With an early Corvette, there’s a lot of heat and noise transferred to the cockpit, so my plan was to reduce it if possible. I chose Hushmat as the initial step (I’ll use the OEM style rubber and jute insulation that goes under the carpet as well). Hushmat is a dense rubber material with a foil backing. They advertise the kits as “pre cut” for specific applications. L-O-L.
Here’s a picture of the front floor kit for a 1971 Corvette:
The stuff is definitely thin. This is the thickness pre-installation:
When installing it, you have maneuver into place like this. Note the overlap and wrinkles:
Another thing you have to keep in mind are seat belt holes, seat mounting holes and so on. The floor should be clean, and in my case, it was virtually perfect.
A Sharpie is definitely your friend. And speaking of sharp….The foil can (and will) regularly slice your pinkies when you’re working with it. Keep band aids on hand! I ended up using mechanic’s gloves while working anywhere near it.
Hushmat cuts easy enough. I used a set of straight cut aviation shears for the job. They cut it like butter.
The back side is designed to peel off. In order to make it manageable, I found you have to remove in smaller chunks.
The mat has to be manually “molded” into place. You can buy a roller for the job, but I used a couple of deep sockets as well as a big round punch for the job. In addition, a soft face mallet works wonders. This passenger floor pan is nearly done:
Here’s the finished job. It turned out well. FYI, it’s possible to line the doors, but the door panel fit is tight on these cars, plus the area inside the door is very difficult to access. I likely won’t line the doors.
Next....Rear wiring.