Date:         Thu, 21 Sep 95 14:29:39 CDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Joel Walker <JWALKER@ua1vm.ua.edu>
Subject:      Re: Can you make the bus quiet?

On Thu, 21 Sep 95 14:25:52 CDT <martino@earthlink.net> said:
>After removing all the "stuff" out of my bus so I can begin restoration
>I've noticed how noisy it is.  The engine sounds VERY LOUD.  The only
>thing I have in the back is the folding bench seat and rear cushion.  I
>removed the side cabinet(floor to ceiling) as I want this to be a passenger
>vehicle.  The floor is rubber mat.  My headliner is good.  All the side
>panels are intact. Are there any kits to soundproof the engine compartment?
>What has worked for you?

once again, 3M comes to the rescue. :)  they make some stuff called
Rubberized Undercoating. if you take all the interior panels out (so you can
see the backside of the metal outer skin) and spray this Rubberized Under-
coating on that backside, it cuts out a lot of the "drumming" noise from
the flat side panels.

this stuff can also be sprayed under the car, in the wheelwells and so forth
to help quieten road noise. BUT!!! be sure NOT to get it close to any exhaust
pipes and muffler ... read the directions!

for soundproofing the noise from the engine compartment, there is  some
large flat mat-like stuff (with adhesive on the bottom) that the stereo folks
use to deaden the interior of cars (so their $9,000,000 stereo sounds better!).

one thing that was done in the later vanagons was to put a 4-inch foam pad
in the back over the engine compartment ... this really helps deaden the
engine noise. you could do the same in your bus, but it cuts down a bit on
the available storage space. a piece of very thick pile carpet with a good
thick base might work as well.

with the insides of the side panels and the sliding door and the front doors
coated with that Rubberized Undercoating, you'd be surprised at how much the
road noise is lessened.

but be careful with this stuff: do NOT spray it carelessly! it sticks to
damn near anything and is very very hard to get off headliner and seats and
such! <the voice of experience>. if you have to work around sensitive stuff
like that, mask it off with newspaper and masking tape.

joel