Remove rear seat area sound matting without wire brush and drill?

[kach22i]

I recently took a look at the sound insulation behind my interior side wall panels while installing a 3rd brake light.

I've read that the "horse hair" or coconut husk fiber is stuck on with an asphalt tar to deaden sound, and sound is not much of a concern for me (weight is).

I've read that it is a messy no joy removal involving a wire brush on a drill, and repainting afterwards.

I do not want to repaint or scratch the surface, is there a solvent or chemical way to remove this material with aid of a plastic putty knife?

Since this material gets destroyed upon removal, I have been unable to ascertain the weight savings realized. Anyone have an educated guess?

In addition there is a bonded gray rubber mat material over the rear wheel arches, I plan on leaving this to attenuate some suspension noise sounds and to avoid repainting. However out of curiosity, how much does that weigh?

I haven't looked under the seat bottoms but suspect it's more of that gray rubber material. Is it perhaps a thicker version? How much does that weigh? From memory I recall someone claiming another 30 lbs there but have been unable to re-find that claim.

I researched all of these question before posting, otherwise I would not ask.

[NYNick]

I have heard/seen here somewhere that people have used one of those high frequency vibrating saw/cutter type thingys to chip away at it with excellent results. 17lbs worth of carpet alone I think.
Head to Sears or Home Depot. This did the trick with no killer vapors.

[Ayles]

I took it all out, save for the side panels... I used citrus strip and a plastic scraper on the furry glue and it works great with out stripping the paint. For the floor pans the asphalt stuff just broke away in mostly large chunks. I cleaned whatever remained with citrus strip there as well.

[toddc]

I've had reasonable luck with dry ice

[SiberianDVM]

I tried everything on my '84 when I stripped it for the track. There seemed to be a couple of different adhesives used for the sound deadening. The dark brown dried stuff was the most difficult and I finally just sanded and re-painted.

[javadog]

Heat gun and plastic putty knife, then citrus-based paint stripper, then lacquer thinner.

The side panel insulation was pretty light in that era, compared to the pads under the seat and under the rear parcel shelf, which will weigh around 26 lbs. for the pair. You might want to ponder your choices a little longer, as it sounds like you are taking out the lighter stuff and leaving the heavy stuff.

JR

[kach22i]

I'll try citrus stripper and a plastic scraper on the furry mat wall panels, and heat gun w/plastic scraper on the gray rubber wheel hump and seat under areas.

From what I've experienced so far, the underlayments are heavier than the finish panels. This might not always be the case, but it's been true for the work done so far which includes the rear dash mat.

A big thanks to everyone which responded.

[Driven97]

Hit up BraidUSA - he just did this.

His thread.

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by kach22i

I'll try citrus stripper and a plastic scraper on the furry mat wall panels, and heat gun w/plastic scraper on the gray rubber wheel hump and seat under areas.

From what I've experienced so far, the underlayments are heavier than the finish panels. This might not always be the case, but it's been true for the work done so far which includes the rear dash mat.

A big thanks to everyone which responded.

Be careful with the citri strip product. I used it and it WILL remove paint.

[Ayles]

Took me a while to dig up a couple pics from last summer. I used citrus strip exclusively for this project. You can see my progress in the second photo. The rest ended up very clean. I won't lie and tell you it's easy. It was a long messy job...

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by Ayles

Took me a while to dig up a couple pics from last summer. I used citrus strip exclusively for this project. You can see my progress in the second photo. The rest ended up very clean. I won't lie and tell you it's easy. It was a long messy job...

Wow! when I took mine off last winter, it came off much better than that. Either I got really unlucky or you got really lucky with the citri strip.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by NYNick

I have heard/seen here somewhere that people have used one of those high frequency vibrating saw/cutter type thingys to chip away at it with excellent results.

I would haul ass to the freight and get on of those units NYNick is speaking of.

Oscillating faux FEIN tool.

Oscillating Multifunction Power Tool

It will shave your crapola off in no time and maybe even last till the job is done.

[kach22i]

Wow, I have to show you guys a photo next time I take my rear seat back window dash cover off. Just a few strands of husk glued here and there, the darn asphalt mat thing just lifted off without a struggle.

My brief exploratory with the rear wall sides tell me this is going to be a completely different story.

If this horse hair/ coconut husk fiber stuff is adhered with an asphalt, then a simple tar remover should make short work of it. I'm now having some serious doubts though. And that gray rubber stuff looks practically welded on.

[Ayles]

Maybe someone at the factory spilled a glue pot in the back half of my car...

[javadog]

The material used on the back wall and seat area comes apart pretty easily. In the photos above, quite a bit of it is left behind. If yours looks like that, scrape most of it off before you start using a stripper on the glue. The stripper will soften the glue before it softens the paint, so timing is important.

Removing the side wall stuff is no big deal. Use heat first, then clean up what glue is left with chemicals. Don't start with chemicals to remove the pads, you'll just make a hell of a mess.

JR

[wayner]

I'll take a counter point

I'm putting all of mine back after suffering hearing damage and permanent tinnitus...

[OffCamber00]

+1 on that oscillating tool. I also used a drill/wire brush. Followed it all up w/ a coat of POR-15 and then 3 coats of QuietCar which was about 1/3 of a gallon. Maybe 2lbs worth. Made a huge difference in cutting the noise (but its still pretty loud).

[kach22i]

Maybe I over thought this whole project, I never intended to strip it clean, only get the dead weight out and cover it back up with the original finish panels and carpeting.



My previous work as see above was a breeze, doing the lower part was just another couple of hours work.

[kach22i]

Another 15.5 lbs gone off the arse end.

Knocking on the carpeted hump does sound like metal, but the seat bottoms don't seem to miss the asphalt and fiber mat much.

My problem areas were reattaching the little screws for the seat belt guide, and getting the one seat bottom off intact.

I left the passenger side seat belt on, figured a way of twisting the interior panel around to outside the car so I would not squish it while working.

15.5 lbs is exactly what I weight my bumperettes out to be, same as the lower mat and side mats combined. Low hanging fruit for those seeking to lose some weight off the arse of their car.

Mind you this is a 1977 a 911S, many more man hours involved in the assembly than the later SC's.

I suspect there may be more variation in the years preceding my year as well. Some may have a lot of glue, others like mine not so much. I think the SC's are glued to the hilt from what I've seen in the forum.

I'm not going to return the $40 in tools I picked up from Harbor Freight today to do this job, I'm sure that eventually I'll need them all.

[nineball]

citristrip is amazing stuff, and it smells like a creamsicle!

see posts 8, 9 and 10

it seems like everyone else has done it, so why not me... (interior)