Stripped

Those of you reading The N16 Files since the early days will (hopefully) remember I added quite a bit of sound deadening to the Shark's doors, boot lid, etc. While the sound deadening worked to a certain extent the negative side meant a lot of unwanted mass was also added to Sharkie. With ICE no longer on the agenda I have decided to remove some of the sound deadening which will also result in weight reduction and improving the power to weight ratio. Before I can get to the sound deadening I first removed the vanity carpet covering the boot/trunk lid's bottom underframe. This is held in place via twelve plastic pins. Picture below of the carpet.

Here's an old pix of the sound deadening covering the bottom of the boot lid.

To remove the sound deadening you need a lot of muscle power, BST, patience and time. Really lotsa time. Took me many hours to remove the sound deadening and to get the underside looking good. You will also need the below to scrape off the sound deadening as it adheres via a strong adhesive. You can buy the below from hardware stores like ACE and is typically used to apply wall plastering. Make sure you get a plastic one else you will end up scratching and/or damaging your boot lid.

Was told dry ice works wonders but I didn't try so can't vouch its effectiveness. Bout half or more of  the sound deadening came off relatively easily till the sections below.

In my excitement I threw the already removed pieces of sound deadening away before weighing. When I remembered I couldn't be bothered to take them from the smelly dustbin to weigh. Sorry. Anyway the remaining as per picture above came up to 443 grammes (0.44 kg) on my weighing scale.

This means the sound deadening on the boot lid alone will probably weight around 1 kg. Vanity carpet was about 0.4 kg so a total of about 1.4-1.5 kg was removed from the boot lid. The weight reduction is really noticeable when you lift up the boot lid. Below's a close up of the sticky adhesive residue left behind once the sound deadening is removed.

With all the sound deadening removed. The left corner looks pristine in the pix below coz I already cleaned it.

You will need a wax like Soft99 Meta-Clean or something like WD40 to clean off the adhesive residue. And again loads of BST, patience and time. Here's the end result. My wife asked me why not just get someone else to do it but I like my DIY and am a sucker for punishment. Blistered a finger doing this job.

There are still some slight yellow stains from where the adhesive/glue has stained the paint's clearcoat. I have tried polish and wax but the yellowness will not go away. Will probably leave it as is as the only permanent solution would be to repaint the entire underside of the boot lid.

I also decided to remove the heat/NVH insulation covering the front bonnet/hood's underframe. Picture of the insulation post removal.

Not every car has this insulation and for an N16 I believe the main purpose would be engine bay noise reduction. Like the vanity carpet underneath the rear boot lid the insulation is held in place via 12 plastic pins. The front pins are totally different from the rears with the fronts easier to remove. Just use your fingers, fondle and pull. For the rear clips you will need a Phillips screwdriver. Use the Phillips screwdriver to turn the centre pin and then slowly lift it up. Make sure the outer pin does not move along with the centre pin else you are wasting your time. Once the centre pin is partially out it should be easy to remove the entire pin assembly. I decided to weigh all 24 front and rear pins just for kicks!

The front bonnet underframe insulation weights approx 0.6 kg. Pictures below of the front bonnet's underside with the insulation removed. Very dirty as there is more than 7 years worth of accumulated grime, oil and dirt.

Here's how it looks after lots of BST cleaning.

In conclusion I have reduced Sharkie's weight by bout 2 kg or 4.4 lbs and this is probably a conservative estimate. I hope I also lost some body weight with all the hard work and exercise :) Downside would be a noticeable increase in NVH from the rear boot lid. Can't have your cherry with the icing and cake.