Build 35. Rear Bulkhead Carpet and Soundproofing

None of this next step is in the manual at all, in fact the sound proofing is something that rarely comes up. For me though, the noise of the LSD is whiny, whilst I appreciate some people like to hear the mechanics of the car all of the time, I think the drive is much more pleasurable with less rattle and whine going on.

Why choose this step now, well this is simple, I want to start on the rear suspension setup of the car and after reading numerous blogs, the rollbar has to be fit before the rear dampers. This is due to the location of the bolts of the dampers, which get in the way of the space needed to fit the rollbar. In order for the track day roll bar to be fit, it is suggested that you check the length of the seatbelt bolts, depending on your chassis and build, you may need to fit the seatbelts before you fit the roll bar, it turns out that I would not be able to install the seatbelt bolts if the rollbar was in place. In order to fit the seatbelts, you need to fit the rear boot cover and any accompanying carpet on the rear bulkhead. So this was the logical next step to be done to get ready for the rear build up.

I left the rollbar in place loosely (simply pinned at the back with a panel pin) to help we understand how all the bits will fit together in this next step.

Soundproofing

I decided that I would soundproof the bulkhead just to make the inside that little bit nicer, it's a few extra kilos, but for me that doesn't matter. I ordered some Dynamat Xtreme for this task and a small plastic roller to help press out the air bubbles. I cut everything to size with a Stanley knife and then stuck them in place on the rear bulk head. I will also be using this on the transmission tunnel and the floor, but I will do that later on in the build.

Rear Carpet

Once the Dynamat was in, I did a quit fit test of all the pieces to see what would needed to be done. The carpet has a leather top piece which is designed to fit nicely under the boot cover, but needs the holes making in it for the bolts and screws to go through, so I offered up the carpet and then marked where the screws and bolts will go through it. I then used a combination of large and small punches to cut the holes in the leather.

Once this was done, all that remained was to secure the carpet and boot cover in place with the 4 screws that originally held just the boot cover in place. I will leave this carpet completely loose and flappy until the dampers have been installed as you will need to lift it out of the way to access those bolts. I think long term I will spray glue the central part of the carpet and leave the edges loose, so as to always allow access to the damper bolts.

I left the carpet with some tyres weighing it down to flatten it out before securing it, I also need to put a few small slits in the carpet around where it met the tunnel as it was slightly to long, I will tidy this up properly when fitting the tunnel.

This meant I could now move onto installing the harnesses before then installing the track day roll bar properly. Only then was it OK to start on the rear mechanical build up.

Here is how the carpet/boot cover looks "loosely" in place.

Timelapse