Evo RS owners, I need your help...

Can you please confirm that your car did NOT come with the asphalt noise-damping pad under the back seat, that my Evo IX SE did?

The reason I ask is that for the SCCA autocross class I compete in (SM), I'm only allowed to remove the interior parts that the Evo 8 and 9 RS editions didn't come with. I'm doing this to save weight, obviously.

I'm talking about the darker-gray sections around and between the two black square panels (the driver's side is the access to the fuel pump):







Also, do any of you RS owners know if your Evo came with the noise padding material on the lower firewall, the material that's behind the pedals on the driver's side and that come right down to the front edges of the asphalt mats, as seen in these pics?

Thanks in advance!







Also, in case anyone would like to know: the carpet and glued-on padding under it from an Evo 9 SE weighs 16.75 lb:

 

No padding under the rear seat, lower firewall, driveshaft tunnel, or in the floor mat area. 06 RS

 

^

Exactly. You are going through a lot just to shave off a few lbs IMO.

 

Thanks very much!

Actually, compared to the other things I've done to save weight (e.g., gutting the bottom of the OEM aluminum hood to save a little over 5 lbs., or spending $800 on a used Mine's Ti catback to save 10 lbs), this is cake.

The rules for the Street Modified class make it fairly hard to easily ditch a lot of weight, since you can't do anything to the interior other than a few allowances like removing the back seat/rear seatbelts, removing the audio equipment, replacing the OEM front seats with lighter seats, and replacing the steering wheel with one w/o an airbag.

 

You can actually run this mod in BSP, just like I have been all year with my IX SE

If I recall it all weighed in at around 15lbs or so.

 

I used to run SM class too. I know the rules and specifics even though the SCCA where I am doesn't follow the rules entirely. You can save more weight by going in on 1/2 tank of gas. I see you're a pretty well rounded SCCA driver so I mean no disrespect or harm in my posts. Are you going to remove the sound deadner on the chassis as well?

 

Very true, but we already always compete with under a 1/4 tank of fuel, and ideally between 1/8 tank to where the low-fuel light will come on. Plus, removing noise damping mats doesn't run the risk of fuel starvation!

No offense taken. Thanks for your input.

If you mean the black tar/goo all over the bottom of the car; no. I wasn't aware the RS version didn't come with that either, but I'm certainly not in the mood to try to hold chunks of dry ice up against the entire bottom of the car to remove it (or employ 10 cans of brake cleaner to dissolve it, or go get the car sandblasted somehow).

I'd consider it if there was a practical/easy way to do it though—my Evo is already so loud with the solid-mounted rear diff, rear seat removed, trunk stripped, and front fender liners removed that I'd never notice the slight noise increase. Plus in Colorado, there's no concern about rust, especially on a car that's no longer my daily driver.

Getting the interior noise mats off took me over 7 hours (not including 45 minutes or so to strip the interior and remove the carpet), working slowly and letting the dry ice sit for upwards of five minutes on one spot while I went back inside and watched TV. I did a lot of meticulous (read: time-consuming) detail cleaning with a razor scraper and WD-40 too.

It would have gone a lot faster if I had had a helper, or was at least working with two bags of dry ice (I just bought one baggie of dry ice, which was 7.2 lbs worth). With two portions of ice, I could have always been chilling down a section while breaking up/removing another. In retrospect, it was pretty dumb not to buy twice the quantity, to save all of 10 bucks (my local supermarket sells dry ice @ $1.29 per pound).

Still, I'm pleased with the weight reduction for the time investment—11.45 lb. for just the asphalt mats (I haven't decided if I want to pull the rubber/carpet mats in the front footwell/lower firewall areas yet), according to my very accurate digital shipping scale.

It's likely closer to 11 2/3 lb., since there were plenty of small bits that I didn't bother to collect and vacuumed up instead, thereby going unaccounted.


Weight data:

Front footwell mats (each): 2 lb., 1.8 oz., ± 0.2 oz.
Rear footwell mats (each): 1 lb., 5.0 oz., ± 0.2 oz.
Mat under rear seat: 2 lb., 12 oz.
Mat wrapped around transmission tunnel: 1 lb., 13.4 oz.

 

Nice Good info to know should be doing this to mine soon

 

Toss some heavy objects on top of the dry ice. I used a stack of school books as it helps insulate it too. It makes things go a lot quicker. You can pretty much bust one section off while another is freezing, then move the ice and it is ready. I used a rubber mallet to keep from messing up the sheetmetal. I think it took me about 30 minutes or less to get it all off.

The two firewall mats weigh more then all the tar on the floor though and I am pretty sure the RS doesn't come with either of the mats.

 

How did you remove the two vinyl-ly-rubber/carpet padding firewall mats? They seem to go way up there... looks like the only way to get those out cleanly (i.e., without cutting or tearing them) would be to pull the dash.

 

my 05 rs doesnt have that sound deadening or the firewall mat.

 

mine either...this is cool man goodluck

 

RS only has the two little tar pads in the footwells. If you want some photographic evidence:

Passenger footwell:


Driver footwell:


Back seat area:




I didn't remove any sound deadening, mainly because there really isn't much to remove, just those two little pads.

 

i had a 06 IX RS and this is how it looked like when we removed the floor carpit





just a bare metal - nothing.

 

the sound deadener is (on my car) grey. If you take your back seat off, underneath the insulation, there is another mat between the insulation and chassis. It is a "stiffer" pad that sits directly on the chassis. That is the deadner I was referencing. I can't find any pics of it, and seeing as how I can't get to my car right now, I can't take a picture to be useful to you.