1973 Mustang SportsRoof – Post Floor Pans – Heat Shield

Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof.  With the floor pans welding, sealing and coating finished the next step was to apply the heat and sound barrier.  This is really an easy project and the benefits are noticeable.

The tools are pretty simple:

Hard Rubber Roller

A pair of good scissors, marker, a utility knife and a measuring implement (used both a ruler and measuring tape)

You won’t see step by step in this post.  It maybe the most straight forward part of restoring the floor.  Some may say that adding heat and sound proofing isn’t really part of the restoration.  I’d have to disagree.  These cars had an underlayment that served as heat and sound barrier.  It wasn’t much and no where near the effectiveness as new aftermarket materials.   I actually purchase the aftermarket underlayment that mimicked the original and it was close to what I pulled out of the car when I removed the carpeting.  If you are going for factory correct/concours restoration it is what you should use but it’s was not going to last as long as the new material.  In fact, after fitting it to the floor and see how easily it tore,  I tossed it out – not great for the budget but I needed something a little more durable and effective – especially with the heat out here in Arizona.

The process is pretty simple, lay it out, measure, cut, peel off the back and stick it to the floor.  No loose dirt or rust, get that all removed before you start.  Once it’s down and in place roll it with a hard rubber roller. Keep the wrinkles to a minimum and make sure you get good contact with the surface.

This is the lay out.

You can still see the backing that will be pealed off.

I started off with Eastwood’s X-Mat, which is good material and should work just fine.  However, I didn’t order much and switched to Cool It Thermo Tec.  It came in larger rolls, less shipping cost, lower over call cost and I could get it quicker with Amazon.  Among guys I know that have used various products they recommended it.

Honestly, I did some measuring (mainly to see if the left over pieces would fit with overlap), but not much was required.  I laid out the strips, gave some over lap and trimmed most of it with a utility knife.  Here are some pics:

Rolled out.

Rolled out.

My son stopped by to help out for a few hours. Ryan removed brace/guides that keep the back of the rear seat from sliding left or right.  BTW – ensure you have old clothes on, the tar like substance on the underside is messy!! Thanks Ryan for the help!

I also covered these areas.

There was no barrier between the seat and the trunk ares when I removed the rear seat but I’m sure there must have been at one time. This was not a fold down seat.

Covered area B below the trunk pass through and A the wheel well.

This area is where the rear class would roll down but they don’t in the SportsRoof.  So I put a layer of COOL IT behind the support and adhered it to the inside of quarter panel.

Here’s what that looked like when it was done.

Arrows mark the cut outs needed for the clips/tabs that hold the back and bottom of the seat and seat belt mounts. “A” (up in the right hand corner of the right picture) is the brace that keeps the back of the rear seat from sliding left and right. Ryan removed those (rather than cutting around them) and screwed them back down after putting the Cool It on.

Used the utility knife to do the same cut outs for seat and seat belt bolt to pass through and the groves for the seat belt warning wiring – yes they are getting hooked backup and the floor body plugs/drains.

A is the channel for the seat belt warning light (a light on the dash would illuminate – driver’s side was a buzzer) you can see the wire laying here. B is the body/floor drain plug. This is before covering.

Again A is the seat belt warning wire channel and B is the drain plug. It’s easy to just use the utility knife to make those cuts.

Thanks for view the progress on #ProjectSportsRoof.  Coming up next is a look at the carpet install.

Tim