# Sound Deadening a Factory Five Cobra Roadster with 817 HP



## ANT (Oct 15, 2005)

So my day started off by driving from Anthem Az (20 minutes north of Phoenix) to Chino Valley, (20 minutes north of Prescott AZ)
Took me about 90 minutes to get there:


Me Driving












Once I arrived I met the owner of the shop. Turns out we were at McCabe Racing. Formerly of Laveen AZ.












This is the first thing I see when I pull up:







































Next my attention turns towards the Corvette up on the lift:




















And this is Gary’s Cobra.
It has a 358 NASCAR engine pushing 817 HP.
I'll try to get more details for you guys soon.







































































































































































































The reason I drove up to Chino Valley was to insulate the Roadster for Gary.
By the end of the day we finished about 80% of the labor. 
Here is what I brought with me to kill the noise and heat in this beast:




































For sound deadening and thermal insulation I brought the follow amounts of each product:

Damplifier Pro Bulk Pack - 36 sq feet
Damplifier  - 50 sq feet
Spectrum - 5 Liters (1.25 gallons)
Luxury Liner - 36 sq feet (no time to install it so the upholstery guy is going to put it in)
Heat Wave - 18 sq feet (upholstery guy is going to put this in as well)



We were able to treat the entire interior with Damplifier and Damplifier Pro. We did a double layer throughout the entire cabin.
I left McCabe about 40 sq feet of Damplifier to finish the trunk with before he sends it off to the upholstery guy where the Luxury Liner and Heat Wave will get installed.

The one thing that took up a good part of our day was something I had not planned on doing until we got there.
The wheel wells.

After looking at the underside of the car, I noticed that Factory Five does not provide any type of barrier to protect the paint job on top of the wheel wells from the star patterns that sometimes happen when rocks shoot off of the tires and hit the fenders.
Gary and I talked about it and agreed that we take every step necessary to protect his paint, so we jumped right in to it.
I decided to use a combination of two products to protect his paint:
Damplifier Pro - our self adhesive vibration damper
Spectrum - Our water based vibration undercoating.

Since spectrum is water-based it is not going to adhere to fiberglass or plastic very well. Water-based coatings work very well with painted, raw or primed metal, but when it comes to fiberglass they do not adhere as well. They will stick, but not nearly as long as if they are applied to metal.
It is for this reason that I used Damplifier Pro first. Not only will the Damplifier Pro give us a nice solid vibration damping treatment, but it also has the thickness foil in the industry. 6 mils thick compared to 4 mils of our closest competitor. That allow for great protection from the rocks, and better vibration control in general.
Since Damplifier Pro has a foil heat shield, the Spectrum will adhere to it much better than it will to Fiberglass. This gives us just one more layer of protection against rocks and help make it look real nice too.
When it dries, Spectrum is black, and looks similar to a bed liner, but unlike bed liners, Spectrum is elastomeric, which is how it dampens vibrations so well. We also use a wax additive and a cryogenically manipulated polymer when making the Spectrum so it is perfect for use as an undercoating to prevent rust and corrosion or an interior coating to absorb noise and vibrations.
Awesome stuff!


Here is a shot the underside of the wheel well with nothing on it at all:




















And a shot with Damplifier Pro getting applied:












Here is a full layer of Damplifier Pro in the wheel well:




















We did this to all 4 wheel wells. In total we use up about 3 or 4 sq feet each.

Next was the Spectrum.
First, we had to protect the car from the coating. For this we use the few garbage bags around the brakes, and a roll of sell adhesive carpet plastic. 
This stuff is awesome for masking off areas of the car you want to protect from overspray.





































Once we masked everything off, it was time to spray the Spectrum vibration coating in the wheel wells on top of the Damplifier Pro:












This is a shot of Spectrum after a single coat. 












