My weekend project is to remove the backpad and rubber pad behind it. So far so good - the two combined weight 26 lbs! I'm going to put down some Dynamat Extreme and then lay a Morph carpet kit over the top.

One question. Do I need to remove all of the glue that is stuck to the firewall from the original pad, or do you think I can just lay the Dynamat over it? What should I use? So far I've tried Goof Off and a razor blade scrapper, but that's going to take a while and I already have a buzz going

Bad news, you have to remove it. Otherwise the Dynamat won't stick. If you sound deadening material is not 100% adhered to the surface it won't work like it's supposed to. Go get a bunch of 120 grit sandpaper and that will take most of it off. You'll have to spray some paint on the sections that sand down to bare metal. If the sandpaper doesn't take it all off you can try a wood chisel or a putty knife to scrape off the remnants. Clean the whole thing with alcohol or a paint-prep degreaser (PPG DX-330). And try to keep your hands off after degreasing. Skin oils will affect adhesion.

Brake cleaner or paint thinner will take off the old glue, but I've found that it makes more of a mess and is more of a hassle then sandpaper. You'll be surprised by how much comes off in the first 5 minutes of sandpaper.

Take your time and be thorough and your Dynamat will last a long time.

Adhesive remover from home depot takes it right off, but be careful, it will strip the paint off as well.

I ended up stripping the entire compartment, as you know.

Fuch!!!!!! I knew it.

Thanks for the info. I'll give the sandpaper a try. I'm about to blackout in the garage from the Goof Off fumes. Your right, it is just making a big mess out there too.

You can always use a die grinder with scotch brite roll lock pads on it. They are cheap, and they take stuff like that off fast. Only downside is that they will take the paint off too. So you may have to respray the whole area to cover the bare metal and let it dry before you put up the dynamat.


BTW.. I have dynamat extreme inbetween my firewall and my back pad. Dropped the temps in the car a bunch, and lowered the noise level.

John, I'm going to tell you the secret to removing the glue residue, without affecting the paint underneath, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else...

Here's the secret.... soak the glue with 3M general purpose adhesive cleaner... I got mine from the local Auto paint store... let it soak, them rub off with a clean rag.... you might have to apply several times, but it works like a charm....

Click to view attachment

Remember, don't tell anyone else...

-- Rob

Here is an update on my project, which is now a multi-weekend project. I tried taking the glue off with 120 grit sandpaper, but it would either not take it off, or go right through to the metal. Next was a sander and 220 grit, but as soon as I hit an edge, it would again go right through to the metal and it wasn't that effective on the glue. I ended up going back to the razor blade scraper and Goof Off. Man, it was a killer, but seemed to work the best. I wiped everything down and did a lot of vacuing, and then sprayed paint on the spots where the metal was exposed. Notice the camoflage look

Next step is to break off the back pad mounting tabs. I've got one off, but need to get a chisel for the others. The screwdriver wasn't up to the task. Then put new black RTV in all of the holes and lay on the Dynamat.

After that, put on the carpet once I get in touch with Morph.

Looks like your firewall cut itself shaving

I'm sort of taking retro approach of preserving all my adhesive in my race car. Think about all that hard work that some line worker went to to adhere that crap to the car.

As I was sitting there inhaling Goof Off fumes, I was wondering what chemicals those crazy Germans were putting in their glue back in '74.

Bummer the sandpaper didn't work. Looks cool though. I think you should leave it exposed.

you can lose more weight by removing all the sound tar on the floor.

This from the guy who has graffiti on the side of his car

John - looks good. Are you putting in a harness or just shedding some weight?
I have been struggling with the backpad issue: remove or not? I have that "QuietCar" paint and put 4 coats on the back of my backpad and it really helped. 3-4 coats on the firewall is in the future....I like to be able to hear my cell phone ring when driving, not that they can hear me when I talk
Keep up the good work

Your right Rob. I used that stuff on the underside of my son's 944 hoodto remove the adhesive and it didn't hurt the paint at all.

I forgot...

Hey Chris,

After that autox at the Santa Rosa Airport in July, I put in a Willans Club Sport harness. The PO must of also had a harness in the car because of the two holes drilled through the firewall right behind the driver's seat. I had already bought the Dynamat, and when I removed the backpad and saw the black rubber sound pad behind it, I thought "S%$#, why did I just spend $60 on a Dynamat when there was already a pad there I could carpet over. " But I couldn't believe how much that thing weighed when I pulled it off!

The other reason I'm pulling it out is because I didn't like the look of the Corbeau seats against the cutouts for the original seats in the backpad. It was just two big gaps behind the seats which looked kind of dumb. Cleaner look, less weight - no downside as far as I can tell!

