Project Generation Gap started out innocently enough as a father and son buildup of a classic Mustang that, when completed, would be a near daily-driver for said son. While we've both gotten our hands dirty on much of the project's dissasembly, the majority of the work to date has been a lot of automotive "heavy lifting" such as sheetmetal repairs, paint and body, and much more. We've both been pretty hands off because, well, we're not paint and body guys. Few of our readers are and I'm sure they understand the situation. Whether it's a transmission, an engine, or a paintjob, sometimes you just have to hand over your project, write a check, and wait for it to come back all smooth and shiny.
Well, ours is back, and thanks to the crew at Classic Creations of Central Florida (and our good friend Allen Colding for the wet sanding and buffing) our fastback is now smooth and shiny as well. It's time to move forward, roll up our sleeves, and get busy with the final assembly!
So now that our fastback is back home and ready to be assembled, we're going to get our butts in gear and wrap this Mustang project up by year's end (we know the cover of the magazine says August, but it's just the first week of May as I write this). Much of the assembly, including fuel and brake plumbing, wiring, and so forth can easily be handled by the two of us with the Mustang at home in the garage and we should need very little outside help from here on out, except for possibly some custom exhaust work and an alignment, both near the bottom of our punch list right now.
Of course, before we can work on the wiring and other interior items like glass, audio, and so forth, we wanted to give the fastback a fighting chance to be as comfortable and as quiet as a new car. At this point in the project, with a painted, yet bare, body, it was the perfect time to enhance our Mustang with some sound and heat control products from Dynamat.
Dynamat Xtreme is a butyl vibration dampening product that is bonded to a thin aluminum sheet. Together, they conform and adhere to various sheetmetal panels in your car to dampen road noise, eliminate "oil canning," and enhance audio system efficiency. We've used Dynamat on numerous projects in the past with great success, but one of the biggest hurdles to installing the product was determining how much and where to install it. Then, being able to accurately cut and install the product to the section of sheetmetal without waste.
Well, Dynamat has introduced a new product line, Dynamat Xtreme Custom Cut, for many popular muscle cars, including the '64-1/2-'73 Mustang (we're told newer Mustangs are on the list for future kits). The Custom Cut product eliminates waste, is much easier to install, and reduces installation time. Dynamat has Custom Cut kits for the entire car, including the main floor, under the rear seat, doors, trunk, and roof panel. Of course, you can still buy the standard Dynamat Xtreme in sheets for custom installations (consoles, engine compartment, speaker enclosures, and more). We also opted to include Dynamat's Dynaliner, a closed-cell foam insulation, over our Custom Cut installation to aid in thermal blocking. Read on to see just how easy the Custom Cut installs and stay tuned for more assembly stories on our fastback.
1 Similar to a paintjob,...
1 Similar to a paintjob, the success of a Dynamat installation can be traced back to the prep. Having a clean installation surface is of utmost importance. While we’re starting with a bare floor straight from the body shop, as shown here, you’ll most likely find a mess under that carpet and seats that you’ll be removing for your installation.
2 Begin with a complete vacuuming...
2 Begin with a complete vacuuming of any metal the Dynamat Xtreme will be adhered to, and then follow that with a shop rag and some wax and grease remover or lacquer thinner to remove any loose paint or contaminants that will prevent proper adhesion. You can see the difference here from the driver side to the passenger side in our cleaning phase.
3 Finally, we decided to...
3 Finally, we decided to give the floor and trunk a nice simple coat of satin black from a couple of rattle cans, mainly to give the surface a uniform color/look and for better photography. Be sure to mask off any openings and to paint in a well ventilated area.