http://www.mr2.com/forums Interior modifications for your MR2. Seats, Dash, Carpet, Lighting all inside. en Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:40:22 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.mr2.com/forums/images/001/misc/rss.jpg http://www.mr2.com/forums http://www.mr2.com/forums/interior-mods/Toyota-MR2-46845-dynamat-xtreme-review.html Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:11:19 GMT First of all I know that others have had great results with competitors’ products. That’s fantastic and I encourage them to share their feedback on what they’ve used. This thread is solely to share my feedback with the Dynamat Xtreme product and my experience with it. I can’t provide any comments on any other product since I have no experience with them. But in the end, all these products have the same goal of reducing noise in the cabin. So as long as it works and others are satisfied with their results. Then I really couldn’t care which brand to go with. People I knew had good results with dynamat so that’s what I went with.

I did two layers on the back and all along the floor. Fire wall, chassis floor, manual transmission tunnel, and foot wells. Only did one layer on the doors and behind each speaker. In total I used a little less than 48 square feet. Bought 1 Dynamat 104455 Xtreme Bulk (36 sq.ft.) along with 1 Dynamat 10435 Xtreme Door (12 sq.ft.) from Amazon for a total of $188 free shipping. Total shipping weight came out to 30 pounds. Figure a couple of pounds packing shipping material and scraps of unused dynamat. So ~28 pounds or so of total added weight. But considering that I took out my rear speakers, don't have a spare, don't keep anything in the car and have lost 60 pounds in the past 13 months. I'm okay with ~28 pound gain for a more comfortable better sounding ride.

Driving Impressions Post Installation

Right off the bat the door closes with authority. A solid thud to let you know it's closed. If I had gone with two layers on the door and added the second one to the inside of the door panel, I'm sure it would've given that Mercedes / Porsche like bank vault thud. Sitting inside I did notice that it was a little quieter than before.

Starting the engine brought the same sounding engine and exhaust note. I was a little worried the dynamat would dampen engine noise and dullen the appeal. No need to worry. I can still hear the engine plenty well. It's the chassis vibration and the outside noise that seems to disappear. Now keep in mind that noise will still come through the windows and windshields since they're made of glass. But the lower half of the inside of the car is much quieter now. Much more like a new car feel and less like the tin can plasticky feel of imports from the 1990's.

After spending days researching and hours reading every single post I could find. I was pretty hyped about how much "quieter" and more "luxurious" the two was going to be. First let me start with: "if you want it to be like a Lexus, then save yourself the time, hassle and money and get a Lexus." Dynamat will not turn it into a luxury car. What it will do is stop vibration, reduce road noise and provide better insulation. I found the last claim appealing since the inside cabin of my car feels like a sauna during the summer. But it hasn't been hot or cold enough for me to notice a difference at the moment.

While driving around local streets, right off the bat, vibrations that used to transmit through my chassis are no longer noticeable. The car was definitely quieter but it wasn't that dramatic of an improvement. I may change my mind if I get a chance to drive someone else's MR2 back to back with mine to test this out. What it was really effective in reducing / eliminating was the higher pitched frequencies. Squeaks, creaks and some road noise.

So after a bit of driving around local streets I decide to hop onto the highway along my favorite route. At highway speed the cabin is much quieter than it used to be. What used to be an annoying buzzing vibrating mess of engine revs, exhaust note, road noise, wind noise, outside traffic has transformed the driving space into a much more enjoyable environment. Engine and exhaust still sound the same. Difference is the chassis vibration is gone. Road noise has quieted down. Wind noise is still the same but that's because my car badly needs new weather seals. There are gaps along the worn seals that I can poke my finger along and hear the wind coming in. Outside traffic noise has been cut down by a bit. You can still hear other cars but I don't really notice it the way I used to.

Call me crazy but the car just feels better put together now. Almost like a newer car. It feels as if the chassis was a little stiffer. Maybe it just seems that way because at over 60 mph I used to feel everything transmitted through the chassis. That and the constant road noise (I felt) made the driving experience less enjoyable. The dynamat made it more enjoyable to me. It just feels more confident at higher speed. Like it wants to be pushed faster. With the quieter cabin I can hear the turbos on boost more clearly. It sounds great.

