Sound Deadener install w/pics in a Diesel - Wow!! (1 Viewer)

[alpinecowboy]

Well, while the rest of you were out wheeling this weekend I bit down with what little free time I have and installed sound proofing in my rig. Any of you that are married with young children know that free time is few and far between so I had to work fast to get it all done. I had ordered up some QuietCrap from CruiserCrap and I decided to go an extra step and replace all of my jute with sound absorbing foam from McMaster-Carr.

The PO had done a small bit of soundproofing under the front passenger seat and firewall but not much beyond that. He had installed some foil-backed insulating bubblefoam but it didn't do much for sound. I pulled it out and laid down the QC and the foam from MMC.

Here are the links to what I got from MMC - 10 feet of 5692T492:
McMaster-Carr

It was just over $12/foot and 10' was just enough for the floorpan and to have some left over to do the inside of firewall and the quarterpanels and possibly doors.

I went in with medium expectations. I didn't expect it to "sound like a Lexus" as some have indicated because, well, Lexus didn't make Diesel Landcruisers in the 80's.... That said - I am totally amazed at the difference. I installed the QC over the entire floorpan of the truck and the firewall (interior and enginebay) and it made a big difference.

The magic happened after replacing the stock jute with the foam from MMC.... holy friggin toledo... it was amazingly quiet in there.... I really couldn't believe it. As comparison, I've owned a nice new Duramax and the other cars in our driveway are an '04 Sequoia and a BMW 325xi wagon. The cruiser is now as quiet as the Dmax was and not too far off of the bimmer or the Sequoia, especially on the highway.

Roadnoise is all but gone. Engine & Tranny noise are still there, but massively reduced. Massively. Pics attached. You can see how thick that foam is - kinda makes the carpet a little tricky to get back in but not a big deal.

I haven't taken the door panels off yet because I am doing another project to upgrade to power locks/windows and will wait for that. I'll probably do the rear QP's this weekend as I have the panel storage from WagonGear so it easy to access.

If you are considering this project I can tell you it is 1000% worth it. One roll of QC was plenty for everything (including left overs for the doors and QP's) and 10' of the Skinned Polyurethane foam from MMC was plenty.

Pics below. (Note: hot chick eating Pizza was hidden inside the door trim attached to the metal by the previous owner... it was a nice little easter egg giggle as I ripped everything out... makes me wonder what else he's stashed in the rig...)

 

[alpinecowboy]

More pics of the foam

Note: some things that made this install fast and easy:
1) A roller - one more reason to buy from CruiserCrap - it was included free in my order: Thanks!
2) An Exacto knife (or equiv) with lots of blades - cuts the QC like butter and switching blades often keeps it fast
3) A nice pair of scissors for the thick MMC Foam - same as above but the exacto is too small for this job
4) Make lots of smaller pieces for hard to reach areas - I cut a ton of little strips, squares and triangles and it made getting the firewall covered with the QC a breeze... even around the hoses, bolts etc... don't be afraid to overlap the QC on top of another layer around the edges - just roll it down hard... the QC sticks to itself really well and you get the effect of a single, large piece from all the small ones without the hassle.
5) Pleating - make small cuts at the edges of large pieces or around irregular shapes in the floorpan, but just cut through the metal skin and the roll it nice and hard... this allows you to get a perfect fit onto almost any shape in the metal easily and quickly.
6) A pressure washer - this makes Jute removal a TOTAL CAKEWALK... I was killing myself scrubbing and tearing it out until I had the "AH-HAH" moment... I drove it to the carwash and plowed the back out in under 3 minutes... Home depot rents strong pressure washers and that made all the jute fly out in no time...

 

[alpinecowboy]

These are the last pics of my daughter helping me put the seats back in... she is little but already handy with a wrench...

 

[SARCruiser]

Cute kid!

I bet all of that sound deadening is well worth the effort! What size roll of QC did you order?

 

[alpinecowboy]

Thank you. She got her good looks from her mother and her crappy attitude from me...

Yes, It was totally worth the effort and to be honest it wasn't too much effort... basically just "arts and crafts day" at the house was all - pulling a few screws, popping out the seats, pulling the carpet and then off to work I went.

I ordered the 50ft roll and was very happy with it.

 

[AATLAS1X]

I think Mellow is a mud member! For reals.

 

[alpinecowboy]

NICE! You caught it! yes - Mellow is definitely a mud member... he is the PO of this rig - super cool guy by the way - even a year after I bought the rig he is easy on answering my many inane questions about it....

 

[Tofudebeest]

Try to get a hold of Mel. He's fallen off the face of the Earth. Store closed, cell phone disconnected...