Spectrum is a very thick vibration paint and is set to a specific viscosity, so that it can be applied at 20 mils (20/1000th inch) in each coat. 
Apply it any thicker than 20 mils (1/2 mm) and it will either start to run or drip.
So after we did a nice solid layer on each wheel well, we would simply move on to the next one. By the time we finished our first coat on the 4th wheel well, the first one had already begun to skin over. 
This means we can add a second layer. The product starts out dark blue, almost grey in color, but once it dries it becomes black.
It will start to darken after about 20 - 30 minutes depending on the temperature which is when additional layers can get applied.
Many people will use Spectrum as an interior coating and exterior coating. If we were going to do this, the roadster would need about 5 gallons:
2 as and undercoating
2 in the cockpit
1 in the trunk

We only used Spectrum in the wheel wells however and ended up applying just a little more than 1 Liter (1/4 gallon) per wheel well.

Another shot of a wheel well coated:










We took a break for a little while, so to keep spectrum from drying in side the gun, I detached it from the line and threw it in a bucket of water:












This is a shot of Spectrum as it was starting to skin over. Notice it has already turned black? 











This one still needed another 15 minutes to dry.

In 24 hours, the Spectrum will be pretty firm to the touch. 
In 72 hours it will be 80% cured.
It takes 0 full days to cure, at which point you will notice 100% of the sound deadening results.

Next project was the interior **** pit. For this we used Damplifier and Damplifier Pro.
Damplifier Pro has a much thicker foil than regular Damplifier, so I used that up front in the foot boxes where heat is going to be a big issue.
The first step was to vacuum out the interior. Gary had a handle on that:





















Here are a few shots of the cockpit before the vibration mat was applied:



































And a few shot after:










































We used 2 layers throughout the entire cockpit. Some spots have 3 layers.

Even though this is a convertible, this is going to be one solid sounding machine.
We can't do much about the wind noise, but the tire noise, engine heat and vibration control are all taken care of.
What is nice about sound deadening, is that the mind interprets it a few ways. The less squeaks, rattles and resonance we hear, the more our mind converts that lack of noise, in to a perception of strength. To the driver, the car will actually feel more solid, and will almost seem to hug the ground better.
It is really awesome how the mind perceived the differences, and a more stable and firm ride is just one of them.

Thanks so much to Gary for letting me work on his awesome car, and to McCabe for allowing me to make a mess of his shop for a while!

Also, thanks to you guys for reading this entire thread.

And for your viewing pleasure: a little video:











ANT
www.secondskinaudio.com


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## jdc753 (Nov 14, 2007)

WOW. Took me a little bit for all the pictures to load but was sooooo worth it. I think they would have had to drag me out of that shop, and give me a drool rag for when I first walked in. I have always loved the solid front axle Gasser style, and then that Factory 5 car is just amazing. Their shop is only about 45 minutes away from me and every year they do a big open house show and its really a blast. Free food and tons of Factory 5 cars. Thank you soo much for taking all those pics 

Awesome work for sure, at first I was thinking it was a shame to be putting deadener in such a raw performance car. But I am sure it will make it all that much more enjoyable to actually drive and not more of a chore after 15 minutes. Just listening to that motor would be a joy in itself. I don't even want to think how fast that 2,000lb roadster is with over 800 high reving HP.


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## redfred18t (Oct 2, 2008)

As JDC said, FF makes some serious vehicles

nice pics too, must be a blast to work on such a clean specimen 

oh and my damp is supposed to come in tomorrow, i cant wait to put it in


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## braves6117 (Feb 13, 2008)

Very solid, prime example of SS products and their uses. Well Done!


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## drtool (Nov 26, 2007)

Great job Ant, hope you can post pictures with the Heat Wave and LL going in.
Wayne


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

I've been for a ride in a FF5 Cobra replica one or twice...you need something to keep your feet from getting warm down there. And at about 2200 pounds wet, 800HP should get you going pretty good provided you can get it to hook up. 1st gear will be renamed "roast the tire" gear.

I remember a Car and Driver mag probably 15-15 years back where they had a Unique Motorsports Cobra replica that was owned by Ernie Elliot (you know, Bill's engine builder). Said it was damned near impossible to drive and would scare the **** out of you in every gear. Mentioned something about it being spooky to have wheel spin at 100 mph when you floored it.


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## CRD (Apr 23, 2008)

Is the replica the one that have the Mustang 5.0L engine on it?

I remenber seen at Costco a Cobra for sale I'm guessing is the replica with a Mustang V8 5L engine on it.


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## jonnyanalog (Nov 14, 2007)

i love the headers on that cobra and that Gasser Ford, thats just sweet!!!!


