A Light Detour, part 2

Before installing all the interior carpeting I wanted to install a third brake light. I figure this will make things a bit safer by providing better warning to folks when braking. However, while doing all this, I realized I really wanted to get rid of the rear speakers (which were cheapo/ugly units) and all the assorted wiring. After all, I did not have a radio installed anymore, and they were useless.

So, while removing the rear speakers I noticed things might be a bit simpler if I removed the complete rear deck. Removing it was simple - there are three sheet metal screws that hold the piece in place. Undo these, pull the thing out, and it's all done.

The vinyl cover on the tray itself was in OK shape, but it had been cut to make way for the speakers. In all honesty, I think I won't be installing speakers any time soon, which means the holes in the original vinyl just won't work well for me. Which means I have to replace the vinyl fabric.

Sigh...

Vinyl fabric is not uncommon, but for a newbie, it seems hard to find - especially for specialied applications such as automotive stuff. At first sight, I though this would take me a few days (maybe a couple of week) just to find the proper materials to do this.

This is where google comes to the rescue: after a few hours, I had found PerfectFit Wholesalers in in Tukwila, WA (down the street from work.) These folks advertised a variety of vinyl fabrics and the such, and so, I paid them a visit in person.

Sure enough, they stocked some automotive-grade vinyl fabric closely similar to the old vinyl in the car. I ended up with some from this product line They also supplied a sheet of headliner foam which, although not an identical match for the deck padding, serves the purpose very well (and it will be hidden from view anyways.) They even sold paperboard, which I can use to replace the original paperboard tray, which is already in pretty sorry state. Total cost for materials was about $40.

I highly recommend this place for any sort of fabric/upholstery need for your automotive project.


I had to glue two sheets of fiberboard together, as they were too thin by themselves. This took about half a bottle of wood glue, and a couple of days for the glue to dry. I then used the original tray as a template, drew an outline, and trimmed the board down to shape with a circular knife and lots of patience.

Next I cut the headliner foam to shape, and glued it to the fiberboard tray with spray-on glue.



I also drilled three holes for the fastening screws. I used 1/8" diameter aluminum spacers to line the holes and keep the screws from tearing into the cardboard.










Next, I stretched the vinyl sheet around the bard and fastened it using 1/4" tacks and a good-ol' hammer. Nothing better than pounding car parts into shape...





I had to figure out a replacement for the old paper trim piece at the rear of the tray. It looked old and ragged, and would detract from the look of the fresh vinyl.



I fashioned a replacement trim piece out of a long 6" wide strip of vinyl wrapped around a 2" strip of headliner foam, and held together with spray-on glue.





I then tacked the trim piece onto the rear of the tray. I used longer thumb tacks for this.







The end product looked very nice. The vinyl trim piece looked better than the original cardboard trim piece (in my opinion.)







Here is a look at the tray installed (with the brake light - more on that next time.)







Next up - third brake light gets installed.

A Light Detour, part 1

A light detour.

One if the advances we've had in the past 30 years is how much better car lighting works. The brightness of halogens, xeon hi-intensity discharge, LED taillamps, all of these work way better than the stupid bulbs and lenses placed on cars 30 years ago.

And the Alfa is even worse than most cars from 30 years ago -- specifically, when it comes to the rear stop lights.

Yep, the rear stop lights are very weak - almost hard to see them turn on during sunny days. As I drive I notice folks seemingly oblivious to the fact that I am on the brakes and slowing down in front of them, and then reacting in half panic as they realize they are about to rear-end me. It's happened a few times, and after being rear-ended in my daily driver recently (another story), I really don't want to go through that again.

So, I figure helping others know when I'm slowing down will, in the end, help me. So I decided to install a third, high-mount brake light. And the best time to do it is while the carpet and the interior is all removed, since it will allow me to run any required wires under the carpet pretty easily.

Finding high-mount brake lights seems harder than it should - I could not find anything useful in any of the usual auto parts stores. However, I did find an online vendor of Hella LED brake lights (Daniel Stern Lighting.) After trading a few e-mails with Mr. Stern, I decided to order the Hella Model 37 LED Brake Light Kit. The parts got delivered in a very timely manner (back in January 2009.)

And there the kit sat, until now.

The brake light kit looks very easy to install - it uses dual-sided, very sticky tape to paste the unit onto the rear glass window. Connection to the wiring is done with these little adapters that are included in the kit.

