Allen,
The underdash panels were from Moss. They are a heavy gauge plastic
with padding already on them. When you get them and start to fit, you
may be as baffled as I was -- they didn't look to me as though they were
for the right car! I even called Moss. They assured me that the panels
were right. Moss was right; the panels are right; they just tax the part
of your mind that deals with spatial relationships. The things fit
perfectly, but I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how. ONce done,
it was obvious.
I once bought a set of carpets with foam padding. The foam broke down
rapidly under my heels. What I bought was a roll of grey, soft, looks
like shredded rags material-obvious bits of used cloth, string, etc in
it. It came from JC Whitney or the WalMart or someplace where it was on
sale cheap. It has worked out great, laid under the carpets and under the
carpets under the seat. Large improvement there. There is a piece under
the carpet on the GT's rear deck. I even put some into other vehicles,
used it under the new carpet on the tunnel and floors of my TD and in my
truck. There was a lot of it in the roll.
My experience with the 3M undercoat is that it's wonderful stuff,
except when it isn't wonderful. As long as it's adhered, it is nearly
bulletproof. TRouble is, if it cracks, the cracks are not visible to us
but they admit water. We don't see anything wrong until the undercoat
starts to lift off the surface because of concealed rust. Once I learned
about Waxoyl, I started to use the two in combination. The undercoat is
applied on the exterior, in areas where there is sand and stone abrasion.
It's pretty good for sound absorbtion too-if you check out the stainless
steel sinks at Home Depot, you'll see that the expensive sinks have
undercoat on the bottom as sound-absorbant. Inside body cavities I've
been using Waxoyl. I tested some on a couple of pieces of scrap metal.
It appears to flow into the joints, whereas the undercoat and paint tend
to bridge over the joints. I haven't done any destructive testing on the
car to confirm that theory, but the scrap metal tests were pretty
convincing.
Bob
On Sat, 3 Apr 1999 20:43:53 -0400 Florrie & Allen Bachelder
<bachldrs@swva.net> writes:
>Bob -
>Thanks! now that brings up two more questions. Have you, or anybody
>else,
>tried the replacement underdash covers sold by the likes of Mo$$ or
>VB? I
>believe they're plastic. Opinions? 2nd question: what kind of padding
>under the carpets? My carpet set came with foam padding and I have
>the
>composite stuff that fits in between the "ribs" in the floor - like
>the
>factory used. What else are you using?
>
>On my '73 -my first restoration project - completed 8 years ago - I
>used
>a LOT of 3M undercoating - probably not a great idea although I've had
>no
>trapped-moisture problems so far. I shot it inside the doors, covered
>the
>floors with it on the inside, and the entire boot. ' Shot both sides
>of the
>bulkhead between cabin and boot. Then I used a carpet kit in the
>boot.
>Purpose: minimize noise. It did work - the car is really quiet - even
>without overdrive. I've since learned that undercoating may defeat
>the
>purpose for which it was intended, but liberal amounts seemed to
>reduce
>resonance of metal panels. The engine sounds like it's in another
>room.
>
>Allen
>
|