Interior Restoration

[OrangeOutlaw]

Hi all,

I have a 48 chevy 3100.

I have been restoring the interior and I ran into a few questions.

My goal is to deaden sound from my corvette engine and glasspacks in the interior, and the project has turned into a lot more than i can chew.

My first Problem:

I sandblasted off rust inside and there is now sand in the steering column which is making a nice little grinding noise when the wheel is turned.

My second question is:

there are two openings in the rear of the cab that i can only assume is for ventilation.

Can I cover these holes with sheet metal?

third question:

I would like to seal off the old cabin air flow vents on both sides of the truck, on the driver's side the one that opens with a lever and on the passenger side the one that is just a vent. They are in the kicker panels. I basically want to fill in the space behind them with great stuff to deaden sound. Meaning that the Great stuff will be touching the Exterior sheet metal and the interior kickpanel.

My concern? the great stuff absorbing moisture and causing more rust.

For the rest of the deadening project, I will be applying to the bare metal in this order to deaden.

Primer, Truck bed rubber, 2 layers of Peel and seal, 1 layer of Mass Loaded Vinyl, and then the carpet.

I do not know what the can of worms looks like that i just opened, but i would love to hear suggestions. Please, no comments on peel and seal vs dynamat.

Thanks

[OrangeOutlaw]

As a revisit, i can tell you all what not to do.

This cost me hours of time and money, Do not use carpet padding to deaden sound... It is a pain to take off and can cause rust, i learned this the day after not researching what to do.

Took me 2 more weekends to get rid of the gunky glue that i used and sand it all down again.

[_Ogre]

you are correct. great stuff will suck up water and rust your steel truck.

nice color on your truck

[Chevette]

If you use expanding foam, I would completely remove all rust and apply epoxy primer first. Also, you have to be VERY careful using expanding foam. You MUST make sure there are expansion escapes for the foam because it can warp your panels. Do not underestimate the expansion capabilities of that product. I've seen the damage it can do.

[OrangeOutlaw]

Also on my passenger side kicker panel there is a nice rust run right down the middle of it and on the floorboard there is a good amount of rust on the floor.

I have attached a picture below, I do not have the welding capabilities to weld it up, and really do not feel like replacing them for right now.

Can i use fibre glass to fix this?

Are there any good links to teach me how to use fibre glass?

[B_Hix]

Nice looking truck - I don't have a lot of sage advice for you - I'm just a 'regular guy' doing his best and I sense that you are as well.

I just got my carpet and kick panels in as well - I eliminated the driver side cab vent when I did my body work - just too hard to seal up and 90% of the time my windows are down - I figured the cowl vent and pass side vents would be fine for me.

I did the entire floor of my cab (after rust removal and treatment) with bed liner - may not have been the best thing to do, but if water gets in there I know for sure my floor is safe.

Then I then put my sound deadner everywhere I could fit it - whole floor, back of cab, ceiling, kick panel areas and as high under the dash as I could get.

I then put the 'mat-style' (padding on one side, foil on the other) on the floor and firewall, then installed my carpet.

I am waiting on my door panels - I still need to do the inside/outside of my doors - need the panels to make sure everything will fit.

I have a 350 HP 350 cid with two flowmasters and my exaust terminates in front of my back wheels. Like I said, my doors aren't done and my glass isn't in, but after all that, guess what....?

It's still pretty loud I put in a 400 watt stereo with 5 speakers and a 10'" sub - at 2000 rpm the stereo needs to be at about 70% volume to be heard clearly - but it's a hot rod, so I guess it'll alway be louder than a Lexus or BMW - bottom line is I did what I could and I'm happy with it.

Nice truck - best of luck with it!

[coralhead]

The rust in the kick panels needs to be cutout and at the least have metal pop riveted in place. On using fiber glass you still need to get the rusted area removed before doing any glass work. I have used an aluminum mesh screen or stainless screen pop riveted on the back side and use it as a backer for laying glass mat in place. I used this method on my '82 Mercedes 300d with some decent results when I did not have access to a welder. Two years later it is holding in there pretty well. Going with a replacement panel would be the best way to go. It is ashame the exterior was addressed on bodywork and the interior overlooked.

[OrangeOutlaw]

Ogre, I noticed that you have cut out a large portion of your kick panels, is it still structurally sound?

[OrangeOutlaw]

Well the interior actually looked Decent - the dashboard.

But looks are not always what they seem.

