Date:         Wed, 20 Oct 2004 23:53:29 +0200
Reply-To:     Robin Oomkes <roomkes@ZONNET.NL>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Robin Oomkes <roomkes@ZONNET.NL>
Subject:      Re: noise reduction
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
              reply-type=original

Reinhard,

what I've noticed from all the Westies I've had (I'm now on my 4th, all
diesels/turbodiesels) is that the '84 and '86 were MUCH louder than the '88
and '90. Don't know if that applies to US vehicles, too. Could be that in
Europe, VW used more utilitarian Transporter versions with less
soundproofing for Westy conversions earlier on.

I haven't compared side by side but my current '88 (and my previous '90)
have massive sound deadening layers under the carpet in the front. It is a
yellowish, fiber-like material (don't properly know how to describe it) of
close to an inch thick. The difference I perceive is that wind noise is
somewhat less (possibly because the insulating material also sits against
the front bulkhead) and road/tire/engine growl is a lot less than in the
'84/'86.

Maybe you can get hold of the underfloor insulating mat of a post '86
vanagon?

Robin
The Netherlands
'88 Westy TD 'Joker'
'03 R1150GS

----- Original Message -----
From: "Reinhard Vehring" <rvehring@YAHOO.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2004 5:24 AM
Subject: noise reduction


> The aerodynamic discussion has gotten me on to my
> favorite topic of late: noise reduction. I know there
> is plenty of stuff in the archives, but lots of this
> isn't objective. It's pretty normal to believe your
> vanagon is MUCH quiter after you spent a whole weekend
> putting sound deadening stuff into the doors. (Tell me
> about it) Well,I got myself a sound level meter and
> went hunting for the noise. After some quick victories
> (like insulating the rear hatch: it takes 3 dB off the
> engine noise)I'm now stuck. The main source of noise
> in  my vanagon is road noise: 80 dBA at 65 mph on a
> reasonably smooth highway. Same rpm (about 3600) in
> 2nd gear and the noise is down to 73 dBA, huge
> difference. Bottom line, there is no point in trying
> to reduce engine noise any further.
> But how do you reduce road noise? Different tires?
> Haven't heard of anyone MEASURING the difference. It
> would be nice to hear from other listmembers how noisy
> their vanagon is. A meter from ebay or radioshack is
> cheap. All we'd have to do is agree on a measurement
> position. I usually just put the meter next to the
> gauge cluster on the dash, facing forward.
> I also use the meter to measure the frequency response
> of the vanagon interior and equalize my stereo. I'm
> still thinking with the large interior the vanagon
> could be a great vehicle for HIFI car stereo, but I
> need to find a way to reduce the noise. 80 dBA is just
> too much. BTW I already know that the best way of
> reducing road noise is to slow down :-) Actually best
> is not to move at all.
> Reinhard , 83 Westy "Moose"
>
>
>
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