Really quiet

[Frank Elder]

I have read some of the sound insulation posts, has anyone went through the time consuming effort to apply dyna mat inside your doors and or bulkheads by the rear seat, ie; trunk divider and space under rear side lites? Also don't understand bubble wrap and mat between the roof and headliner. How would plastic work in conjunction with insulation?

[grey beard]

Frank,

On the hotrod.com forum, someone who has engineering background came up with an alternative for Lizard Skin, the trade name for a paintable heat and insulation and noise barrier. He mixed micro glass globes used in RC airplane construction with latex paint and got some good stuff.

This discussion moved around for several months and a few other engineers got involved in talking about good recipes for shielding from heat/sound insulation. The general consensus was that stuff like Dynamat, BeQuite, Lizard Skin, etc. all worked up to a point but was all uniformly overpriced, if not downright spendy for DYI-type indiviuals like you and me.

These guys came up with a recipe I liked and could afford. It's all available from your friendly local Lowes store, and I used it on my cab interior. In rhe roofing department look for Peel 'n Seal, a roll-type self adhering butyl rubber stuff that comes in different sizes. I used the 19-inch wide rolls - took two rolls to do my cab inside plus both door cavities inside as far as I could reach. This stuff gets cut to size with a scissors, after which you just peel the paper off and stick it in place. It works beautifully as a sound deadener on sheet metal panels.

I painted all my interior suflaces with Zero Rust - learned about THAT from our own GTK on this forum - and then applied this stuff. You must use 3-M's best quality super strength adhesive insulation so the sun doesn't loosen up this butyl rubber liner when it begins to age.

Then you get 4-inch rolls of plastic/foil insulation with small bubble pods that has a very nice R value,and apply this stuff with the foil backing up, away from the butyl rubber. The insulation has little or no value itself against sheet metal, but with the butyl as a barrier, it is very effective.

On top of these two products I glued a layere of common coarse foam home carpet underlayment that I hand-shook from my local carpet store - bought carpet there last year, so they knew me. I have this 3-layer recipe on all my floor and cab interior, right up to the back windows. The door cavities all have butyl rubber and insulation inside, even on the inside of the access panels. I've only driven my Pilothouse a few miles now, but it is very quiet inside and I really like the solid sound I get when the doors close.

With the Zero Rust, butyl rubber, insulation and carpet padding, my total cost for this home brew cab insulation package has been less than $75. I still have to complete the roof inside and install trim and headliner panels, all of which should help still more to make things cool and quiet.

Opinons are solicited.

[knuckleharley]

Thanks for the tips. I have copied them all to use in my cars.

[Frank Elder]

That is very wonderful information!

Cannot go wrong on that road, I was picturing bubble wrap bubbles!Seemed kind of lumpy under the headliner.

[Bingster]

Were you the fella that said the butyl rubber smelled strong in hot weather?

[Don Coatney]

I believe David Maxwell did the dynamat treatment to his car. He tried brand X but reported the smell was not acceptable.

[Bingster]

I'm not sure I follow you on that post. He used the commercial Dynamat product and it smelled bad?

[Don Coatney]

I'm not sure I follow you on that post. He used the commercial Dynamat product and it smelled bad?

The Dynamat did not smell. He tried another brand (not sure of the name) and it did stink.

[hkestes41]

I used the home made lizzard skin using micro beads from Wickes Aircraft supply mixed with an elastomeric roofing paint from Home Depot. Painted everything with this from the windows down (have not pulled the headliner yet) including inside the doors and inside the body below the rear side windows. I then covered this with Peel and Seal including inside the doors.

I used a heat gun to heat the sticky side of the Peel and Seal before putting it on the panel or floor and then rolled it out with a linoleum roller. This went through a Dallas summer with only a single piece coming loose and that was a piece on the passenger kick panel where the large cutouts are. Not a lot there for it to grip to. I had no problems with any odor in a black car and 100+ degree weather. Will be doing the headliner area and trunk divider soon but can tell you it has already made a big difference in both noise and temp. Door close with a much more substantial sounding thud rather than a tin can sounding clink.

There was a good discussion of this on the HAMB and test results posted by 63ChevyII starting on page 5 of this thread. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...ulation&page=5

He did testing with a digital thermometer for the homemade lizzard skin, peel and seal, reflectix and combinations of the materials. He just used latex paint from the Home Depot oops pile so very cheap. I used the elastomeric paint because it is kind of rubbery when dry so should offer some sound/rattle insulation. At least that is my theory and I'm sticking to it.

--WARNING-- if you make your own lizzard skin, be sure to wear a respirator or at least a dust mask when you work with the micro beads mixing them in the paint. Even when you open the box for the first time. These are so small and light weight that they scatter very easily and you do not want them in your lungs!!!!!!! Being a ceramic like material once in your lungs they are going to stay there and will not decompose.--WARNING--

[David Maxwell]

I used Dynamat throughout. First I painted the entire interior with POR 15. Additionally, I used Xtreme Liner on the firewall, Dynamat foam behind the back seat, a heavy foil backed felt over the Dynamat on the floor and then covered that with original style carpet and Sal Solerno's repro floor mat. I also sealed all door openings etc. with aluminum tape and used bubble mat with foil on both sides over the Dynamat on the roof. Very happy with the results, but YES, it was expensive. The stuff that I tried and could not stand the smell of was "Fat Mat". They advertised is as odorless, but it smelt like B.O. Seriously! They asked me to let it air out for 10 days. I went 14 and it smelled just as bad. They did refund my money.

Here's a link to my restoration photos showing the Dynamat treatment:

Fisheye lens view of the entire interior

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/bojeta/47%20Plymouth%20Restoration/94a2k1.jpg

Link to whole restoration gallery. Scroll through all and you will see around 20 or so photos of the insulation in all areas:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v455/bojeta/47%20Plymouth%20Restoration/?start=all

The Dynamat did not smell. He tried another brand (not sure of the name) and it did stink.

[Frank Elder]

Thank you David, sometimes a short cut can have expensive consequences, just have to take it one paycheck at a time!

[Frank Elder]

I have never seen the foam , does it work well?