Interior Mock-Up

Before we install the interior, we had some provisions we wanted to make. With intentions of making this a fun street car, we wanted to shave some weight. With a rear-seat delete and door panels from Scott Rod Fabrications in hand, we needed to do something to help reduce the road noise and heat. But before we could install any of the trim pieces back into the coupe, we wanted to give it a new splash of color and convert it to black. Instead of buying and sourcing new black interior pieces, we choose to dye our originals (stay tuned for our next issue). Since we would be hacking away at some of the interior trim pieces, we elected to wait until after mock up for the re-coloring. To help solve our road noise problem, we contacted Design Engineering Incorporated (DEI). Specializing in thermal tuning, it supplied us with its Boom Mat performance acoustical dampening material. Boom Mat is available in a variety of sizes and we opted for its 20-piece set (PN 050212, $268.84). This would give us a generous amount to pick and choose where we wanted to place it throughout the coupe.

Before we could begin installing the Boom Mat we wanted to make sure we had a clean surface for the product to adhere to. With a quick run-over with a scraper, and removal of any old and loose sound deadening, we then used a lacquer thinner to clean any contaminants or old adhesive that may have been left. With the surface now clean, it was time for the install. The process wasn't very difficult, but required an ample amount of time measuring, cutting, and shaping of the material to fit right. To help reduce noise in hard to reach places, DEI also supplied us with its Boom Mat spray-on (PN 050220, $10.67 per can). This Boom Mat in a bottle allows you to spray the dampening material to any place you feel fit. We opted to use it on our fender wheelwells where the regular boom Mat could not be placed and also any areas we felt that could be prone to rust in the future.

While the new dampening material was drying, we turned our attention to the windows of our coupe. With new paint and our Pony looking better than ever, it was time to install new weatherstripping/door seals. National Parts Depot supplied with new door seals (PN M-20708-2A, $13.95) and run-to-door-glass-top weatherstripping (PN M-21596-3AP, $44.95). Installation was straightforward and fitment was like stock.

With the Boom Mat now dry, it was time to test-fit and measure our interior quarter trim to run our Kenny Brown rollbar through. This is a steady process as to we didn't want to drill a hole too big, thus creating an ugly eyesore. In order to get an accurate measurement, we choose a center point from the body and measured from there to the center point of the rollbar. We took several of these measurements from different locations all to the center of the rollbar. Once finished, we used those measurements and applied them to the quarter-trim piece with it in place on the body of the coupe. This gave us a very accurate marking point as to where to drill the hole needed to run the rollbar through.

Now that we had our marking point, it was time to drill the hole. With our Snap-on cordless drill-gun, we chose a 1-1/2-inch-hole saw bit. When drilling by yourself, hold the quarter trim tight and proceed with a steady straightforward motion. With the hole in place, we then used a file to get rid of any coarse and jagged areas, and smoothed them. Check back next month as we give our interior a full makeover and begin the final assembly.