The music sounds much better now too. I went from having the volume at 20 to now listening at 13. I can now hear nuances in musical notes. And my ears are happy at no longer being constantly bombarded with so much noise while driving. IMO, this level of sound deadening is how Toyota should've made the MR2 with from the start.

Conclusion

I think the improvements are noticeable but it’s not enough to change the overall character of the car. If I had to quantify this change on a scale of 1 to 10. I would say a Prius running on electric power is a 1. It’s super quiet without the engine running and because of its efficient aerodynamics. On the flip side, I’d give a stripped out race car with full exhaust and no cats a 10. Talk about loud and uncomfortable. The MR2 before dynamat was a 6. After dynamat it improved to a 4. Not a tremendous change, but just enough to make the driving experience more enjoyable while being more comfortable. I thought it was worth it while gaining ~28 pounds.

Some others have had even better results by applying 2-3 layers dynamat along with a layer of dynaliner on top. Applied on all metal surfaces along the firewall, floor, foot wells, manual transmission tunnel, inside roof, quarter panels, inside trunk, inside frunk, all three hoods. But this is more for the hardcore looking to compete in SQL. And the weight added would be much more than ~28lbs.

Plus I think that someone wisely said, “You will always be chasing to sound dampen the next loudest thing.” My goal was to reduce cabin noise enough so that I can enjoy both the music and the driving experience more. So I’m pretty satisfied with the overall results. ]]> Interior Mods zoomlfe http://www.mr2.com/forums/interior-mods/Toyota-MR2-46845-dynamat-xtreme-review.html http://www.mr2.com/forums/interior-mods/Toyota-MR2-46814-looking-ideas-better-speakers-placement.html Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:36:48 GMT Any and all ideas that DONT involve adding a box behind the seats. (Not only is that too obvious, but I'm reserving that space!)

Ideally, I'd like a pair of 6x9's in here, but I could settle for a pair of 6's, I guess.... if I could manage an 8" sub somewhere :)

I've got crank windows, so door placement may be difficult. Can't find any information on people doing that, either, which I found odd. ]]> Interior Mods como http://www.mr2.com/forums/interior-mods/Toyota-MR2-46814-looking-ideas-better-speakers-placement.html http://www.mr2.com/forums/interior-mods/Toyota-MR2-46674-sunroof-shades.html Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:12:56 GMT just curious. it appears on my stock sunroof that there is brackets for a shade to go on it. was this ever an option? if so where the heck do i find one? or would i be better off making one? just curious. it appears on my stock sunroof that there is brackets for a shade to go on it. was this ever an option?
if so where the heck do i find one? or would i be better off making one? ]]> Interior Mods mk1doridori http://www.mr2.com/forums/interior-mods/Toyota-MR2-46674-sunroof-shades.html http://www.mr2.com/forums/interior-mods/Toyota-MR2-46664-looking-t-top-shades.html Sun, 01 Nov 2009 03:49:54 GMT I'm looking to buy black t-top shades. Ones in exellent condition will catch a premium.

let me know if you are willing sell yours.
Thanks, ]]> Interior Mods tadamany http://www.mr2.com/forums/interior-mods/Toyota-MR2-46664-looking-t-top-shades.html http://www.mr2.com/forums/interior-mods/Toyota-MR2-46627-custom-gauge-faces-anyone.html Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:41:02 GMT I can remember a few years back I saw a thread somewhere (maybe even OC) on creating custom gauge faces with your own design. Somehow, try as I might I can't get my hands back on the templates for Photoshop. Anyone done this, have the templates or know what I'm on about? ]]> Interior Mods mr2magic http://www.mr2.com/forums/interior-mods/Toyota-MR2-46627-custom-gauge-faces-anyone.html http://www.mr2.com/forums/interior-mods/Toyota-MR2-46621-dome-light-door-open-wiring.html Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:34:38 GMT I swapped the dome light assembly from my parts car into my good car. I'm not sure if I am going to paint the thing black or not; I'll decide if the contrast looks as tacky once I swap the dark blue headliner for the light gray currently installed.

