Truck Update: 11/4/18

Thanks for all the help this week, MK and FR!

Masked off countertop
Paint prepped under counter riser
Painted under counter riser white
Masked off under counter riser
Urethaned countertop
Organized and cleaned truck work area
Installed slides and drawers in kitchen cabinet
Installed all drawer screws with epoxy
Applied sound deadening mat to underside of hood (Noico)
Templated and applied sound deadening mat to cab floor and firewall (Noico)
Templated and installed carpet on cab floor and firewall
Installed rubber mat over carpet
Final installed sound deadening floor mat
Final installed cab seats
Installed arm rests on cab seats
Started wiring cab stereo speakers
Test drove truck for first time in a year

The main activity this week was finishing out the interior of the cab and doing as much sound deadening improvements as we could. We covered the entire floor, firewall, transmission hump, and engine cover with 80 mil Noico butyl sound deadening mat. Depending on the area of the floor, we put anywhere from 1 to 3 layers of the Noico mat. It went on quite well and was a nice material to work with.

Over the Noico sound deadening mat, we covered the back part of the floor and the transmission hump with a thick molded rubber sound deadening mat that we sourced from Atkinson Vos. The normal sound deadening kit from Atkinson Vos can be up to a year lead time, but we were able to buy a portion of it and have it shipped to us right away. The mat is quite nice but it did require a lot of fitting and cutting. All the other areas with Noico mat were covered with indoor/outdoor carpet. We then placed rubber mats on top of the carpet in the foot pans of the floor. With all the other felt and melamine foams that we added, the cab is very noticeably quieter.

With the cab assembled and both seats final installed, we were able to drive the truck together for the first time in almost a year. It was really encouraging to see and hear what an improvement all of our modifications and fixes have made. We only got the truck up to about 40 miles and hour on the small roads near the shop, but it looks like the tires are pretty nicely balanced, the truck shifts a lot better, the rear view camera is really helpful, the seats are quite comfortable, and all the sound deadening work has made a really huge improvement. We were able to easily carry on a conversation while driving. Overall, it was a very encouraging experience to get the truck back out on the road.