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Date:         Sun, 7 Sep 1997 08:34:32 -0400
Reply-To:     GMBulley@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon mailing list <Vanagon@Gerry.SDSC.EDU>
From:         Matthew Bulley <GMBulley@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Stats & results on soundproof-interior project.
Comments: cc: burma@compuserve.com, svmktsec@us.ibm.com, james_lamm@merck.com,
          DORIAKRMAN@aol.com, bbulley@mail.sandi.net, jbremmer@wlgore.com

Starting to get a little chilly out...Gettin' to be camping & hiking weather!!! : )

The interior is now basically complete in Suzy's van. In a future (HUGE) posting I will share all of the secrets of soundproofing, rustproofing and thermal insulating. For now, check these unbeleivable stats. Suzy's van now includes:

Five packages of Evercoat "Q-Pads", (adhesive 1/4" thick asphalt/rubber sound-killer pads A fifty foot roll of 3M "Sound Deadener" (similar to above) An entire roll of R-13 fiberglass insulation A can of 3M Rust Preventative (like Waxoil) Four cans of polyurethane expansion foam sealant Four gallons of "Kool Patch" undercoating Two rolls of JCWhitney's "Sound and Heat Insulation used by NASA" A roll of Fiber-tech Fiberglass/silica exhaust wrap heat shield insulation Eight yards of 4-mil plastic A "Dual Trumpet" 135 db air horn, (okay, that's actually OUTSIDE the van) 11 yards of 1/2" multi-fiber sound absorbing upholstery padding (similar to NASA stuff but no aluminum foil facing) Eight yards of "chip-foam" carpet padding 12 yards of upholstery cloth 11 yards of curtain material Five cans of contact adhesive 1,250 staple-gun staples 11 luggage anchors 30 large sheet metal screws Six yards of industrial "berber" carpeting 12 ounces of clear silicone sealant Two yards of 3" thick foam padding

The neat thing: now that the panels and carpeting are back in, You can't see any of the "stuff" that makes this van SOOOOO Quiet. Inside, it looks like a nicely upholstered bus with a double-hinged bed folded up in the lugage space behind the rear seat. From the outside, it just looks like a '76 school-bus-yellow Transporter with a beautiful, tall, young babe driving; hands-off, that's my Suzanne! : )

I am not joking when I say the only "noise" in the van is the air coming in through the vents at highway speed. Even the DPO's Yokahama-S-701's are quietly cooperating; road noise is nil. (We have Y-370's on order at S-ears) Wind noise is acceptable. Body reverb and noise transfer on the highway is nil. At 70mph you can talk in a conversational tone! Any noise that makes its way into the van is quickly quelled by the sound-absorbing padding lurking behind the upholstery cloth. Pretty sneaky, eh?

Instead of the sliding door reverberating all of the van's sheet metal for 5 seconds on closing: sounding like "roooor-aaarrrrr-cladd-ddunkk-ahh-chack-aaaaaannnng", it now rolls silently to a "cludunk". Prior to this interior work, it sounded like we had a sheet-metal pounding factory AND an air compressor running inside the van. You can still hear the motor, but only as a distant, faint, low burble.This will be very nice for highway motoring, and that was the goal.

We still have a 128 quart cooler (will take the place of the back seat), side tent, and window tint to engineer/install, and some mechanicals to do before our 5-week tour of the USA & Mex in Oct./Nov. Getting VERY excited. Will keep you posted.

hear no evil, speak no evil,

gmbulley fairfax, va


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