The hard part is finding the actual brake light wire, carrying the voltage/signal to the rear lights.

It turns out the brake light cable is conveniently colored Red (get it?), coming from the 10-pin harness connector from under the dashboard. Connecting to this wire was very simply accomplished using the aforementioned adapter (again, included with the kit.)

Once I figured out all the wiring, well, I did not install the light. Why? Well, I decided to remove the rear radio speakers. To do this, I had to remove the rear deck/tray. Hmm... should I do that? Well, the deck looks old, and the vinyl looks like it could use a refreshing. So, I went ahead and removed the whole rear tray.

Hence breaking the first rule of car fixing - do not start a new project until you are done with your current project!

So now, I am stuck - I need to get some vinyl, paperboard, cut things, paste things, and replace things. Hmm... Just when I thought I'd be done with stuff soon...

Long time, no driving...

It's been almost 6 months since my last post - time flies, doesn't it - and admittedly, I have not made as much progress since then. Yes, the car still is not running, the interior is not done, and there is no sign of having the car running any time soon - just like last time.

But I figured I'd update the blog and show where I'm going.

As you might recall, I needed to repair the heater core, as it was leaking coolant onto the pedal box. To do all this, I gutted out the interior carpetting, center console, and all the insulation associated with it. The plan was as follows:

- replace old/grimy insulation with something newer
- clean carpet and reinstall
- repair heater core and reinstall
- refurbish center console, and reinstall.

Well, I am still stuck in step one - replace insulation.

But before reinstalling the insulation, I had to deal with the bent jacking support, which had bent into the driver side floor pan. I took the car to Group 2, and they basically hammered the floor pan back into shape for me. It is not super strong, but for now, the repair is sufficient. The good news: the rocker/sill is perfectly good and strong, so structurally, the car is in good shape.

So, on to the insulation:

First, I cleaned up all the interior, basically lots of vacuum cleaning and good-ol' water and rags. The hammering of the driver side floor pan left a few spots with no paint, so I covered that area with Wurth Undercoating paint. This helps keep rust at bay, and it even helps with noise deadening! (Not that the localized application helps with that at all.)

Next, I started installing rubberized asphalt + aluminum sheets from B-Quiet over in Canada. Their Extreme product is similar to Dynamat, but at about half the cost. Since I saved so much money (right...) I also purchased their V-Comp product. The asphalt layer helps dampen vibration, while the V-Comp absorbs noise.

Installing the rubberized asphalt sheets is painstaking - a real pain in the butt (and the neck, back, arms, stomach, and legs. Seriously.) It is important to minimize any air pockets left between the sheets and the car body. To accomplish this, I cut lots of smaller pieces (about 6" x 18" sections) and pasted them inside the car. I started around the edges, worked my way up to the firewall, and finished the floor sections last. Using a wooden roller (and its handle for detail work) helps tremendously, but it still takes lots of work. I estimate I spent about 24 labor hours working on this.

A single 50 sq. ft. roll was sufficient for the job. The results look nice (so far.)

And that's all I've done so far.

Next up, I need to install the V-comp product. I ended up buying two 13.5 sq. ft. sheets for this task. This will not provide enough material, but I'll make sure to paste it onto the firewall, and the driver and passenger side floor sections. Any leftover material will be used around the transmission tunnel section, and then on the driveshaft tunnel section. I've already cut the pieces - I made templates out of newspaper, and cut to match - but I have not test-fitted them. I am very curious to see how it all comes out.

A few notes on this whole noise insulation thing:
- Again, this is very tedious work - especially in the cramped confines of my one-car garage. I see these kinds of material installed onto cars on TV shows all the time. They never say how long this takes - now I know why.
- The material is a bit messy - the rubberized asphalt leaves marks all over your clothes, hands, and skin. It's not too bad, but one has to be careful not to stain any parts of the house (e.g. the shower floor) when you are done working. (Don't ask me how I know...)
- The stuff is heavy. I estimate I'll be adding about 60lbs to the total weight of the car. On the plus side, it's fairly low in the car, but still, 60lbs cannot be a good thing.
- And I still don't know how well this stuff works. The GTV is a noisy car by nature, so I might be completely wasting my time with this. We'll find out soon enough.

Next up: A light detour...