April 2009 work

Installing sound deadening material and new seat belts

I put the car up on jack stands and took the wheels off because I was also installing new flexible brake lines and all new green radiator hoses.  I also purchased new 3-point retractable seat belts to replace the low-end units I originally purchased when I restored the car 15 years ago.  Here's the car in the garage.  Having the entire car a little higher than normal made working in the interior a tiny bit easier as well.

Once the brake lines and hoses were done I started in on the interior.  The first order of business was to remove everything, including the sticky adhesive from the carpets so I could put the sound deadening mat in the car.  I used RAAMmat BXT with their Ensolite MLC padding on top.  The guy at RAAMAudio (www.raamaudio.com) was super helpful, his price was great and this stuff rated better than nearly every other sound deadening mat on the market.  It was easy to work with as well.  I'm quite happy with it.

Here's the car with the interior all stripped out and cleaned up.

With the interior all out and the metal all cleaned up it was time to start putting in the RAAMmat.  This stuff is super sticky when you peel away the backing but you can reposition it a little as you're installing it as long as you don't really press it down until you're sure its all in the right place.

Once the RAAMmat and Ensolite weas all in it was just a matter of reinstalling the carpeting.  The Ensolite as well as the carpeting on the rear deck was all glued back down with 3M Spray Adhesive.  Carpet pad and carpet was held down with industrial strength velcro instead of the original snaps.  Not sure how well that's going to work out but, we'll see.  I also found that my seat tracks were pretty much beyonfd repair so I purchased a shiny new set from the Roadster Factory.  The console was a bit trickey to get back in due to the added thickness of the mat and the Ensolite but a little bit of grunting and pushing and I got it back in.

Here's a couple shots of the new seat belt installation

Final shot of the interior all finished