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Mon Sep 01, 2008 11:45 pm

As part of my continuing project to resurrect a poor, abandoned '69 vert, I've just finished installing the sound damping material and have started on the carpeting.

I used the Raamaudio products for the sound damper. Overall I thought it was the best value for your dollar. I'm very satisfied with the product. I ended up needing just over one roll of the damper, and about 4.5 yards of the ensolite.

Some lesson's learned/realizations:
1) Putting down the sound damping was A LOT of work.
2) It's sticky as hell and will ruin what ever clothes/gloves/shoes you wear.
3) The tar will end up on your couch, comforter, you name it.
3a) It'll also ruin what ever tool you use to cut the stuff...scissors, box cutter...it'll be toast.
4) You will use MUCH more carpet glue than you anticipate. I used three cans just to put the ensolite down.
5) The ensolite goes much faster as you can make it contour to curves.
6) Saliva and a rag are surprisingly good at getting the tar off of your skin. But of course...then you'll smell like spit, so take your pick. :)

Now it's on to the rest of the interior....Oh yeah...and if anyone wants that steering wheel, it's yours.

Tue Sep 02, 2008 2:06 am

so how much is a roll and where did you purchase?

Tue Sep 02, 2008 5:05 am

boleador wrote: As part of my continuing project to resurrect a poor, abandoned '69 vert, I've just finished installing the sound damping material and have started on the carpeting.

I used the Raamaudio products for the sound damper. Overall I thought it was the best value for your dollar. I'm very satisfied with the product. I ended up needing just over one roll of the damper, and about 4.5 yards of the ensolite.

Some lesson's learned/realizations:
1) Putting down the sound damping was A LOT of work.
2) It's sticky as hell and will ruin what ever clothes/gloves/shoes you wear.
3) The tar will end up on your couch, comforter, you name it.
3a) It'll also ruin what ever tool you use to cut the stuff...scissors, box cutter...it'll be toast.
4) You will use MUCH more carpet glue than you anticipate. I used three cans just to put the ensolite down.
5) The ensolite goes much faster as you can make it contour to curves.
6) Saliva and a rag are surprisingly good at getting the tar off of your skin. But of course...then you'll smell like spit, so take your pick. :)

Now it's on to the rest of the interior....Oh yeah...and if anyone wants that steering wheel, it's yours.

Looks like a Karmann Ghia TV dinner! :lol:

You did everything with one roll? Did you make templates or just work by eye?

Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:51 am

One roll was enough to do everything except for the doors.

The roll is about 16" wide so you just kinda start laying it out and cutting to fit. No templates required, just lots of sticky gloves.

Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:50 am

hpw wrote: so how much is a roll and where did you purchase?

Tue Sep 02, 2008 10:48 am

www.raamaudio.com is their website.

I ordered:
1 Roll of damper
3 yards of "Ensolite"
3 cans of spray glue

That was enough to do the whole car except for the doors, and the order total was $220, including tax and shipping.

Tue Sep 02, 2008 3:12 pm

awesome, let us know if it causes any fitment problems with the carpet

and after you get it all together to see if you can tell a difference.

Tue Sep 02, 2008 3:20 pm

hpw wrote: awesome, let us know if it causes any fitment problems with the carpet

and after you get it all together to see if you can tell a difference.

Will do. So far everything looks good with about half the carpet installed. I'm not putting down any tarboards so I think the thickness difference should be about the same. I'm anxious to see if it makes the car any quieter or feel any more solid. That's the real key for me.

Tue Sep 02, 2008 3:29 pm

Thanks for sharing, really useful information. :D

Tue Sep 02, 2008 4:58 pm

Nice to know there is another reasonable alternative.

I hit the Raamaudio site...but where / how did you use the ensolite again?

Tue Sep 02, 2008 5:35 pm

Achilles3588 wrote: Nice to know there is another reasonable alternative.

I hit the Raamaudio site...but where / how did you use the ensolite again?

I'm glad that people are actually finding this info useful!

So here's the process:

-The raamat (spelling?) is applied directly to the car's sheet metal. The shiny aluminum skin goes up, and the other side is a sticky rubber/tar material that self-adheres to the metal. The Raamat is the primary sound damping material that adds mass to a panel to lower its oscillation fequency.

-Once all the raamat is down, you apply a layer of "Ensolite" over all of the raamat. The Ensolite is an 1/8" thick closed cell foam that acts as an air tight/ water tight insulation layer. Since it is soft and squishy, it can also act a bit like carpet padding. In the case of the door panels it can completely replace your vapor barriers. The Ensolite is not self-adhereing and requires the use of carpet spray adhesive to glue it to the aluminum backing of the Raamat.

-Although the Ensolite doesn't seem like it's doing much, I did notice a significant difference in the resonance of panels with and without the Ensolite.

So there goes!

In this pic you can see the ensolite covering areas that used to be exposed Raamat:

Tue Sep 02, 2008 6:14 pm

boleador wrote:
-The raamat (spelling?) is applied directly to the car's sheet metal. The shiny aluminum skin goes up, and the other side is a sticky rubber/tar material that self-adheres to the metal.

How thick is the tar? It looks like it really conforms to every contour, you did a great job!

Tue Sep 02, 2008 6:17 pm

73_ghia wrote: boleador wrote:
-The raamat (spelling?) is applied directly to the car's sheet metal. The shiny aluminum skin goes up, and the other side is a sticky rubber/tar material that self-adheres to the metal.

How thick is the tar? It looks like it really conforms to every contour, you did a great job!

Thanks for the comments!

The tar/rubber is about an 1/8" thick too. The aluminum backing isn't thin, but it will strectch and conform enough to get into the nooks and crannies of our car.