This truck was a gift from my grandfather for Graduation, He bought it from a dealer, and it has a fresh paint job, and looks great but i have put over 5 grand into it in the last year.

Replacing brakes, Moving Gas tank, replacing Carb, Covers, Transmission lines.

This project started when i moved the gas tank.

In the cab, the back panel was rusty, see below. I decided to repaint it, and then i noticed that there was no sound deadening under the seats, and i really hate the old bench seat railing that runs around the base of my seats.

I took that out, and was going to recarpet with a solid piece of carpet and deaden the cab under the carpet, then i pulled the carpet up and did not like what i saw, And on the firewall there were plenty of holes that needed to be patched.

I started sand blasting all the rust away and ended up with a few small holes and a huge crack in the kickpanel so I want to at least make that hold for another 5-10 years. Hopefully with the pop rivet recommendation.

I am glad i did all of this, because you never really know what you have until you take it apart...

It might look good on the outside, but under the prettyness there are always little things.

I just want to make the cab quieter, but when I do things, i want to at least try to do my best with the tools i have to make it look right, The one skill i do not have is welding. This is a fault of mine, but I do not really have anyone to teach me, and the last thing i want to do is buy a welder.

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by OrangeOutlaw

Ogre, I noticed that you have cut out a large portion of your kick panels, is it still structurally sound?

i cut out the vent that leads to the cowl vent
basically enlarged the vent hole.
nothing structural in there.

i had a chevy II with rusty floors that i repaired with fiberglass and carpeted over the fiberglass
it worked for the 5 yrs i had it, not realy the right way to do it as i've learned since.
try to get all the rust out and treat it with some rusty metal paint.

[OrangeOutlaw]

Do you think i can cut out the rusted part and be safe?

[B_Hix]

Wow - what a study in contrasts - your interior looks outstanding, then you see what's under it. Shame the previous owner seems to have skipped that to make it sell well.

Got to say, those seats you have are sick - any idea what they are out of?

[OrangeOutlaw]

Thanks B Hix, Yea you are right about that, I mean the truck is functional. I am pretty sure that they are out of a mid 90's chevy or GMC pickup.

I have the rusted parts problem fixed, I found a guy on Craigslist to fix all the rusted metal via welding for 100 bucks.

Still have the problem with the whole sand in the steering column situation though LOL.

[B_Hix]

Good 'ol cragis Glad you found a solution.

Eventually that sand will pulverize, lol. You have probably already had the airgun after it yea?

Course you could bring the wife to the garage, turn the wheel and let her hear the crunching...and then with the saddest face you can muster tell her it has to be replaced cause it's broke

[Clay54]

Originally Posted by OrangeOutlaw

Well the interior actually looked Decent - the dashboard.

But looks are not always what they seem.

This truck was a gift from my grandfather for Graduation, He bought it from a dealer, and it has a fresh paint job, and looks great but i have put over 5 grand into it in the last year.

Replacing brakes, Moving Gas tank, replacing Carb, Covers, Transmission lines.

This project started when i moved the gas tank.

In the cab, the back panel was rusty, see below. I decided to repaint it, and then i noticed that there was no sound deadening under the seats, and i really hate the old bench seat railing that runs around the base of my seats.

I took that out, and was going to recarpet with a solid piece of carpet and deaden the cab under the carpet, then i pulled the carpet up and did not like what i saw, And on the firewall there were plenty of holes that needed to be patched.

I started sand blasting all the rust away and ended up with a few small holes and a huge crack in the kickpanel so I want to at least make that hold for another 5-10 years. Hopefully with the pop rivet recommendation.

I am glad i did all of this, because you never really know what you have until you take it apart...

It might look good on the outside, but under the prettyness there are always little things.

I just want to make the cab quieter, but when I do things, i want to at least try to do my best with the tools i have to make it look right, The one skill i do not have is welding. This is a fault of mine, but I do not really have anyone to teach me, and the last thing i want to do is buy a welder.

I don't recognize the speedo cluster in the dash. What is it? Thanks, Clay

[OrrieG]

[QUOTE=B_Hix;5282115]Wow - what a study in contrasts - your interior looks outstanding, then you see what's under it. Shame the previous owner seems to have skipped that to make it sell well.
QUOTE]
It would make me wonder what other short cuts were taken. You can't just cut it out and leave a hole, just about every part of these trucks were designed as a structural piece. without that the corner is weak, might start moving over time and cause all kinds of problems, door misalignment, windshield cracking , fumes coming in. I like the pop rivet idea, since it can be hidden.