Install L track passenger van with headliner?

I have a 2015 passenger van with a headliner and rear a/c in roof. I want to install L track to the cross beams of the roof, between the walls and a/c unit. This will be to hold windsurfing boards.
I would like to do this without removing headliner.

Has anyone done this, and can offer advice? I am assuming there is vertical space between the headliner and the beam, so some sort of spacer will be necessary (stack of washers?)

Is there a diagram available that shows the path of the a/c freon lines, and electric wiring, so that I can be sure to miss them?

THanks
Matthew

In the high roof vans there's no appreciable vertical space between the headliner panels and the beams. The headliner clips in to the beams. The headliner would compress up against the beam when you bolted the L-track to it.

It's undoubtedly possible to make holes through the headliner, install rivnuts or plusnuts into the beams, and then just bolt up the l-track but there are a couple of issues. First, would you have enough bolts to support the weight or your boards? Too much weight on too few bolts would mean that you run the risk of having the bolts fail. Second, the beams are spaced quite far apart. If you clipped in to the track at the mid-point between fasteners, you might bend the L-track.

We used single-point L-track mounts bolted to the ceiling beams. It was primarily as a way of disguising the bolts we used to hold the ceiling panels up. The mounts are fairly strong because they have two M6 bolts each. There's also no unsupported span of L-track between the beams.

MatthewStewart said:

I have a 2015 passenger van with a headliner and rear a/c in roof. I want to install L track to the cross beams of the roof, between the walls and a/c unit. This will be to hold windsurfing boards.
I would like to do this without removing headliner.

Has anyone done this, and can offer advice? I am assuming there is vertical space between the headliner and the beam, so some sort of spacer will be necessary (stack of washers?)

Is there a diagram available that shows the path of the a/c freon lines, and electric wiring, so that I can be sure to miss them?

Click to expand...

Did you ever get this sorted out? I'm interested in doing the same thing (as well as on the side walls) and I'd love to hear your experience. I also have a 144" passenger with rear AC, so this is particularly interesting to me.

Thanks,
Jason

I used a hole saw very carefully to cut through the head liner and pilot a hole then opened the hole to the correct diameter for the rivnut... this worked very well but I would advise that you go very slow to start. I used three fasteners per l-track but I went side to side directly on the roof ribs. As for the washers.. I didnt use any.. just tightened down directly on top. I have three surfboards up there full time, including bouncing around off road and there had been no sign of issue. I would agree with the above... If you go long ways, make sure you dont set an anchor point between fasteners.. only on top.

The only downside I have had so far... If you do it with the headliner in.. you will end up with metal shavings and bits of headliner stuck up there and they eventually make their way to the lights.. you will be pulling garbage out for a while.

the L track is very easy to cut with a standard blade on a chop saw. I used one piece and cut it in half with a 45* bevel on the ends. the material flexed to fit the contour of the roof with no issue at all. I would recommend getting it up there with two nuts and flexing it into place before marking and drilling any more as it's tough to scribe the holes exactly where they will end up when it's all tightened down.

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I got the flanged L track, and used it to anchor my ceiling panels. They are screwed into the ribs with ceramic-coated self-tapping screws; I've hung a hammock and feel secure about the installation.

Trim around the ceiling will be the same cedar running down the middle, and I'm also going to use that to make a trough for the electrical.

The pine is beetle kill pine, offcuts from this year's Burning Man Temple that I milled up. It's 1/4" thick, glued onto 5mm ply. A little heavier than I'd like; I think I'd kerf the back of the pine next time.


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My plan has been to install the rivnuts into the walls and ceiling and then install the walls and ceilings, but this method will certainly be a challenge to align and find holes versus the drill thru the walls and ceiling boards while in place to install the rivnuts, yet avoids the metal shavings left behind. Any suggestions for best methods to install the rivnuts thru the wall/ceiling material or before they are installed and aligning the holes?