Well when I first installed it I wasn't getting any light so I proceeded to diagnose the problem. After much trouble that wasn't really necessary -when I checked the fuse it was good but then it blew when I put it back in, so the before and after voltage readings were confusing me - I figured out that the the little ball contact was corroded in the switch so I pulled it down and cleaned it as best I could with a nail file and dart (common tools, I know) because I couldn't find any emery cloth.

When I reinstalled it, in the ON position it worked but the door function does not. I manually bridged the connection for it and still didn't get anything so it's not the contact in this case. When I open my door with the keys in I still get that annoying buzzing sound so I think the door sensor is up and running.

Any ideas on my next diagnosis step? ]]> Interior Mods http://www.mr2.com/forums/interior-mods/Toyota-MR2-46621-dome-light-door-open-wiring.html http://www.mr2.com/forums/interior-mods/Toyota-MR2-46612-mk1-tilt-telescope.html Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:02:07 GMT Does anyone know of any successful attempts at
giving the MK1 a tilt and telescope column?

Do the USDM MK2's have telescope or is that just the JDM cars?

I'm sure I'm not the only one who struggles to find a good driving position, or find a comfortable balance between pedal distance, shift lever, and streering wheel reach.

I think it would be nice to swap in the SW20 assembly not just for the telescope convienience, but also because the wiper and light controls are on the column. Not sure how much fun it would be to wire that up, hopefully it would be some simple splicing. By moving those two controls to the cloumn, space would be freed up that could be used for two small gauges that would be right in the drivers line of sight. ]]> Interior Mods http://www.mr2.com/forums/interior-mods/Toyota-MR2-46612-mk1-tilt-telescope.html http://www.mr2.com/forums/interior-mods/Toyota-MR2-46530-koji-project-1-death-smurfy.html Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:37:13 GMT Hi! I'm Koji. I'm new here. First off, allow me to introduce myself.

While I'm new to MR2's and just recently joined your ranks here at MR2.com I'm certainly not new to cars. I've done everything from engine replacements to wiring to changing axles and diffs to fiberglass and body work. I've been wrenching basically since the day I turned 16 (I'm 33 now). Even though I work a white collar job my wife likes to say I've got grease under my toe-nails.

I'm actually reasonably well known in the Subaru community and currently own a 2002 WRX in addition to the 1991 MR-2 I just picked up as a fun/project car. People know me in the world of Subaru's for a couple of reasons:

1) I'm crazy

2) I do massive DIY projects and keep track of them in threads on the forums, and;

3) I roll my own whenever possible instead of buying parts. Over on Nasioc they call me the "Zen Master of DIY". :lol:

I’ll be honest, not everything I try turns out. At least half of what I try to make ends up looking like complete ass after my first go. I almost never leave well enough alone and my results are always better the second time around.

I'll say this in advance: not all of you are going to "get" me or what I do. Some of you will outright hate me and what I make. I stopped giving a rip what other people think a long time ago. Really, don’t bother hating on me – and I mean this – I don’t care. What's the point then if I’m not doing this to stroke my e-schlong? Well, I do what I do and then write about it for a couple of reasons:

1) It’s fun.

2) I think that the world would be better off if more people knew how to actually make things instead of just breaking out the credit card but not everyone knows how to get started. I take a metric assload of pictures as I go so my threads are sort of informal "how-to" guides. It’s fun to see other people try out something that they otherwise wouldn’t have without seeing me do it first.

3) To get other ideas from the people on the forums. I can’t tell you how many experimental modifications I’ve commented on at Nasioc (that’s the biggest Subaru forum by far) but it’s a lot.

My threads follow a basic pattern:

1) a reasonably well written introduction of the project and what I want to accomplish;

2) An update every day or two

3) a photo shoot at the end, and;

4) a post mortem/Mastercard "Priceless" analysis of the cost.

With the personal introduction out of the way, let’s get to the project introduction. ]]> Interior Mods koji http://www.mr2.com/forums/interior-mods/Toyota-MR2-46530-koji-project-1-death-smurfy.html