Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2003 11:23:56 EST
Reply-To: Willolyn99@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Bill Marshall <Willolyn99@AOL.COM>
Subject: From KLAAANGG to thump
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Hey folks,
Let me start by saying God Bless Matthew Bulley. I just finished doing some
soundproofing, inspired by his infamous "Heat, Rust, and Noise" web page. It
works great. The resounding klang when closing any door is now replaced by a
brief and quiet thump.
I wrote to the list a little while back about my body panel skins being loose
from the inner support frames. This was causing a lot of noise - the panels
would vibrate freely, and would bounce off of the inner structure. Closing
the doors made almost a 'gong' sound, BWOOOONNG. So I decided to quiet it all
down, Bulleyesque-style.
I used Great Stuff expanding foam to lock all the pieces together. It is a
very sticky, and impossible to get off of stuff when it is cured. Sounds like
polyurethane glue to me. I sprayed a ton of it into the insides of the
frames, and entombed the outside of the frames and skins. In fact, I put a layer of
it all across the skin. It took a few cans, but it was on sale for $1.99 a
can, not too bad. When this layer cured, it was solid as a rock. When you tap
on the outside of the van, it has no metallic ring to it at all. Just a
thump. Nice -- no more vibrating. On a few areas that weren't covered in foam, I
used some sound-dampening sheets to kill the sound there, too.
In addition to the foam and dampening sheets, I put a layer of fiberglass
insulation over it, taped it all in place, and put the panels back on. It is
awesome. I should note that my '85 GL 7-pass had NO insulation or soundproofing
in it. The areas behind the interior panels were completely empty, unlike the
Westy's, so I was starting from scratch.
The sound of the sliding door closing is the best part. It sounds like a new
car does, not like a big tin box. The comparative difference was the real
indicator of how well I did. After doing one section, I went outside the van
and tapped the insulated and non-insulated panels. The sound difference was
pretty amazing, from pinging like a bell to a short thump. Cool. I've got a
couple more areas to finish, then I hope to road-test it soon.
A note to anyone doing this kind of stuff -- hit the low areas and seams on
the panel with some wax-oyl, krown, or other rustproofing stuff before you
start filling up the areas with insulation.
Bill Marshall
85 GL Tiico "Pandora's Box"
Aurora, IL
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