[DeTomaso] Dynamat

[Trevor Fougere]

Obviously, since I'm driving again, I finished the dynamatting.  For those
that are curious, a few highlights of this adventure.

 

1 - About a 3-4 dB reduction in cabin noise.  The engine sounds richer and
great without all the additional sheet metal vibration.

 

2 - One layer of dyanamat over the firewall, the hatch, driver and passenger
sides - entire floor, foot wells and the back of the wheel wells.  

 

3 - All exposed metal needed to have oxidation  removed.  Grinding, sanding
and application of two coats of rust proofing primer.

 

4 - I used 39.04 sq ft of Dynamat.  I did NOT do the doors as someone had
already installed some other kind of sound proofing, so I saved myself the
two door assembly/re-assemblies.  I estimate another 10-12 sq ft to do the
doors.

 

5 - It took two weeks and approximately 40 hrs to do this job.  Dynamatting
requires measuring, cutting and applying many small pieces to deal with all
the odd contours one encounters.

 

6 - Repaired my cracked and very broken center armrest.  Most of the screw
hole parts of the plastic we also completely broken off, and mostly missing.
Used thin aluminum roof flashing cut into strips and run around all 4 sides
of the arm rest on the inside.  Affixed with cold weld and dremeled smooth.
A coat of black paint finished the job along with drilling some new holes.

 

7 - Modifications to firewall cover to keep if from wrecking the dynamat on
the hatch.  The padding I removed from the hatch was fairly well torn up
from previous removal/installs of the firewall cover.  Aside from removing
the passenger seat to install it (it was out because of the dynamatting), I
hacksawed off the bolts extending past all the nuts on the back of the
firwall cover.  Filed them smooth at the nut, and covered all of them with
some very adhesive tape.  This removed all things on the back of the
firewall that could catch and tear at the dynamatting. Having the armrest
removed, and (in the case of my car) the rearmost portion of the center
consoled (which is a separate  part on my PRE-L #3797) made sliding the
firewall cover back in the easiest I have ever experienced.  So from now on,
the armrest comes out as part of gaining access to the engine hatch!

 

Trevor