Hushmat, dynamat, jute, original underlayment, and other sound and heat barriers
 

I am trying to achieve a good reduction in noise and heat on my 1980 corvette before I put the new carpet in. I need help with a few things though.

Jute- supposedly the new carpet will come with this. What is the jute?

Original underlayment- should I replace the original underlayment (new from ecklers or zip of course)?

Hushmat or dynamat- should I buy either of these? They get great reviews.

There are numerous other spray in and self stick heat and sound barriers for cars. Some of which look like they might be too thick for the corvette carpet if I pair two together. And what do I do about the wheel wells? The original underlayment is different on the wheel wells. Is there a reason for that?

And lastly, what prep work do I need to do? Do I have to use ammonia to clean the car before I install anything? Should I primer or paint it?

Thanks in advance everybody!

John, I recently used Hushmat on a 1951 Willys pickup I'm building, awesome product, applied easily directly to a clean painted floorboard, firewall and the bottom side of the cowling area. Worked great for sound deadening and heat reduction and is thinner than the insulation kit I purchased from Ecklers, if I were to do it again I would use the Hushmat product.

Worked for me.

I bought EZ Cool from this place. $40 delivered for a 4' x 10' sheet.

its not cheap but it does the job .

I recently used fatmat on a project, product is the same and pricing is better...fatmat.com

Do as far up the firewall as possible and line the doors as well.

Rob

I used this same product. My main goal was heat reduction though and I am very pleased with the results and the price. It is basically bubble wrap between two layers of foil. I can not speak for any sound reduction though.

I've been looking at fatmat too, thanks! It's good to see everyone using those products, those were the ones with the best reviews. A few more weeks and I'll be ready to put it in. Thanks!

I removed all the old glue and crud with lacquer thinner plus major labor then repainted the bare fiberlass. Then Fat Mat. Then Reflextix. Be careful. Next time I would skip the Reflextrix. Too thick. Maybe just on the bottom surface but not the sides. I had to rip some of it out to get the carpet, center console, etc to fit right. I think many of the fitment problems with interiors are caused by these excessive underlayments. If the fit of one part if off, the rest will not fit properly.

I bought RAAMat for my Trans Am and will be buying the same for the Corvette, its rated very high. Google RAAMaudio and email the owner, he is very helpful. After talking to him he sold me less stuff than I originally intended on buying and saved me a bunch of money :thumbs:

No need for heat insulation in the storage compartment...but a good place for sound deadening--especially over the wheelwells. Also, the sound deadening products will delay the heat, but not prevent it from getting into the passenger compartment. Jute is loosely packed fibers (which are decent insulators) with lots of air pockets; this is how they insulate and mute high frequencies. But jute packs down with use/moisture/age and becomes marginally effective. In the passenger compartment it is especially necessary to have good heat insulation covering the floor pans, the firewall (as high as you can go) and the entire tranny tunnel surface. The inexpensive insulation...like Reflectix...is very effective, but some believe it is not durable enough for long-term success. I've had it in my car for 5 years and it still does a good job. And, since I don't care about listening to the entire score of Bolero--expecting to hear great clarity in every note--I could care less about sound deadening in the passenger area.

Was that enough to do the whole interior?

I used this stuff. Should be enough if you don't do the doors with it. I used it on my doors before I put on new door panels . They don't fit tight to the edges cause it's probably a little too thick. Also needs lots of glue in (bend places. Buy a quart of contact cement and brush on. Probably would use way too many cans of spray.

BTGRN75,
You just answered my question. :D: I was thinking about using spray cans.
I'm putting a precut kit from one of the forum vendors in my '06Z and I want to use extra insulation over the tunnel and wheel wells,
and I didn't want to spend a fortune on the Dynamat type stuff. :ack:
I ordered the EZ Cool earlier today and was notified it alaready shipped, love the no bs transacton. :thumbs:

rcread, thanks for the link.
Tim
:cheers:

I used Dynamat for the sound deadening and then Dynaliner and some foil backed insulation for extra heat barrier around the tunnel. My carpet did not have the jute backing.

Hushmat and Dynamat are for sound not a heat barrier. I do not have pictures with the dynaliner heat barrier that I put on top of the dynamat.

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...-29-09002B.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...-29-09001B.jpg

With all due respect, I found that the Hushmat product has dramatically reduced the heat in my cabin. The car is a real joy now on hot days.

Before installation, I suffered the same basic problem of uncontrolled heat passing through the firewall, making warm days especially uncomfortable when sitting or crawling along in traffic.

It may be one of the more expensive solutions but for me, it is worth every nickel on a hot day.

Plus, it is very easy to work with: peels and sticks to any surface. It is fairly thin and did not interfere anywhere. If you want to cut to fit, I used a cheap pair of shop scissors I bought at harbor freight and was super simple.

Their website states that the product provides thermal protection and I can only speak to my results.

http://www.hushmat.com/Home_Page.php

I covered the entire firewall and also enjoy the benefits of sound control.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...1a-2009012.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...1a-2009009.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...0_5-02009a.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...0_5-02001a.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...0_5-27003a.jpg

All I know is that it works great in my application. Again, it's not cheap stuff but it has delivered everything the manufacturer said it would.

Good Luck.

And, when I say it would do the whole car-- I mean original factory areas. Not the firewall, compartment areas, doors, etc.

I still get a lot of heat through the firewall and trans. tunnel

So, what's the consensus about using, say Dynamat/Hushmat, to REPLACE the expensive firewall insulation on a 73 ????

I used a product called Be Cool thermal insulation purchased through my local NAPA store. :cool:

i used extreme dynomat... car is nice and cool... i put 2 layers on the firewall also

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b5...e/2f05a951.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b5...e/29b5030f.jpg