1980 Pontiac LeMans Station Wagon - G-T-faux (stuck with it, and can't shake it... like a bad case of herpes)

[motorheadmike]

30 years ago, I made inserts for the storage cubbies in the rear of my 83 Malibu wagon. The LeMans and Malibu interchanged a lot of parts- maybe yours has those too? I fit 6x9s in there no problem. I might even have the plywood panels stashed somewhere still.

Great minds think alike. I already have the sketches and MDF ready to go. 😉

 

[motorheadmike]

Ran State-side (again) this morning to pick up a pretty large order of parts: more stereo equipment, more sound deadener, more engine crap (fittings, air filter, 4 aluminum intake piping, 3" v-bands, etc), transmission cooler, LS1 front brake conversion parts, and some dress-up parts.

 

[ssn696]

Sounds like I'm too late, but sure enough, I found the inserts. While I was looking for something entirely else! 25 years later they look like crap, but I was rather proud of my design back then.

Today I redecked a friend's 6x12 trailer, then he helped me load two 14-bolts, three 10-bolt fronts, and a Dana 44 front. The hoarding is showing signs of improvement. Who needs a gym membership?!?

 

[motorheadmike]

Thanks for the visual!

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It has taken me nearly two days to methodically cover the interior with sound deadener (GT Mat "Onyx" in the front and Eastwood brand in the back; The GT Mat "Onyx" is far superior in both quality and ease of installation IMO). I still have a few details to go over as well as the inside of the doors and the tailgate.

Oh, and here is the new spare tire hatch cover (I still need to laminate two pieces of 1/2" MDF together - that is the top curing its Tremclad top coat)... I have big plans for this thing.

 

[ssbrewskyaz]

Damn Dude, You hauled *ss on that sound deadener! Wish I had two days in a row to work on my junk. Did you say you're not doing the ceiling? What about the doors and tailgate? Can't really tell how your hatch lid works yet but I definately get the reason for doing it that way. Looks good, keep plowing along, you should beat me to the finish line handlley.

Scott, ...

:arrow: :arrow: :arrow: :shock:

 

[Longroof79]

Mike,
I assume you're eliminating the rear cargo floor section with the spare tire hatch?

 

[motorheadmike]

Damn Dude, You hauled *ss on that sound deadener! Wish I had two days in a row to work on my junk. Did you say you're not doing the ceiling? What about the doors and tailgate? Can't really tell how your hatch lid works yet but I definately get the reason for doing it that way. Looks good, keep plowing along, you should beat me to the finish line handlley.

Thanks! I have suffered death by a thousand cuts, but it is in there. I will not be doing the inside of the roof skin with any sound deadening product; the doors and tailgate will follow when I have a spare moment, and are easily added later on. My whole rationale for adding the sound deadener/insulation is to improve over what the factory gave us - not create the Cone of Silence effect (for the younger folks who don't get the reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWtPPWi6OMQ); so I focused on areas subject to radiant heat, vibration, or impact. After that it is just a question of getting the best return on reducing resonance on large surface areas (inside the doors, tailgate and quarter panels) which will aid in the quality of the stereo system; to this same end I may add some small strips in the bottom of the spare tire well.

I hope to have the car on the road by May.

I assume you're eliminating the rear cargo floor section with the spare tire hatch?

Yup, now I have a big useless chunk of sheet metal wasting away in the garage... no jokes. 😉

I should have some updates by the weekend.

 

[motorheadmike]

Finally got the damn thing back together for the last time... and this was on top of wiring the whole car for sound. A picture is worth a thousand words, see attached.





We still need to upholster the hatch before final installation. And if I am right I have left just enough room for a 10lb bottle of button induced fun (which is also why there is a power and ground distribution block back there); please don't tell my wife.

I've also cut my templates and started fabbing up the "cubbie hole" MDF mounts for the rear woofers. Making surprisingly good time on this despite that I hate working with wood (*cough*MDF*cough*). I should have pics soon for those who are interested.

 

[motorheadmike]

When you are on a roll you go with it... Tada! cubbie hole speaker plates.

They are made out of 5/8" MDF and came out rather well all things considered. They are getting prep'd for paint and upholstery as I write this; and obviously the interior panels will need some cutting to fit.





I am thinking that, other than some sound deadener on the inside of the quarter panels, I may try my hand at using some polyfill (aka synthetic pillow stuffing) to tighten up the sound. The passive cross-overs for the component speakers will be mounted on the backside of the cubbie speaker plates.

 

[Longroof79]

Are the interior panels going to be re-installed, or are you just going to modify them to accommodate the speaker enclosures?
From how it appears, it looks as though you're going a slightly different route.