Sound Deadening, Part 4

On Saturday afternoon, my friend Cary and I did some more work on the sound deadening for KITT. We secured the hatch glass as I had done before and started on the passenger side rear wheel well.

I wiped the wheel well down with window cleaner to remove any dust or oils from the surface. While cleaning it we noticed that some of the areas we had applied the RAAMmat BXT II to previously were not pressed down completely or as good as they could be. I showed Cary the wallpaper roller we had been using and explained that I had stopped using it because it was so easy to tear or puncture the foil backing on the RAAMmat BXT II. The roller is constructed out of a hard plastic and its edges are blunt enough that it makes it hard to apply any decent amount of pressure. Sara and I had resorted to just applying and pressing down the mat by hand or with a rag.

I mentioned that Sara had a really neat pastry roller that was a hard plastic coated in silicone. The roller itself is about twice the width of the wallpaper roller. I said that I wished I could find another like that because it would be perfect for this application. Since Sara was taking the pictures for us (Thanks Sara), she heard this and quickly disappeared inside. She came back out to the garage and said that she would donate the roller to the project. Here she is taking one last look at her prized pastry roller.  

The picture below depicts a very special moment: the passing of the roller. It's sacrifice shall not be in vain.

As expected, the roller performs perfectly and does not tear or puncture the RAAMmat BXT II.  It also allows you to apply a lot more pressure. Thanks again Sara for donating this! Talk about a perfect wife, huh guys?

Since the paper templates worked so well for the driver side wheel well, we did the same thing for the passenger side. 

I found I can make a perfect template by placing the paper over the area I want to cover and then folding the edges over to fit the shape of the panel.

Once I had the basic shape I just creased the folds to make sure it stayed.

Then we traced the pattern onto the RAAMmat BXT II.

Using a utility knife it is easy to cut the pattern out of the RAAMmat BXT II.

The fit was right on and with the help of the roller we were able to press it into place perfectly. Cary and I are laughing in this picture because we decided that after this project we should give the roller a place of honor above the bench. It works even better than we had expected and so far is holding up great! It should have a very long life. :)

The passenger side rear wheel well turned out just as nice as the driver side. It too showed a very noticeable reduction in noise.

The next item I wanted to focus on was the portion of the rear wheel well that was inside the rear quarter panel. It is not possible to access all of it, so my goal was to cover whatever I could reach. Anything has to be better than nothing, right? As you can see I had to work with my arm stuck through the door jamb vent and the sail panel speaker opening.

To make this as easy as possible, I measured the width of the wheel well and cut myself squares of RAAMmat BXT II to piece in there. The smaller pieces were much easier to work with.

While I was working on both wheel wells, Cary used the roller and went over every piece of RAAMmat BXT II in the car with the roller. Everything has now been pressed down firmly. Thanks Cary.

By looking through the door jamb vent, you can see the RAAMmat BXT II I applied to the driver side wheel well in these two pictures.

On the passenger side rear wheel well the portion that is inside the quarter panel is more accessible because it actually is open to the cavity where the spare tire would sit.

After I finished each interior section, Cary followed behind with the roller and pressed it all firmly down into place.

Here is a picture showing the RAAMmat BXT II I applied to the passenger side wheel well.

I also wanted to make sure to deaden the area behind the sail panel speaker openings. I placed the RAMMmat BXT II against the interior of the outer skin directly behind the speaker opening and went down to the bottom of the cavity. I am measuring the width of the piece I will need in the picture below.

Here I am applying the RAMMmat BXT II to the interior side of the outer skin on the passenger side sail panel.

It was great to be out working on KITT again. It was so nice out that we could not resist taking the t-tops out and going for a cruise in Cary's Camaro. Thanks for all your help with the sound deadening Cary!