Wondering if any of you have ever added sound insulation to your floor pans.? When I pulled the seats and center console on my 84 308GTS to fix some of the wiring I thought the application of a Dynamat type material, without the logos everywhere, might cancel any structure-born vibration from the floor as well as quiet road noise. If that worked then the engine and exhaust would be more prominent which is exactly what I would want. I know it's not in keeping with the original sheet of vinyl Ferrari installed when new but... It would also be reversible although removing it might pull some paint off the floors.
Not sure how well it works but just about everyone I see that replaces the carpet in these cars (and others of course) uses it. Lots of pictures in the archives. Won't hurt anything but the wallet to use it.
The other thought I had was doing something with the fiberglass wheel well liners. For instance a Mercedes E Class has a sort of "fuzzy" finish to the liners. Of course the E Class is all about a quiet, luxurious ride so...But I have to think some kind of sprayed on acoustic coating that could withstand road wear as well as the bending it takes to pull the liners would be a plus.
I can highly recommend Dynamat Extreme for the floor pan and door panels. I put 35 sq ft (12lbs) into my 308 and it substantially reduced the higher frequency nioses in the cabin (the noises that sound like pea gravel striking the bottom of the car. The doors too now shut with a solid sounding mercedes-esque "thud". Dynamat is not a thermal insulator though. You should really search for threads discussing this: there are several.
BrianA-thanks very much for the positive nod on the insulation issue. The wheel wells will be a bit more challenging and my hunch is just as beneficial to insulate as the floorpans.
Fitted hushmat to my interior when I redid it. I used just under 55 sq ft for floor, bulkheads and doors. Definitely deadens sound but I don't think it does anything for temps in our cars. More details of my install here: Lining the interior ? 308 Restoration Image Unavailable, Please Login
dflett-thanks for the link and info. I have found an all black with no logos that I'm going to use. As far as thermal value yes I can't see how a material with no airspace would help with impairing conductive heat transfer.
I did my 328, the floor,inside the doors ,back wall,trunk,big diff.in sound and heat,the trunk stays cool also,if you take the seats and the center out it is a very easy job.lots of pics on this site from my project.the car is a lot cooler in the summer to drive.
I stripped my entire interior, added dynamat and added another layer of mass loaded vinyl on top of that. (door panels, foot wells, rear bulk head, etc.) The car is rides much more quite except for the motor/muffler. It was a pretty good improvement. I also get much less heat from the outside. I think it is a great upgrade. After that, I added a retro-air AC upgrade kit and now I can finally drive in the summer daytime! I also recommend a 3.5L upgrade... unfortunately, it costs a bit more than dynamat.
Also important to understand the difference between sound deadening material (eg Dynamat) and sound insulation material - two totally different things. There is not much point in trying to add sound insulation into a 3x8 IMO (especially a GTS) but sound deadening can be a good idea. I have some in my 328 on the floor & in the doors & one or two other places. Its purpose is to take out vibrations that generate noise. A common misconception is also that you need to cover every square inch of a panel with the stuff - you don't. You can place some decent sized patches on the inside the door skin and achieve the same basic result as if you had covered the whole thing. In fact you need to cover significantly less than half a panel for it to work. What its there to do is to dampen vibration and resonance & it doesn't have to cover the whole thing to do that. Not covering the whole thing also saves a lot of weight (and cost!) A good illustration is here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1P4L7TwV9Q
YES, Structure born vibration is a characteristic I learned early on. I remember an old video that showed how just a simple spray of some mysterious viscous material made a car door sound like a bank vault.