 

[alpinecowboy]

I spoke to him about three weeks ago and he told me he got a big promotion and was moving to Atlanta (I think) to take a corporate position in the same line of work - sounded like very good news for him.... I'll shoot him an email...

 

[Tofudebeest]

He told me the same, in Marketing, and that they had lined up a buyer for his store. Then, an article in the paper last week, that business was too slow and the landlord was not keep the place up, so he closed up shop. Thing is, we're good friends, and he's just vanished. I may swing by his house...


So strange...

 

[alpinecowboy]

Update/install tip:
When I did the original install, I put QuietCrap everywhere I could on the floorpan of the passenger compartment (including the cargo area) to try and dampen the metal vibration. But I only laid the sound absorbing foam from McMaster-Carr (referenced above in post #1) in what I thought were critical areas only.

I had read in several sound deadening install posts (both here on Mud and elsewhere) that it wasn't necessary to get 100% coverage in order to get the job done. Well, I have since found out that in the case of my rig at least this is dead-ass wrong.

Last night I put a new carpet in and while I had everything out I figured "what the hell" and went ahead and laid the rest of the foam down everywhere I could in the passenger compartment just like the QuietCrap.... HOLY CR@P... It made a HUGE difference. The truck is a TON quieter now than it was. I think the sound absorbing foam really needs to be laid down as continuously as possible for it to do it's job, otherwise the sound "leaks" through.

So, if you do this job go ahead and be liberal in your use of the both the QC and the Foam. You won't regret it.

 

[ukaviator]

Brilliant!
Thanks for the update. Im doing this exact same thing right now, and just came upstairs to check your thread for reference as I had the same question in my head!
Cant wait to get everything back in and go for a drive!

Did you put any on the firewall behind the dash?
Ive put it where I can without removing the dash. Going to try and squeeze some of the foam in there.

I wonder in the QC will hold up to the heat if i put it on the firewall in the engine bay??

 

[alpinecowboy]

I did the same as you - as much of the firewall as I could get without pulling the dash. I'll eventually pull the dash and put QC+foam back there... I just don't have the heart/patience to deal with it now.

I did use QC on the enginebay side of the firewall and really covered it well. Heat is no issue at all for the QC. The only issue is oil and dirt on the surfaces of the engine compartment. It is really difficult to clean all the surfaces well so you might have a loose piece here or there if there is oil left.

Good luck!

 

[D'Animal]

How do you think the foam will react to water/moisture?

I'm looking at adding some sound deading to my rig in the engine side of the firewall and underside (Transmission side) of the floorboards.

 

[Rastaforte]

I did the same as you - as much of the firewall as I could get without pulling the dash. I'll eventually pull the dash and put QC+foam back there... I just don't have the heart/patience to deal with it now.

I did use QC on the enginebay side of the firewall and really covered it well. Heat is no issue at all for the QC. The only issue is oil and dirt on the surfaces of the engine compartment. It is really difficult to clean all the surfaces well so you might have a loose piece here or there if there is oil left.

Good luck!

Wonderful job AlpineCowboy!! Is your configuration of QC and the foam still holding out strong here in 2011? I've got my dash and heater/ac cores completely out for other reasons and was sleuthing around HMUD for exactly these kinds of threads----yours stood out.

Great work!

 

[austinmark]

I used the exact same products as AC, and after a year and a half, it was still fantastic. The one place where I noticed that the QC didn't hold its stick when I went back to check on it was on two of the doors. To the credit of the QC, though, that was my fault. When I peeled back the QC, I realized that I put the QC on a part of the door where I hadn't cleaned the sheet metal thoroughly, so it didn't keep its stick to the dirty, greasy metal. In all other places, the QC was still on there and was still working fantastically. Give Mark (the QC guy) a call. He's good.

 

[Rastaforte]

Thx for the feedback AustinM!

 

[lettereleven]

I've been inspired by your thread alpinecowboy. I needed to fix a broken window motor, and while I was there, I thought "why not"?
I have a whack of the foam from McMaster, and Quietcrap from Mark.

I am curious about your doors. Did you use both QC and the foam in there? If so, how did you do the foam? It seems pretty thick and I am unsure how I will get the panel back on if I stuck the foam on the "wood".

 

[Cruzerman]

I'd like to do this in my cruiser. What will this do if water gets into the truck? I'm worried that if it gets wet inside the truck, water will get trapped and it will rust out the floor.

 

[SPANNERSPINNER]

Been thinking about sewing MLV to the bottom of my carpet kit to get the sound down. This post isn't making it any easier to keep from spending the money.