How To Make a Mineral Grey Even Better!!

Tomorrow I start my interior project - gutting the interior seats and trim to install FatMat RattleTrap sound deadening material, and then I'm installing an Alpine MRP-F300 amp. I'll try and post some pics as I go along.

What are you amplifiing? your shaker 500 speakers? or are you adding to it?

I don't have the Shaker system. I replaced my stock speakers with Pioneer three-ways that can handle 50 watts each; I think an amp would work nicely with the AVIC-F90BT and the Pioneer speakers.

You didnt get the shaker 500 system? Cheap

Yep. I spent my money on the best paint Ford offered in '05. :biggrin:

Sonic Blue??

Grabber07' wrote:Sonic Blue??

Nice David can't wait to see pics. Been thinking about installing some sound deadening material to ease the wife's mind about my son riding in the mustang with me. Though it is not loud at all, but would put her mind at ease.

OK, you remove stock mufflers, put loud pipes on the Stang, and then add soundproofing to the cab?

Am I missing something?

hmmm how to make a mineral grey even better?????

paint it primer grey ;)

Psycho Bob wrote:hmmm how to make a mineral grey even better?????

paint it primer grey ;)

After his sonic blue comment, I think I would have to agree with you.

I installed Dynamat through out the tub of my 06 Mustang and it was a marked improvement. It doesn't eliminate your exhaust it just knocks the edge off and all of the rattles that you have just adjusted to or have tuned out.

Do this test. Put on some classical music while you lay on the couch. Now let your kids play Yahtzee on a wood table while you listen. You can still hear the music but there is racket. :)

LOL! Maybe you should Dynamat the kids too??

Dynamat and sound dampening material is great. I have it in my f-150 and most of my mustang. It really makes a huge difference on the rattles and and body noises. You dont realize the amount of noise vibration your car makes until you drive a car with out dynamat. You immediately hear a difference, at least I do.

You guys are spoiled.Go get a lincoln, rolls,cad,or park ave.Come take a ride in the 64 gto.No power steering,no air,drum brakes,window cranks,semi bright lights,and am radio.When i get out of that death trap and into the stang it's like heaven.

Hey if we are talking a classic GTO then that is part of the "charm", I am talking about a car still under warranty and rivals the Pontiac Vibe for interior ride quality. For me it was strictly a quality of life issue where it sounded like I had my window cracked while driving. Plus this was one of the few mods I could do myself. I can now gut the entire mustang in about 2 hours so that was cool to learn the process.

Benefits:

Door rattles gone.
Max radio is now 24 instead of 30 for my listening style.
The Whine is louder than the exhaust. (Didn't do the firewall)
On gravel don't hear the ting ting ting noise in my fender wells.
Both doors close with a thud instead of a hollow sound.
Back to using hands free phone option on Kenwood

Negatives

Added 50 pounds in weight.
Wear and tear on trim after a while.

KevinGT wrote:...I can now gut the entire mustang in about 2 hours so that was cool to learn the process.

Gee...I should have you come gut mine! I've already got the trunk stripped out, and I've taken out the console and rear seats enough so that won't give me any problems. I've never removed the seats or seat belts and associated trim, so I'll take my time with that. I'm going to disconnect the battery before unplugging the seats and seat belts - did you have any airbag lights or problems when you reassembled yours, Kevin?

Right, move the front seats all the way up and remove the back bolts then I had to reconnect the battery because I could not get to the drivers side front bolts because it was electric. I lost all my Kenwood settings but that was about it. The airbags were never an issue for me.

I put down double ply under both seats and worked my way to the trunk. 13mm on the front and 15 mm on the back I believe. I also put large sheets inside the door skin which seemed to help. I took the spare tire out and did that area with what I had left. That spare tire well metal is so thin you wont believe it.

Phase I is complete - got the interior gutted out and actually got a little FatMat installed in the trunk. Like Kevin said, it's amazing how flimsy the sheet metal is on these cars; plus, there's absolutely no factory dampening material save for right underneath the firewall and a couple of thin sheets underneath each rear quarter window. No real problems except for the flimsy one-use-only trim fasteners in the trunk. I didn't entirely remove the carpet because it's held in place by two fasteners underneath the center stack area; didn't feel like taking the dash out to get to those two fasteners. I can easily pull the carpet back to install the FatMat throughout the passenger area, though. I can't help but see how adding this sound dampening material wouldn't make a tremendous difference in the enjoyability factor of this Mustang!

Hey that is looking great and you are really moving along. I called the wife out a couple of times and made her listen to the difference as I tapped on the floor board. She didn't seem to interested but I was pretty impressed. Just make sure you roll it on firmly and you wont be disappointed.

I did alot of research and almost every person stated that the aluminum backing really cut up there hands. So I purchased some dish washing gloves and marched out to the garage. Peeled off the first piece and promptly stuck my latex glove right on the sticky side. I realized that was not going to work and only took minor cuts doing it bare handed.

FYI, I put two layers in a majority of the tub and had no issue with putting the seats back in. You wont get superb noise reduction till you hit the doors but that is not to tough. What noise were you trying to eliminate, exhaust road noise?

I've not had any problems at all with the aluminum shielding on the FatMat. Only problem I had was getting too aggressive with the heat gun on one piece - heat+asphalt compound=sticky, gooey mess! Quit using the heat and had no problem installing it. Vendor sent one of those small wooden rollers; it works really well. This FatMat is 80 mils thick; that's plenty thick for my purposes and I don't want to double this up. I'm just looking to dampen the overall road noise, and be able to use my Bluetooth kit with a little less annoyance. Plus, I think it will increase the enjoyment of the sound system - especially with the new amp I'm installing. I plan on doing the doors as well, but that'll be last. I'll have to table the project for a few days - Xmas and work stuff are next in line.

This is the Alpine Amp I bought 2 months ago but that project is also on hold.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_500PDX1100/Alpine-PDX-1-1000.html?tp=115

I am still crunching the design ideas since I want it stealth. Might end up fiberglassing the spare tire area but not sure.

My brain hurts from the amount of crazy ideas I have had with this audio design. I even had one design that included this...

http://www.earthtechproducts.com/p2604.html

I will be getting my concealed permit in Jan. I wanted to flush install this somewhere so I could come and go to the range. I know it is over the top but I am keeping this car forever.

David, I have a laminate roller that I used that worked very well. Your welcome to it if you want to try it. Also if you need any help, fell free to shout. I am free most of this weekend and next week.

Wow! That's a nice amp, Kevin! That'll put out the tunes! I'm still looking at where to mount mine - will probably fab up a mounting board to sit on the pass side of the trunk, flush against the side, where it will be covered by the liner - then I can mount the amp on the front side of the liner with something solid behind it. That's also a nice lockable gun safe; I've thought about one of those myself.

Get those FR500s yet?

Grabber07' wrote:Get those FR500s yet?

Nope - gotta finish the sound dampening/amp project first. Pulled the headliner out yesterday, thanks to Jerry banging on my roof to demonstrate how it sounds like a tin can! Looks like a Mustang parts yard around my house...

Nice Jerry Nice

Hey, what are friends for right.

Update - Got the interior put back in and the amp working; still don't have the trunk finished - had to order more Mega Mat. Decided to put it in the doors of my Ridgeline also.

call me sheltered, but i hadnt seen one of these s197's stripped down that far before.