Installing vinyl flooring

[Uncle Gump]

So... I have some water intrusion into my Bronco II. I pulled the interior and removed the carpet and batting. It was soaked. I have new vinyl flooring coming to install.

The floors have been covered in Dynomat (or similar product) and was wondering about the batting. The PO had covered the entire dynomat covered floor with it prior to installing the carpet.

I'm not real concerned with noise and my thoughts were just to put the batting down in the driver and passenger foot wells to provide a bit of give and add to the longevity of the vinyl... maybe up the sides of the hump.

If I could get away without using any of it... I probably would.

Just looking for thoughts from other members.

Remember... this is my trail truck... not a resto or show truck. Just looking to do this once and not create a sponge to retain water.

 

[RobbieD]

I can see some padding helping the vinyl flooring lay nicer, but the padding acting like a sponge is a real big problem. I think the best thing to do would be to bite the bullet and track down and fix the leaks.

I've got to do the same on my '90 B2. It gets a wet headliner on the driver side. I'm going to have to pull the windshield (needs a new one anyway) and redo the gutters. In the meantime I just tarp it.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Yes sir... I believe I'm getting water through the driver side cowl. I can see a trail. I'm hoping to clean the cowl and drain to cure most of that one. I also have a leak in what appears to be the right rear quarter glass. I'm certainly going to put effort into sealing it up even if it needs to go to the glass shop before I put flooring down.

I did pick up a weather proof cover for it from the Bronco Graveyard... at least until it can be stored inside.

I did dry out and treat the batting that was in it... the point of helping the flooring lay better is valid. I guess I can always see how well this "replacement" fits and go from there.

 

[RobbieD]

When I used to do sunroofs (way back in the last century) for the tough to find leakers we had an aerosol spray that dried as a light powder coating. Any leaks, after hosing the vehicle or putting it in service for a while, would leave readily seen tracks that made it easier to follow and find the source.

I like a vinyl floor over carpet, but currently I only have it in one of my trucks.

As I'm sure you know already, lay the vinyl floor out in the sun a while before you lay it in, whether installing it or just checking the fit.

 

[Uncle Gump]

@racsan

I know you just did a floor in your truck... any words of wisdom?

 

[racsan]

Set the new flooring out in the sun like someone else mentioned, measure for the floor shifter first, for the other holes (like the seat tracks) use a metal pic then a small hole saw in a cordless drill. Leave plenty of material on the sides, you can trim back more later if need be but you dont want to remove too much. Consider putting down dynomat or something similar, it helps with road noise and heat retention. I do like it better than the carpet it previously had. The worst issue I had id the seat belt bolts would not come out of the floor, so I did some careful measuring and cut a 2” hole for both spots and slid the belts through the flooring as I put it down.

 

[RobbieD]

use a metal pic then a small hole saw in a cordless drill.

In soft materials you can run a hole saw in reverse. It will still cut fine, and greatly reduces the chances of catching and tearing the material, especially if any padding is involved.

 

[Uncle Gump]

I have a set of hole punches I planned on using. I'm not sure how big they go.

Never thought of using a hole saw... I have those too. Running in reverse makes a bit of sense too.

 

[racsan]

I may have ran it in reverse-its been almost 2 years since I did that job, not easy to remember everything, I moved shortly after doing that job. I think that was the last vehicle related work that was done at the old place.