DIY Sound Deadening and Carpet. RATSUN Style.

[VintageRice]

After lots and lots of research on ratsun and google I finally felt confident enough to try to tackle my first carpet job. So here it is.

 

My main objective was to have a nice looking finished product, be fairly inexpensive, and kill as much road noise as possible.

 

Started with this, interior is por-15'd from last year. Had two little pieces of dynomat on the front pans that I got cheap at a swap meet a year ago.

 

 

Materials

From Lowes . "Tite Seal" window flashing. Same as peal n seal. Different brand but looks the same.

The carpet was called indoor/outdoor ribbed area rug. it's 6'x8' and was under $20. It has a fibrous backing almost like speaker box carpet. Flexible yet durable. and CHEAP!

 

Got the good stuff for the carpet pad / sound killer. It's actual auto carpet pad. Got it from the local upholstery shop and the guy said its MUCH better than using foam. He said I'll love life with this installed. Lets hope so, it was $48 for 4 yards.

 

Pad

Carpet

 

Started laying the window flashing (peal n seal) Did the floors and fire wall and still had some left for doing inside the doors later

 

 

Next stared laying the pad. Cut the pieces in place. Got them the right size then pulled it back to lay some contact cement.Used contact cement(suggested by uphostery guy) for gluing the pad down. Found it worked best to lay it down right away with the cement wet. Not like you usually do by letting it set up. Just seemed to stick better.

 

 

 

Once that was done came the carpet. This is the part that has to look good! Helped alot laying the pad first. Was like a good practice round and got an idea how I was going to do it. Very helpful. Started with the rear area. Just cut the carpet to the right width(seat mount to rear) and layed it in. Made a couple small slits for the console mounts(more on that later) and keeping everything tight layed it in. Used a pair of heavy duty scissors0 to trim areas in place for a better fit.

 

Used a drywall square to make straight cuts.

 

 

Back in place

 

Front was hard, but got it in. Had to make one triangle cut and seam at the passenger firewall to get it to lay flat. But is pretty inconspicuous.

 

 

Then used some metal screws with finishing washers(like cabinet guys use) in a couple discreet places and some "foam and fabric" spray adhesive in the tight spots(like firewall) to hold the carpet in place.

 

 

Now about the console. I got a 92-95 civic console from pick n pull. Made brackets before hand and attached them to the tunnel. So the come up through the carpet and then I bolted the console in place after carpet. Wha La ! ! Not bad !! Seats are going back in today.

 

 

[VintageRice]

Just realized how terrible those cell phone pics are!! Will get some better ones today. But I wasn't thinking about a write up when I did it lol.

[the nice machine]

thanks for posting this, i've been doing the same research... i'm about to do this to my 620, already got the peal n seal. people always say "just use dyna mat", but these are the same people that pay to have someone else to restore their rides.

[Master-O-Turbonics]

Any reports about how good the peal-n-seal does at sound/temperature deflection?

Getting ready to do the floors in my 521.

[Laecaon]

Peal and seal is simply adding mass to the panel. It changes the vibration, makes it harder for the panel to vibrate.

 

The carpet pad/foam decouples the floor to the car. Highend sound has a hard time making it through fibrous/dense material.

 

What I want to do is, Peel and Seal in a few spots that will help reduce vibrations. Ensolite foam on top of that, and finally some "mass loaded vinyl". The foam will keep the mass loaded vinyl from vibrating as now it is decoupled.

[Z chopper]

very cool write up

[VintageRice]

Peal and seal is simply adding mass to the panel. It changes the vibration, makes it harder for the panel to vibrate.

 

The carpet pad/foam decouples the floor to the car. Highend sound has a hard time making it through fibrous/dense material.

 

What I want to do is, Peel and Seal in a few spots that will help reduce vibrations. Ensolite foam on top of that, and finally some "mass loaded vinyl". The foam will keep the mass loaded vinyl from vibrating as now it is decoupled.

 

Yep. The peal n seal stops vibration/resonation in the panels. The mat or pad is what absorbs the road noise.

