1800: Sound deadening advice required

[Derek UK]

Originally Posted by swedishandgerman

Oh! I just re-read your original post and you’ve said the steering column thing is missing!!

Mine is a piece cut out of a yoga mat

Adam. You must then be in a position (sic) to supply everyone with a square of sponge. They are easy to make if you have the right sponge. Glue up the split after fitting to the shaft.

Also check for splits/leaks in the gear lever gaiter.
Don't soundproof the floor if you have any leaks around the windscreen!
If you are still talking, you shouldn't really have to raise your voice to have a normal conversation.

[Volvo Canadian]

I can vouch for the SoundDeadenerShowdown products. I bought a ton of the stuff which is the same as Dynamat, but he guarantees you only need to apply it to 25% of the surface area of the panel(s). It works great, ships in a small box and is easy to work with. I more or less stopped there wrt to their other products, but they know their stuff.

[Derek UK]

Long time no hear James, how are things electric? Progress report maybe? Pics are mandatory.........

[pookie]

There's a good friend of mine on this forum ( Mr Thirsty ) who has a P1800. He's done a fair bit of research and soundproofed his car. As a passenger I was astonished by the improvement he's made. I'll give him a call and mention this thread.

Salut!

Pookie

[Faust]

I used Silent Coat 2mm/4mm sound deadening in my Amazon: lined the doors, under the bonnet, rear bulkhead, front bulkhead, rear ¾ panels, floors… everywhere really. I then put Dodo Mat 6mm/9m closed cell foam (interior only) over the top.

Makes quite a difference! (was running with no sound insulation material before, and I was getting a ringing in my ears after long journeys as the car was pretty dam loud – and that’s coming from a Motorhead fan of 30+ years!)

Don’t know much about P1800s, but I found simply replacing the rubber gearshift boot made a noticeable difference by itself. If the sound insulation inside has degraded/is missing, it allows a surprising amount of noise and fumes into the car – as they are under 30 quid for a new one, it makes sense to me. Try running your car with a boot fitted... you'll see what I mean.

As others have said… if you’re going to line the floors, make damn SURE that there are no water leaks into the car – trapped water under whatever product you end up using is a really, really, bad scenario.

My girlfriend owned my Amazon before me, so she has no problem with noise and smells produced by older cars – guess I’m lucky! That said, a bit of background noise in a car can be useful in blocking droning from the passenger seat (only joking, love, if you read this!).

[MAMDaveM]

Lots of great advice on the subject. Now formulated a plan, which is,

Block the gap with foam where the steering column enters the firewall .
Double check that there are no other holes in the firewall
Check integrity of the gear lever rubber gator
replace/fix the missing gasket where the rear bumper support bracket enters the boot.

Sound proofing to be installed in 3 areas;

Under the bonnet, Dynamat extreme plus Dynamat hood Liner
Firewall - Dynamat extreme plus Dodo Sound Stopper MLV
Boot - