65barracudaLA
Well-Known Member
So now that the car is running great, I immediately disassembled the interior to put in some sound deadener.
After I pulled the carpet I discovered some surface rust and suddenly this became a much larger project. I wirewheeled the floor, which appears to be relatively thin (but no holes), so the sound deadener is gonna be almost structural haha.
I painted it with some Rustoleum and let it dry. Not pretty, but it was gping to be covered with the sound deadener and carpet on top anyways. In the meantime, while the seats were out I finally started on some seatbelts in the back. Luckily it already had holes from the factory in the center. I've had this car for 15 years and have taken it apart many, many times and never realized that that holes were in there - with a tiny plug in them. I had bought some belts at a swap meet that came with hardware, but two sets of belts and only one set of hardware.
Anyways, I started with the sound deadener:
I started in the back while the paint was still drying. I figured that cargo area with metal, some air in between and then some metal again close to the mufflers was like an echo chamber. I also added some to the floor that goes over this:
I left out the part where it mounts, because it's already difficult to get those screws in there and was afraid it might interfere with the folding seat if it stuck out further.
I got some more hardware at a local Classic Porsche parts store. There were no holes where the other side of the belt attaches. There were some dimples that I guess were suggested locations for the holes, but that wasn't going to work with these belts and the hardware. I think the factory ones were eyebolts that you latch into. Anyways, I drilled my holes within an inch of those dimples. If you're doing this to your car, pay attention to the frame rails. You can kinda tell by the spot welds where they are. You wanna be far away enough so the big flat washer fits from the bottom. Oh yeah, there is also a brake line right there on the passenger side that you don't want to drill into.
Unfortunately the belts are way too long and I'll have to get shorter ones in the long run.
So I covered everything that's under the rear carpet section. I have two of those sheets left out of the 36 sq ft Kilmat I bought. I wanna use some in the doors to make it quieter when you slam the doors and in some other places like under the dash. I might do the front of the floor as well and I know that there is also some rust that needs to be addressed.
But first I wanted to know if it made any difference...
It was already dark when the car was re-assembled so I drove over to a bar where a friend of mine was playing. It's not necessarily much quieter, but the drone is gone and it sounds sooo good!
I plan on daily driving the Barracuda once again, so I might eventually get some quieter mufflers or add a resonator, but for now it's just so much fun.
There's still a little stumble when you accelerate from a stop which I'll investigate. Also, apparently I hadn't tightened the transmission pan and the valve cover bolts enough, so there was a bit of a leak, but that should be good now.
Anyways, I'm stoked!