 

 

 

Took the car out for a pretty long drive today and what a difference. I could talk to my wife at 60mph without yelling! Worked great. No tar smell at all. Although it got only around 70 degrees out today. But still. It barely smelled taking it out of the package. Not worried about it.

 

Now I just have to finish sealing up my doors cause I got some wind noise. Get a few firewall holes plugged. Build custom kick panels for front speakers, and build the trim boards that go below the doors.

 

 

This stuff is just too fun. To bad work and bills get in the way of datto building!!

 

Few more oics with the real camera and the seats in.

 

 

 

 

Screws and washers I used.

 

 

Learned this on youtube. Used a torch to heat up a small screw driver to poke through all the seat and seatbelt mounting holes. Move it around to bore out a perfect little cotterized hole. Keeps the bolts from twisting up a thread out of the carpet and makes installation WAY EZ. Highly recommended.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dawa]

looks great maaan

[Dime Dave]

VintageRice,

Excellent write-up!

 

The hint on the carpet holes is A+! I don't know how many times I've had pulled threads putting screws into carpet, great hint!

 

The 92-95 Civic center console install is very cool! It fits nicely over the modified transmission tunnel. The console with the arm rest adds storage, plus it adds cup holders which IMO are a needed convenience feature in a 510.

 

I purchased a black Civic center console for my 510 street car project. The car will have a rear disc brake conversion, so I also plan to use the Civic e-brake as well.

[sedition88]

Very good tips. I need to do this for my 620 and my 510 4 door

[az_rat210]

The thing to remember about peel and seal is only need 25% coverage on a panel to reduce vibration and bring the vibration tone down. On Datsun doors there are also crash panels inside. If you put Butyl tape into the crevices of these crash panels it splits the doors outside skin into two panels lowering the vibration frequency.

 

By reducing the resonance frequency you reduce the travel distance. You should pull you head liner and apply peel and seal to the inside of the roof along with some closed cell foam, this will reduce in cabin noise quite a bit. Reason I suggest the closed cell foam is because when its actually better at sound deadening than MLV, and on the datsun roof there is not enough room for both MVL and CCF.

 

This worked quite well on my B210 Hatchback. All the noise I get is from that loud worn left rear wheel bearing.

[SD_GOON]

Looks awesome man. I might give this a try.

[MicroMachinery]

Awesome. I love it when there are legitimate contributions to the forum. This is definitely one of those. Thanks for sharing!

[VintageRice]

Your welcome!

 

Got some cheap floor mats yesterday. Look pretty good for $15 at O'Reileys. :ninja: As soon as I get my console pieced together(cup holders and shift boot) I'll post up some pics!! :thumbup:

 

I'm going to order some components and build kick panels next. And work on the dash. Maybe new thread for kick panels?? I dunno.

[Master-O-Turbonics]

Overkill, I know... in the 521 which will have lots of noises LOL! Gonna need all the temperature/sound insulation possible.

not done yet either.

(pic hosted on facebook, idk if it will show up)

[VintageRice]

holy cow, thats alota shiny tar in there ! !

[jesusno2]

i did all that to my wagon few years ago inside of doors etc etc closed cell foam it was still pretty loud inside.

[Master-O-Turbonics]

holy cow, thats alota shiny tar in there ! !

I sprayed a couple cans of rubberized undercoating on the floors before putting the tite seal down.

I think this stuff is similar to the goop Nissan used back in the day for the same purpose... But hopefully this will stick better.

[spudly13]

mine next! lol great write up!

[mrmark]

:thumbup: yeah man, will try this in the fall!!

[DRIVEN]

Great write-up. Thanks!

[kingpinnz]

great work and thanks for sharing!

[CraigSnedeker]

Interior looks fantastic! :D

[datzenmike]

It's a lot of work but it really pays off in comfort and enjoyment when out driving around. I notice my 710 goon is much quieter than my sedan. It's very easy to get used to and it's easier to notice the sedan is louder..

[mrmark]

So how is it to clean and does it show dirt easily??