Episode 15 Episode 15
Interior heat and noise abatement:
Needless to say, it was a bit buzzy inside with bare metal and there was a hot-foot issue under the clutch, as the exhaust is prettty close. Step one was to paint the exposed metal.
Decided to use Dynamat to coat the floor panels. Here's the first piece.
Elfi inspects the progress of the first day of Dynamat installation.
Here's how it works... Make patterns, (I used paper) and then cut it out, stick it down, and go over it with a small rubber roller.
At this point I threw a seat in it and tested it out. I was impressed enough to continue into the back seat area. It cured several vibrations and cut the freeway noise down. It's not quiet inside by any means, but now you don't need earplugs for long trips on the freeway.
Another step forward. Below is an accidental step forward in sorting.
The day before the March Sears Point LeMons event (which I planned on driving the Cortina to-and-from) I discovered a screw in the left rear of my 13" Avon tire. Nobody would remove it, because it was too bald. So I threw on the rear steel wheels from the '65 Alfa GTV. This also involved trials with spacers (ended up without them) and resetting the rear ride height minus five full turns on the coilovers to get it to set right.
The upside was the taller rear wheel totally righted the speedometer error - it's now dead accurate, and turns less RPM on the freeway at speed, making the car less buzzy. Downside is that the tire size - 195/65/14 isn't a hot setup for performance tires, and the backspacing on the fronts don't allow the wheel to turn as the tire hits the strut. Right now I'm still grinding down the 13" Minilite/Avon combination while contemplating the next step.
Back to interior progress: Years ago I'd boxed up the carpets, and thinking they wouldn't work with the larger transmission tunnel. I've also grown a little tired of the dizzying Dynamat pattern on everything, not to mention it was starting to wear through it on the driver's side floor, so why not cut some 'mats' from the old carpet? Turns out with some scissors, most of it sort of fit back in.
Probably not the ultimate solution, definitely not show-quality but good enough for now.
Exhaust tunnel in the floorpan is the only difference in the rear.