Does the box have undercoating, really? I don't think I have seen it, but it could be real thin...or a clear coat of it...

Keep looking, TJ... :P

Actually, my xb was undercoated, and very nicely I might add. It is especially thick in the rear as if they knew that area needed some help. All the wheel wells are also coated. I purchased the car in Nov 04 and you can still rub some off here and there that hasn't totally dried yet, but only a vert small amount.

Walt

Mine wasn't undercoated, either. I laid down a few coats of 3M rubberized undersealer for additional protection and sound deadening. My feeling is that a few thin coats of undercoating aren't going to do much, but every bit helps. I did this while crawling around under the car putting on the exhaust and headers.

Travst

Have you removed the front seats and dash to install more sound dampening material? If so, I'd love to see a write up of that as well.

This looks like a fun project. I'm definitely interested in getting rid of exhaust droning at highways speeds. Well done! :clap:

Front seats are pretty straightforward... each has four bolts that are easily reached. I installed deadener as far up the firewall as I could reach. I did not remove the dash. My feeling was that, for the results obtained, it wasn't worth the effort. The key areas in this whole process are the doors, fenderwells and the rear hatch. Everything else offers minor improvements, but it's worth the effort if you're doing all the other parts.

I took some pics of the front. I'll edit one and add it to the write-up.

Thanks for a great writeup brother. I for one apprecaite the effort!

I forgot to add, my box was also undercoated, and done quite
well. It's hard to believe this is a $15,000 budget car!

I'm guessing more of the dealers up north undercoat their cars. Since we don't use salt here, we rarely see undercoating.

what does undercoating look like? i guess if i'm asking, i dont have it!

Undercoating is usually a black "paint" that will have a fairly rough finish. It's a good bet that, if you're looking at body color of your car from underneath, you don't have it.

Got any tips for the door panels?

I've removed the 2 screws on the rear panels but it won't budge. I'm putting quite a bit of force but scared to apply more. Any tips?

Same deal for the front door panel. I've removed 3 screws but it won't budge. Any tips for the fronts as well?

they pop right off. quite easily for me . on the rears theres a bit of panel thats wider than the metal behind it , pull from there . on the fronts pull from the map pockets and bam should just "pop" off.



screw exhaust noise i don't mind that but rain noise? omg thats annoying , lol. that means i gotta do the floor before i go insane , lol.

its raining down here in the bay area too, just edead'd my hatch and noticed some improvement with rain noise, and noticeable improvement with exhaust noise

thanks for the panel tips hotbox! i'm going to do all 4 doors tomorrow if it stops raining and see what happens. the wheel humps and floor is next on the list.

Travst,

this is really helpful.

I can confirm that the rear seat does a lot of mass-loading and sound dampening.

Just today I was running around a lot in the rain, enjoying the new 195/50/15 F1 tires.
Come evenining I took out the rear seats. The car zips even faster now.

The noise level went up -a lot-. I can hear the rear tires much more.
I think the higher noise level owes to multiple effects: Removing that stout seatback pivot bar un-stiffened the floor to a degree. The reduction of load (the heavy total weight of the rear seat unloaded the floorpan. The lack of seating, itself, removed some natural noise-blocking (that solid foam tush cushion).

Out, too, is the spare tire (more mass that was clamped. Out with the cubbybox.

The box is now a lot roomier back there. I would like to use your recommended damping material to gain back some of the former quietness.

Moreover, I want to make the inside into van-style.
Would like to flat-deck over the back, with my new cubbies being the rear seat wells.

I see two, unused inverted "Vee" brackets protruding from the floor.
They were not used for any purpose before. Do you know why Toyota put them there?

These mounting brackets look like an ideal place where to hinge the front and rear halves of the proposed flat deck.

I suppose I might make the deck from 1/4" masonite (dead stuff, that) and line the underside with 2" or so mattress eggcrate foam.

This would give me a place to stow small gear, well secured and out of sight (under the panels, pressed to the floor pan.

Has anyone done this sort of thing before?
I have not had luck finding anything by search function

Because there is no sub or other audio extra-gear in this car my plan should be simple enough to execute.

-I wish to find others here who have done this sort of thing, who might give me real pointers and advice.

-thanks for this thread, Travst. You made removal of the rear seats assemblies a snap. The seat is not going back again. It's just so much more fun to drive this car the more weight I get off of it, the more zoom. And I do like the new cargo space, which will be handy at times. Cargo net or old bed comforter with D buckles and tie downs should serve to keep the payload off my neck in an emergency situation. No loose gear should be tolerated in any car, really- danger is in that.

scifly,

i've been having great sucess using elemental design's edead if you're interested in dampening the panels in your ride. there is a coupon code for 20% for scion life members, but i can't recall what it is at the moment. if you search, you can dig it up...

so far on the rear hatch and all four doors, i've used about 40sqft of edead V1SE and about 30sqft of jute (fiber based carpet padding). i plan on putting down another 20sqft of edead and jute on the floor. still undecided on the roof, but that will be a project in the near future when i put in another rear dome light

the difference in sound is remarkable. i can barely hear cars on my right and left, the DC exhaust tone is muted, especially when driving uphill, and it no longer sounds like i've got the windows rolled down when i'm driving in rain. i can't wait to hear how things improve with the floor, rear panels, and roof deadened!

with the seats out, you should have no problem padding the floor and rear quarter panels if that's all you wanted to do for relatively cheap (~$45 for the edead (20sqft) and jute (20sqft)). however, if the floor panel is pretty solid when tapped on (haven't done myself, so i can't tell), several layers of jute without any edead would be just as good and would cost next to nothing. just thought i'd share that with you.

g'luck with your van mod! :)

Thanks for the nice comments. I'm glad this guide was helpful.

Originally, I placed strips of map inside the rear hatch. A LOT of noise comes through there. However, you can't cover the entire area inside the hatch because of bracing, latches and the like. Recently, I removed that hatch panel and laid two sheets of mat over the backing on the panel. This resulted in a noticable improvement. Except when my car is under heavy load, my Magnaflow exhaust has a very soothing tone.

If you really want to cut down on the rattle from the hatch, stuff the pink stuff in there. I did it last weekend and it works great. It used to sound like a tin rock band at the back of the car when I turned up my system. Now I can barely hear the license plate humm if it's cranked all the way up. A little dampening material or felt will take care of that. It helped with the exhaust sound a little.

How much did all that weigh?