Ceiling Support & Structure Install

• REV1 - Septmember 2025 - Present - First Release!

**WARNING: NEVER USE RED LOCTITE FOR RIVNUTS, IT WILL RESULT IN A HIGH PROBABILITY OF A "SPINNER" IF YOU EVER TRY TO REMOVE IT. WHICH IN THE RIVNUT WORLD IS THE WORDS THING THAT CAN EVER HAPPEN...

Depending on the configuration, you'll have some or all of the following parts

• 5x or (7x for 170 vans) Center Ceiling Rib Supports & associated Hardware (M6 Rivnuts & Fastensers)
• Wall Ceiling Transition Supports (3x pieces per side for Sprinter 144) and associated Hardware (Rivets & M6 Rivnuts & Fasteners)
• Front & Rear Transition Pieces for the Headliner Rib and D-Pillar Rib & associated mounting Hardware
• Aluminum Extrusion Cabinet Support Brackets for 3030 Metric Extrusion. You can see the cut sheet for a 144 Sprinter van here.

• Fine Tip Sharpie or other fine tip marker
• Centerpunch
• Rivnut Setting Tool - We've been using the PRN1 Pnuematic Tool with great results.
• Rivet Tool for 5/32" Rivets - We used this one. It's passable for light work
• Power drill with sharp drill bits/Step Bit for M5 & M6 Rivnuts. Our favorite option is KnKut Stepped Bit Drills: For M6 Holes. For M5 Holes.
• Torx Drivers to install the low head hardware.
• Deburring tools
• Marine Grade Anti-seize for rust prevention when installing rivets and rivnuts. Our preferred type is here.
• Isopropyl Alcohol to clean off excess anti-seize
• Paper towels or shop rags for cleaning excess anti-seize

For our van, since we didn't use a thermal break like Lizard Skin we wanted to add something between the metal rib and the brackets themselves. For this we found this 4" wide 1/16" Thick EPDM Foam was a great & inexpensive option that gives the install a super finished look.

We installed this after we set all the rivnuts, we pressed it over each of them and then came back with an exacto knife to open them back up. If your trace the inside of the rivnut it cuts a perfect hole!

The Center Rib Support feature 7 slotted holes that line up with factory holes in the roof ribs. Identify the Center Roof rib holes and hold the piece up to identify which of the other holes need to be drilled out to size. We ship the kit with the Rivnuts and bolts you need, but you will need a drill bit to enlarge the factory holes. We recommend this stepped tip 25/64" drill bit to create perfectly round holes for these M6 rivnuts effortlessly

The holes in the bracket are slightly slotted because the roof ribs are not perfectly centered in the van rib to rib. We recommending using a laser level to shoot a line down the center of you van and align each bracket to it get a straight and square set of mounting locations from front to back of the van.

Since the holes in the roof ribs have large deep recesses over-tightening the screws that attach these brackets to the ceiling can cause the bracket itself to bend. The do not need to be overly tight and if you are starting to bend the metal you have tightened too much.

Some of our heavy handed customers preferred to have a hard stop, so they bought these 22mm washers for the center holes & these 28mm washers for the other holes and super glued them in place on the brackets. This prevents any bracket deformation due to over tightening.

The M5 Rivnuts for Panel Mounting are not included as each customers layout will be slightly different. For holding 1/4" ceiling panels you need 4-7 bolt locations depending on how well you want it to hug the roof contour of the van.

The new designs are equipped with a ton of holes all at 1.25" (31.75mm) spacing so you can pick and choose how you want to layout your ceiling and attach it. You should pick your bolt pattern first, then put in the assoicated M5 rivnuts (sold seperately) in that pattern.

Once you have the rivnuts loaded and your panels cut you can populate some of them with pointed M5 set screws. We use McMaster PN: 91210A235.

Then we will get our ceiling panels in place and "push" it up against these set screw points. This helps orient and get a reference location for the rivnut centers on the panels by leaving a set of marks behind. You can see an example of this below.

Then when you have a set of these marks spaced out far enough you can use one of the center support ribs to align to that grid and then mark all the other locations you need to use and drill them out.

We recommend giving yourself a loose fit hole somewhere in the 6-6.2mm range since you have to line up so many of them.

The included Hardware for the wall to ceiling transition pieces.

• 19x Rivets for attaching the pieces to the walls
• 4x M6 Rivnuts and low profile Torx Screws to mount DS-3 & PS-3 to the headliner front transition piece
• 2x M6 Rivnuts & Socket Head Cap screws to mount DS-1 & PS-1 to the D-pillar factory drilled out hole
• 20x M6 Rivnut & Ultra Low Torx Screws for attaching the pieces to the roof ribs.
• 3x or 4x Extrusion Mounting Hardware depending on how many brackets you ordered to terminate on the Front headliner transition and Rear D-pillar transition.

If you ordered a set of these for the Sprinter 144, you'll have 6 pieces total (3 Drivers Side & 3 Passengers Side indicated by DS-1, DS-2, DS-3 & PS-1, PS-2, PS-3)

• Pieces Marked 1 (DS-1 & PS-1) are at the back of the van and should be the first peices you start with
• Pieces Marked 2 (DS-2 & PS-2) are the next pieces for the middle of the van
• Finally Pieces Marked 3 (DS-3 & PS-3) are the last pieces that terminate at the Headliner transition.

For install flexibility these pieces have alternating M5 & M6 sized Rivnut holes depending on if you are mounting panels or cabinets to these pieces as well.

** IMPORTANT: In order to use our Wall & Ceiling Transition pieces you have to buy the front transition piece as the DS-3 and PS-3 terminate and mount together with this piece.

To mount the pieces to the van you will use the provide rivnuts, low head screws & rivets. It's important to again start with the labeled 1 (DS-1 & PS-1) pieces in the back of the van. There's a factory hole on the D-pillar that needs to be drilled out to a M6 Rivnut size 25/64". There's special hardware for this bolt - a socket head cap screw instead to allow you to use a ball end driver since the angle of install is more awkward here. Then there are 3 more M6 Rivnut holes for each piece into the ribs of the van using the low head torx screws. Hold the pieces in position and mark the center of the slotted holes to give you the most clearance left and right.

Both the wall to ceiling transitions and the Extrusions in the first and last bay terminate on the Front & Rear Transitions using M6 rivnuts and screws as well as M6 Screws and T-nuts, respectively. These pieces of hardware are included in the wall to ceiling transition part of the kit if you've also ordered the front and rear transition pieces.

You can see how they are finished below.