I wanted to make the cab a little more comfortable for the passenger, both acoustically and thermally.
Along those lines, I ordered:
30 Sheets of RAAMmat BXT II (56.25 sq
ft) and 4 1/2 yards of Ensolite IUO Peel and Stick Foam (62.43 sq
ft)
from RAAMaudio.com
For the time being, my plans are to apply this system to the floor and behind the seats. This system is a peel-and-stick system. Two layers, RAAMmat which is a tacky, rubbery, layer that deals with vibration, and the second layer is Ensolite foam, sort of like a camping mat. This helps with noise and heat.
First things first, take out the seats, carpet, and the fascia over the area behind the seats.
-To remove the seats you will need a Torx 55 bit (I read you need the Torx 55+(sounds like a retirement home) but as far as I know mine is just a 55 and it worked fine)), a 3/4 socket with some depth to it and some extensions and maybe a breaker bar. I sprayed things down with WD-40 a few days ahead of time and things came out fairly easily. There is nothing to it really, the bolts and nuts are obvious, just have some extensions ready for your ratchet. Lift the seats out when they are loose, they are not that heavy. ***My driver's seat has a wire connected to it, probably for the airbag, that unclipped easily.
Once the seats are out, I had a floor mounted tool tray behind the drivers seat to remove. It takes a 5/16 socket, mine had 3 fasteners, easy.
There are two little plastic pop fittings that require a small Phillips to get out, these are basically under the driver and passenger's butt and help to hold the carpet down.
All it takes to remove the shift boot for the transfer case is a Philips...if the screw heads are not corroded to oblivion. I ended up having to mutilate the plastic surround to get it off. So, I had to order a new one (Ford part # F81Z*7277*BC). I tried drilling and pounding and eventually threw in the towel and destroyed the plastic trim that hold the shifter boot to the floor. The new part was really three, the solid plastic trim piece, and the inner and outer boots, as well as the four mounting screws.
The transmission boot screws were not corroded, but harder to access. I put a long Phillips bit into a 1/4 socket on a small ratchet and was able to access the back screws.
I had to remove both shifter levers, the tranmission had 2 x Torx 40 fasteners and the transfer case had 2 x 11mm (I thought Fords would be all non-metric?)
I cleaned all of the flooring I could access with a surface cleaner in preparation for the peel-and-stick RAAMmat.
The area under the driver's feet had some decent corrosion. I bet wet boots kept that area sufficiently wet to cause some premature corrosion. I applied Permatex Rust Treatment spray after taking a soft wire brush to the rust and then vacuuming everything clean. The Permatex product worked ok, it turns the rust into a black, paintable surface. I then covered that with spray paint (you can see the grey paint near the driver's feet in the second picture).
The factory carpet and insulation seems decent. I was kind of surprised, I guess my project won't make as big of a difference as I thought it was just a thin layer of carpet. There is some rubber backing on the carpet, some felt like insulation and some thermal insulation on the transmission hump.
The carpet came up easy from underneath the trim. Once the carpet was all out, I power-washed it.
The area behind the seats rattles like a drum, hoping for a big improvement here. To access this I had to pull out 3 or 4 plastic pop fittings, they look like Christmas trees once pulled. They pull easy by hand or pried with a flat-head and can be re-used. Next you will need to remove 2 brackets that are for attaching baby car seats. I am not sure if these are 9/16" or 1/2" bolts, but both sockets worked on them. The fascia is semi-rigid and pulled right out easy.
At this point the truck will be pretty bare, vacuum and clean as much as you can so the "stick" in peel-and-stick sticks.
Then it was time to peel and stick the RAAMmat, which is butyl rubber with aluminum backing. The stuff sticks great and is easy to install. The directions called for, I think, 50% for typical areas and 100% coverage for trouble spots. 100% coverage for the Ensolite and 200% in hot spots.
Here is with the RAAMmat installed:
Then the Ensolite over that
I forgot to take pictures of the carpet over the Ensolite, but you can imagine.
The verdict is still out, as I have comp insurance and have only driven the truck about 5 miles, I'll make an update when I can really test the insulation and if I do any sound work to the doors, hood, etc.
