OK, well I figured I'd just share my current projects and progress...

I started off tearing the carpet out. The old carpet was pretty ragged in spots and missing in others. Remove seats.. all that. Underlayment looked pretty crappy to, so out it came.

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I was pleasently surprised to see that there was not too much rust, very luck there.

Then the 'while I'm at it's' started... I figured I'd replace the heater core, and then while I was at that, remove the rest of the AC equipment. I had taken off the AC compressor last year so just the evaporator was left, on the firewall. Took all that out, along with half the dash as is required. I'm glad I did though.

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And I figured I'd test all of the vacuum dampers that control the louvers and stuff, so I bought a vacuum pump. Tell ya what, that thing is pretty cool! Nice to see the actuators work like they are supposed to. Fortunately I don't have to replace any of them. They are expensive!

So now I"m waiting on the AC Delete plate to arrive so I can put that part back together. Should be here any day. I also busted the little rotary heater vacuum switch so I ordered one of those.

Someone said here that they took the heater unit and built the car around it. I think they're right!

Then began my carpet underlayment journey. I'll get to that in a bit, I have to get back to work...

Jim

 

I figured I'd coat the floorboards with some good paint to help the sound deadener stick better so I got some Red rust oleum...

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Then I spent several days trying to figure out how to go with sound deadener. There are a lot of products out there and a lot of information. Sometimes I over analyze things too, so that made it more difficult. I finally settled on Dynamat and Dynaliner. I read somewhere that you don't really need to completely cover the surface with the deadener, so I didn't. I also didn't really want to spend that much money. That stuff is expensive. So I covered the 'middles' of the larger panels. Note - it's very important to keep the words 'Dynamat' in a readable direction..

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I think that is good enough. I don't really need it to be whisper quiet anyways... I purchased the 'door kit' package for around $56 on Amazon.

 

Thanks for posting this. I as well have an 81 and will soon do the same exact projects (Heater core replacement, Cleaning duct work etc, Repalcing my AC system though vs delete) and new carpet, sound deadner/heat sheild, and new Corbeau A4 seats. This is good motovation for me to see, cant wait to see what she looks like when you get it button'd up