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...