I ordered the insulation from OPG last week; I did not recieve it yet. However, I was wondering if the insulation gets painted. When I took the old stuff off (in a million peices) I believe it was black on the face. The underside of the dash doesn't seem all that important, color wise. Thanks. Len
No paint reqd. It will come with a black rubber side. Insulation goes against firewall and rubber side faces passenger compartment.
Got the stuff today. I broke three of the seven plugs trying to get them in. I cannot believe they would be that tight; too much paint I guess. The insulation that goes on the top (under dash) doesn't seem to line up with anything; I assume it is generic (for the Chevelle's I would assume). Any suggestions on installing it? Should I use spray adhesive on the backside? Or should I just shove it up there and run? Len PS, I repainted the trunk. I could not live with the gloss finish.
Len, best way to do the upper stuff is to lay on your back and use the welded in brackets for the wiring pushtabs as locators (they will be prepunhed on the pad if like mine) It doesn't really line up with much, but makes sense when you do it that way. The pieces interlock too if you got the same one as me. Then use spray contact cemetn to glue it into place. They are generic. The pushtabs for the firewall are crap. Its not paint, they are just bloody hard plastic is all. The way I solved that was to put them on my vise, then use a propane torch to just heat them up **a bit** so they just started to look kinda shiney (dont put flame right on them)..this softens them up and they push through really nice. Wear gloves. Too much heat and they will look melted. Last firewall blanket I did the pins were very nice, went in easily yet held. Must be diff suppliers. I knew you would respray the trunk! :laugh: later Tim
Tim; The pad kinda lines up with the steering column; however, there is no cutout for the brackets (there are some angled cutouts, but, they don't seem to line up with mine). I could/should cut out the bracket locations and go from there. Len
Len, I just put that firewall pad on my sons '71 project car. Used good old fashion Valvoline grease. Had to wiggle them up/down/and around a bit, but they went in much easier than some of the ones I broke, when I did my car. Put the grease on them after I put them through the pad holes, just before pushing them through the firewall. Hope this helps. Joe X.
Joe; thanks for the info. I did try that after I broke the first one. It didn't really help that much. I am going to have to glue three tips back on plugs. Its on anyway. Len
I tried grease too but didn't help at all (firewall pad). Doesn't someone make those clips seperately?? Under dash pad isn't real cirtical anyway, pretty much run it up to the firewall and see if you can line it up to something . later Tim
Tim; The under the dash stuff was a joke. I almost seemed to kinda, sorta align with the moon and the stars. I glued the !@#$ where it fit and that was that. It will be covered up with all the junk under it. I got a nice radio and bezel yesterday. I still think I am going to have it rechromed when I do the instrument cluster. I got a couple of orphan wires I have to figure out where they go. I think I broke a couple taking the stuff out. The manuals have a pretty good diagram so I'll have to start tracing. My heater core is only about 20 years old (I replaced it back in '83, nice hole in the fender well, Duane laughed at me when I asked him if he could repair it). I checked the fan also, works fine. I may still change out the core, just in case. I am going to try to get the steering column reinstalled this weekend and some of the other parts under the dash. Anything I should know before I put it all together and have to take it all apart? Thanks for all your help. Len
No its pretty strightforward under the dash unless you want to add some more sound deadening or anything like that. With a ragtop, why bother though? I would change out that heater core. Seriously, the things are dirt cheap and you're taking a chance on your new carpet plus they can be a bitch to change later on. Now is the time to do it. I also cleaned up the inside heater plenum, put new foam seals on all the doors in there,made sure they operated silently and smoothly, details like that makes a big difference in the feel of the car once done. later Tim
When I did mine I got them started and then pulled them with pliers. If you have two people one on the inside can put a phillips screwdriver inside the plug that way you won't crush the pin so bad. They never send any extras with the kit, broke a few when I did mine had to scrounge the body shops. Hope that helps. Thanks Rick
Defroster duct? Make sure your defroster duct is ok. Look down through the openings in the dash and be sure it looks good. I had to replace mine. Good Luck' Bert
