Sound Deadening the Datsun







Now that that the Vintage Motorcycle show that I have been preparing for is over it is time for me to kick it into high gear to get my Datsun ready for Park After Dark in August. So today marks the first blog post that you see my Datsun, What do you think? I am so proud to call this my car, the obsession all began in high school after I saw a friend's 280z with a transplanted chevy small block engine taking the place of the L28. After seeing it, I was hooked. All in all it took me 3, yes 3 Datsuns to finally be satisfied with this one. The first one I had, it was just a 280zx 2+2 shell, no engine and no transmission. The second one was a 1979 Datsun 280zx which had terrible compression, probably burned coolant, and just was ugly as sin. I never really liked the look of the 280zx or 280zx 2+2. So when I finally had an opportunity to purchase a S30 body style, I put money down on it the first night I saw it. I just had to have it. This one is a 1974 Datsun 260z with the stock L26 straight-6 motor, 370CFM Holley Carburetor, originally painted orange, but the previous owner primed it flat black. Over the past 5 or so months I have already rebuilt the carburetor, installed a Retrosound radio, and reupholstered the seats. My next project is to install the new carpeting!

I stopped by my local Home Depot to pick up three rolls of U-Seal Band which is a adhesive backed material that is typically used for sealing ducts and leaks on roofs, but I recently watched a video on a Vintage car forum saying good things about its sound deadening qualities when it comes to cars. In the video that I watched the guy used this product on a old Volkswagen bug. This material was very easy to apply, just make sure that the surfaces are free of loose dirt and contaminants, cut the U-Seal to size, and using a brayer(roller) roll the material so that it lays flat.

From all the research that I have been doing weighing the pros and cons to this stuff as a replacement for DynaMat (which is nearly double the price and I cannot afford it), I have decided to only use this material on the floors, before I apply the carpet because I am afraid of it loosing its hold on hot Wisconsin days and ultimately causing a mess. Besides from what I have been reading U-Seal was only designed to be applied to a nearly horizontal plane, and was never intended to be used on vertical services.

Anyway, I have just about half the car done and will continue (weather permitting) to finish applying this material and go ahead and glue in the new carpeting that I purchased for this car. I am sure there will be a part two later on continuing the progress, so stay tuned!

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