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## jdc753 (Nov 14, 2007)

CRD said:


> Is the replica the one that have the Mustang 5.0L engine on it?
> 
> I remenber seen at Costco a Cobra for sale I'm guessing is the replica with a Mustang V8 5L engine on it.


They are built off the basis as being a very simply donor car build. Buy the kit and have a fox body mustang and you have EVERYTHING to build the car. Or you can do anything custom. They have a full suite of options for the suspension and running gear such as indipendent rear ends, wheel packages and the sort. Can build anything from a basic 5.0L mustang donor to a XXXX HP 500+ cubic inch big block, or in the case of the replica above an insane HP small block Nascar motor. Factory Five builds one helluva replica, I would say the best if not one of the best Cobra replicas. Personally I would LOVE to build a Daytona Coupe replica with a well worked over small block (basically what the cobra above has.)


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## DaveRulz (Jun 22, 2006)

800+ HP and a Fram filter....that kinda makes me want to cry inside. I see that it does say "racing" on the side but I see that orange canister and i think of the cut aways I've seen of the street ones. ::Shudder:: Sweet car none-the-less.


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## ANT (Oct 15, 2005)

CRD said:


> Is the replica the one that have the Mustang 5.0L engine on it?
> 
> I remenber seen at Costco a Cobra for sale I'm guessing is the replica with a Mustang V8 5L engine on it.


Factory Five is a kit, so you can use any engine you want to.
Most comon parts are mustang becaus they are cheap.
nothing cheap about this one though.
The Original owner was using some mustang parts on it but once gary built it every after was all custom.

The engine is a 358 nascar style. I think I heard them say its in the $30-40k range!?

817 hp.
NA

You are not going to get that kind of power our of a $5k 302


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## CRD (Apr 23, 2008)

DaveRulz said:


> 800+ HP and a Fram filter....that kinda makes me want to cry inside. I see that it does say "racing" on the side but I see that orange canister and i think of the cut aways I've seen of the street ones. ::Shudder:: Sweet car none-the-less.


I was going to say the same thing a FRAM Filter WTF????

But when I saw the RACING part , I didn't want to look dumb bashing that Fram filter.

PS: Normal FRAM filter SUCKS


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## CRD (Apr 23, 2008)

DIYMA said:


> You are not going to get that kind of power our of a $5k 302


NA never, but I would love to have a 302 twin turbo on that Cobra body


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## ANT (Oct 15, 2005)

Most guys are going with a 427...
Talk about some torque!!!


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## CRD (Apr 23, 2008)

Maybe this one

2000 Weineck Cobra 
Type: V8 
Displacement: 10145 cc 
Horsepower: 1200 bhp @ 7100 rpm 
Torque: 1069 lb-ft @ ---- rpm 
from 0-60=2.9


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## Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX (Oct 24, 2007)

Nice install... 

I only have one issue with that car though... One would think, when going ALL out with a resto, they would have the frame TIG welded... I see some AWEFULL welds... non got smoothed out.. I see ends of supports not capped off.. 

Nothing against the install at ALL, just some things I see on the car itself I would do different if it were me dropping the kind of cash that's into that... 

Good show mang...


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## redfred18t (Oct 2, 2008)

Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX said:


> Nice install...
> 
> I only have one issue with that car though... One would think, when going ALL out with a resto, they would have the frame TIG welded... I see some AWEFULL welds... non got smoothed out.. I see ends of supports not capped off..
> 
> ...


It's not a restoration but a kit car and also, it's made to be bolted together and require little to no fabrication. The only thing the average diyer cant perform on the car is paint, and thats the way they designed the FF's


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## 6APPEAL (Apr 5, 2007)

Some sweet cars. I like the Straight-axle Gasser.
John


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## CobraVin (Jul 31, 2007)

nice job Ant, i built two FFR's, with stereos, its hard to hear much over the sidepipes though, the heat insulation helps alot, some guys put vents in the footboxes, most use undercoating or truck bed liner to prevent stars in the paint


DIYMA said:


> Factory Five is a kit, so you can use any engine you want to.
> Most comon parts are mustang becaus they are cheap.
> 
> 
> ...


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