily, a quick call to a mate with an angle grinder, means that will be coming off tomorrow. After that, I went over all the bare metal I could find from old screw holes and mounting points with some hammerite, to protect against rust in the future. Once that was done, it was time to get on with the insulation.

I'm using 25mm Quinn Therm insulation in the panels, covered by ThermaWrap, which is essentially just foil covered bubble wrap. For the foam insulation, I found the easiest way to do it was to measure out and cut a piece which would cover the entire panel, then to cut this piece into pieces so I could fit it in, one at a time. I then used thin wedges of insulation to hold the insulation in place by forcing it against the sides of the panels. This seemed to hold really well, but I followed up with duct taping the seams as an extra backup measure, which works well at holding the wedges in place. Once this was done, I cut the

ThermaWrap to the size of the panel and fixed it on using more duct tape. This should hopefully aid in giving a waterproof seal, to prevent any water getting into the panels. I had to punch holes in the tape for the mounting holes for the panel clips. Talking of panel clips. I ordered the hidden clips from MegaVanMats, along with my carpet as I wanted the carpeting to be as smooth as possible. I knew the panels had to be 3.6mm ply in order for these to fit. Before I picked up the van, I asked Callum at Rockinvans of he could supply 3.6mm panels for me, which he could and I duly picked up with the van.

Pleased with my progress so far, I went and grabbed the first two panels and the clips, with the intention of fitting them this evening, before finishing for the day. The first panel I did was the small center panel. Five minutes later, all five panel clips where in place. The easiest way I found to attach the clips was to use a pair of pliers to grip the tree part of the clip and to twist them in from underneath. A couple of taps on each clip with a rubber mallet and the panel was in place. Man this was going way better than I thought, I'm flying through this project!

On to panel number two. Out came the trusty pliers, grabbed a panel clip, twist....twist harder....twist harder still...SNAP! Hmmm, maybe a faulty clip.  Try number two. Twist...twist harder...no dice.  Sitting back for a minute it suddenly dawned on me. I grabbed the measuring tape and sure enough, it's 6mm ply - too big for the clips. Quickly checking the rest of the panels, they're all 6mm except for the small center panels. B*#%*R!! The whole idea of having the panels pre-cut for me was to save time. I don't fancy having to cut them all out anyway, even though I can use these panels as templates. A job for tomorrow methinks.