[xBtony]

Wow! Thats a lot of work..but after seeing James car! I have to do it soon! LOL! Mad props man! (or girl )

 

[xBgrl]

lol Why thank you !!!! "James car"?? Well it was a lot of work. I had no Idea of what I was getting myself into until I got everything out and laid the mat out. In some time, hopefully I will get around to doing the roof. I'll be sure to post that.

 

[xBtony]

^Lol! cool! Cant wait to see more progress (btw..James is yellow_sub)

 

[Big_Jim]

What were you using for vertical metals, like the C pillars and the doors? Also, do you have anything done on the roof?

 

[xBgrl]

I used Raamat BXT and ensolite (foam) on the doors. I haven't done the roof yet. When I get around to it (probably next month) I will make sure to post progress on this thread. I might try second skin on the roof.

 

[Red6]

thats a very clean install. i bet it makes the xb sound much more solid. i have done a little bite of this on another car that i had owned but not to this extent. thanks for the info and pics on the install.

 

[zax1stgxb]

WOW!!! this is a craaaazyyy write up.

awesome diy!!!

nice job. how long do u think the whole project is going to take, from start to finish?

 

[xBgrl]

Thank you guys for the nice comments At first, I wasn't thinking about a DIY But as the project went on i said hey why not! Zax, it took me a week and a half to do everything. A week to take out all the seats, rip up the carpet, take the door panels off, and the pillars ect ect, then the half to lay the mat down. I mean on the weekends I was working from like 6 in the morning to 10 or 11 at night. Straight. I was doing this all myself so I really didnt want the project to drag on. Had to get it done asap.


So all in all what I have to do now, is the roof (probably 4 days to take the headliner off and lay the mat) and since seeing the suede folks rolling around here, I thought why not add some suede while laying the mat for the roof? So after doing more research on the suede project, I will be posting what I did and more photos maybe sometime in october (could be sooner but gotta give myself some time ) Hope this helps.

 

[Red6]

cant wait to see the pics once the roof is done. its great when people do there own work and take the time to do it right.

 

[xBgrl]

Yeah for sure, I wanted to make this as neat and professional as possible. If you guys are looking for guides as to how to take things apart for the xb2, I have another post in here with a few manuals on how to do that.

 

[xBgrl]

Hello! I thought I would give you guys an update. I have ordered more material from Rick at Raammat (such a nice guy) and i am preparing to do the roof.

Unfortunately I won't be able to get to it until next week because I may do another mod that requires all of the same parts out (I will let you know what that is if it works for me ).

I will update this thread with pics and such when I start!

Peace!

 

[seppuku27]

What are you going to be using on the roof? I always wondered about that heavy sound deadending on the roof falling down in the high heat of Cali.

 

[xBgrl]

I plan to use the new BXT II with ensolite. This stuff is unbelievably sticky and I know that it will hold up in the heat. With all the 100 deg weather we had in the past weeks, the bxt 1 that I put up on the vertical surfaces has remained intact.

 

[xBgrl]

Hello my people!

Instead of starting next week I decided to start this week instead. I was just too excited about all the material I got so here we go. One thing before I continue. Removing this is a B (choice word). It’s not hard just a real grey haired B(choice word). Especially when you are doing it on your own. Enough of my griping lets move on. This isn’t going to be as detailed as the start of this thread but If you have already gone thru and put down the sound dampening material for the floors and other vertical areas, you will need to remove some of the same parts in the back to get to the headliner. I have posted XB manuals and you should have a look at the headliner removal pdf for reference. Before I go on I should state that by viewing this thread I shall not be responsible for the thrashing your car my take as a result of your willingness to attempt such a sweet mod . Anyways, I had already removed the back seats and back pillars. Oh yeah and disconnect the battery before beginning (negative side).

I started today at about 7:30 am and got finished at about 4:30. I wanted to go over a few trouble spots that I had. The first time around, I had ended up using all of the cans of adhesive that rick gave me so I ran to the store and got some 3M high end spray. I also thought this would be a good opportunity to see if there was any peeling or sliding of the bxt since it had been so hot a couple weeks ago here in socal. There was minimal peeling but it was with the ensolite. The BXT held up well in all area. I may have not used enough so I just re-sprayed those areas and patched it up.

