First off, I love my Subaru. This is my fourth. I've preveiously had two older Subarus and a Legacy.

 

Now for a complaint... while not as bad as my '68 Landcruiser, the older Subarus have noisy interiors. The lack of sound deadening and bracing in the roof make my '87 GL wagon sound like a tin can inside. Also, mine seems to have a wavy (almost dented spot) in the roof and that makes it seem even worse. When I shut the rear hatch it sounds pretty tinny. I've noticed that Subarus with the factory rack have a more solid feel to the roof due to the support they get from the metal 'ribs' that are installed directly to the sheet metal of the roof.

 

I'd like to install a gutter mount rack on my Subaru with a cargo basket however, I'm considering installing some type of ribbing to the top of my roof like those that come with a factory rack, to make it more ridgid and to straighten out the wavy spot. I'm also considering adding some sound deadening material above the headliner.

 

Has anyone done something similar to their older generation Subaru?

 

Tracy

Take the cieling lining out and check that the roof supports are still attached to the roof. If the roof its bent down at any stage, the roof will pop back up but the supports may not. It makes a big difference.

With the headliner down, take a can of rubberized undercoating (paintable kind is better) and let her have it. That stuff works wonders. I use it on door inners when I have the door panels off.

 

The roofs are noisy, try taking it throught the car wash and when the blowers go over the roof- it's like thunder. The only thing worse is my chevy astro van.

Take the cieling lining out and check that the roof supports are still attached to the roof. If the roof its bent down at any stage, the roof will pop back up but the supports may not. It makes a big difference.

 

instructions? Does it just 'pop' out then snap back into place?

 

My roof has been noisy since my 180# brother decided to see if it would hold him up

 

I bet that rubberized coating stuff probably helps cut down on road noise a lot also... hmm...

 

like someone said.. you've got me thinking again, and that's not good for my wallet :-P

You could line it with either Dynomat (expensive but supposedly very good) or the spray-on stuff, and you could also throw in some of that silvery heat shielding material. It might help with extremes of temperature as well as supplement any sound deadening you install.

instructions? Does it just 'pop' out then snap back into place?

 

Pretty much, you need to remove a few bits of trim from around it, then you just pull those big clips out.

With the headliner down, take a can of rubberized undercoating (paintable kind is better) and let her have it. That stuff works wonders. I use it on door inners when I have the door panels off.

 

The roofs are noisy, try taking it throught the car wash and when the blowers go over the roof- it's like thunder. The only thing worse is my chevy astro van.

jst reading the specs of ur rx it sounds like a wepon . how much boost u runing .I ran 17 psi and droped a piston so i decidid dat wasnt a good idea