I thought about dropping by last Sunday to see if you were working. I guess I should have. I had SirAndy and Rotten Robby in the car with me.

Great, the three of you could have drank beer and watched me.


Really though, I wish you would have, it would been cool.

Well, if you would used my suggestion, you probably wouldn't have done as much work , but congratulations on finishing it...

Here's a shot of my rear firewall after about 10 minutes of using the 3M...

Click to view attachment

-- Rob

Well, here is an update to what has turned into my multi weekend project . The Dynamat is in. It ended up taking two wedge packs to cover the area behind each seat. I'm already in for $100 in Dynamat, so I decided not to do the center area.

A tip for anyone planning on doing this. It is recommended to leave the Dynamat in the sun for 15 minutes before you apply it to make it easier to work with. Since we didn't have any sun today, I used a hair dryer. I heated up a little section at a time and used the wooden roller to press it on.

Now back into the garage to put the driver's side seat and harness in, and the passenger side seat belt.

Has anyone heard from Morph lately? We e-mailed once a couple of weeks ago about the price of a firewall carpet kit, and I've sent two e-mails and a PM over the past couple of weeks with no response.

Thats a lot of work John.

Use the 3M stuff when you get to cleaning up the other side of the firewall.

I've replaced a lot of door seals, and the 3M stuff is magic.

Hey Dennis

Once she's done I'll send you a couple of pictures.

Sooooo, does anyone know how to get the seat belt reel to unlock? I can't put it back on until I get some slack pulled out of the reel, but it is locked up and not letting me pull.

I think you need to hold it at the neutral posission and attempt. It has a lock out pengulium that sets into place when the brakes are applied!

Jeff

You might as well do the center area or you havent really done that much good by just doing the sides behind the seats. You really need to cover as much area as possible. You will still have noise infiltration in the center unless covered.
Next time I would recommend using Phat Mat. One normal size roll would be enough to cover all of the back area with more left over.
CCLINPHATMAT

Do you really have to get all that factory glue off the rear wall in order to apply the sound deadening pad? Seems like cleaning it real well with mineral spirits would at least get the oil off and make it clean enough for a good bond.


But what do I know.

Got a link for the Phat Mat's? I looked and only found this...

derogatory 914 joke? Or just the way you do it oregon? May the reader decide...

I would do the whole thing. I did mine and I am happy with it. You can also use perlon as opposed to carpeting on the back wall. That is what I did and I think it turned out ok.

I did have a strip of carpeting stitched up for the bottom 6" of the firewall(the part that isn't covered in the pic. Good luck!

I spelled it the way a bro would it should be FAT check this out
http://www.fatmat.com/

Pic shows my 32 GFord highboy roadster that I fatmatted the floors, front and rear, and all of the sides. It made a HUGE difference.
CCLINPRAISETHELOWERED

IT'S DONE!!!!

I decided to go all out and change the interior color while I was at it. I had the rear firewall done in a charcoal color, and replaced the tan carpet with a charcoal color as well. I also used Dupli Color vinyl paint to paint my door panels black to match everything which some of you might have seen in my other thread.

A HUGE thank you to McMark for hooking me up and helping me out on this project - I really appreciate it.

Now all I need is some sunny weather to take her out and show her off!

Looking good, are those Stefan's seats?

Hot damn that's a good lookin' interior.

What kind of seats are those?

Thanks. Those are the Corbeau Classic II seats.

How's the comfort of those seats? Can you easily access the hand brake lever?Anyone else running them; opinions?

Thanks,

Andys

I like them because their look goes well with the car in my opinion. They have good support and are pretty comfortable except for an oddly placed support bar which you can feel in your upper back. The only other thing is that with the harness going over the lateral support, it doesn't fit as snugly on my lap and tends to ride up a little bit around my stomach. Maybe it's just how I'm built?

Looks great John. You going to Santa Rosa PCA AX March 3?
My car is in pieces now, but I hope to get it all together and race

How did you handle the seat brackets? They look nice btw!

I REALLY went back and forth on that one between using the mounting bars that I bought from Corbeau and just mounting the brackets directly to the seats. I ended up mounting the brackets directly to the seats by drilling new holes in them and then using the bolts from the kit.

John,

I hear tell that the Classic II's sit you about 2" higher in the car than the stock seats resulting in interference with the steering wheel. What's your opinion?

Andys

I'm 5'7" - not an issue

You do sit higher, but with the stock seat bracket, you retain full adjustability so I don't see it being too much of an issue unless you are so tall that your knees come close to touching the steering wheel even with the stock seats. You can kind of tell in the first picture that there is a fair amount of room between the top of the seat and the bottom of the wheel.

John,

That looks great. I like those seats and the steering wheel. Also the interior looks great with the red paint.

here is mine