Here are all of the materials in the box. Honestly, as far as thickness this is no different from the bxt 1 (IMO). It’s quite thin to me. However the backing of it is grey (instead of the black tarlike goo) and reminds me of gum. The foil rips easier I think. The foil on the BXT1 I think is a little sturdier. This did not affect the way it was applied though. I think the point of the bxt2 is to improve the quality and make applying it easier. When I got the BXT2 it was not in a roll (which I knew) but in already cut sheets. When I was done, I had a lot left over which you will see towards the bottom.

Here is what I got this time around from Rick:
1 pack BXT II 99.00
3 yards roll ends ensolite 18.00
1 can adhesive 6.95
UPS ground 10.38

Total $134.33

I started with taking out the weather strips on all four doors. Just pull down from one corner

I also went along and took all handles off. One thing to note, try not to break the clips off the covers. For me I didn’t break them but I think I need to glue around the corners for reinforcement.

I took the b pillars off as well, both the crème and the black.

Here’s the A pillar being taken out. Just start at the top and pull gently. Notice there is a black clip on the inside. This is holding the pillar to the metal. I had to take some pliers to the bottom of the clip it as I don’t have the tools to easily take these clips off but I did eventually get them off.

Here is the center light. In total I think there are about four pieces that make up this contraption. You will need to take this off and disconnect the cord you see here.

You will also need to remove the visors. Here is a picture of it with the clips.

There will be several clips that hold the actual headliner up to the ceiling so really press down from the inside and they will come out fairly easily. If you notice around the handle area, in the rear, there will be kind of like a white plastic thing holding it up in addition to everything else. Just push it up and it will start to come down. As you can see there’s the side curtain airbag and wiring yadda yadda. Here we go!

Here is the headliner taken out.

Here is what the roof looks like w/the headliner taken out.

Here is the roof with the bxt2 applied. This didn’t take too long to do it was about an hr and 45min.

Here is the roof again with the ensolite on it. I didn’t cut it perfectly but it doesn’t really matter because most of it is covered and it won’t be seen so no big deal. Since I had some extra strips I decided to put a little more ensolite on the wheelwells in the back.

I had been doing some research about sueding some parts on the interior. I got this fabric from Jo-Anns. Now, this is not the suede that’s at the front of the store for like 4.99. I didn’t like the feel or look of it. I got the type that was on a big roller in the back that’s from the Signature collection. It was about 25.00 per yard (1 yard = 3 feet). I got it on sale for 40%off and got 4 yards. I think I will need more but I will do another writeup if all goes well at the end of the week. I want to see how things hold up. The pic doesn’t do any justice. This stuff feels niiice.

That’s all for now folks. I may start a new thread on my suede project. Gotta go look at what im going to do for this headliner.

Later.

 

[Slody4Futbol]

tip on removing the a pillars.. that long piece that snaps into the receiving end on the pillar.. pull back the black weather stripping.. and take a pair of needlenose.. grab that thin clip and rotate it 90 degrees.. you'll see what i mean when you do it.. it allows the clip to come straight out.. it's crossways in the slot.. but when you rotate it it will slide straight out.. same technique for putting it back in.. good job on the sound deadening though.. i really want to do that to my roof

 

[Century]

tip on removing the a pillars.. that long piece that snaps into the receiving end on the pillar.. pull back the black weather stripping.. and take a pair of needlenose.. grab that thin clip and rotate it 90 degrees.. you'll see what i mean when you do it.. it allows the clip to come straight out.. it's crossways in the slot.. but when you rotate it it will slide straight out.. same technique for putting it back in.. good job on the sound deadening though.. i really want to do that to my roof

That's the one thing I hate about my xB. When it starts raining, it sounds like as if someone is tap-dancing on my roof!!!

 

[xBgrl]

hah well since it barely if ever rains in CA i haven't experienced that very often

 

[ketchup_xb]

all these pics of your car and what youve done to it. none of you. tsk tsk. lol.

 

[xBgrl]

LOL haha well wouldn't want anyone here to turn into stone. I have that kind of effect you know. J/K hah in due time.

 

[ketchup_xb]

stone schmone. as a deputy pics police. i demand a mugshot of yas.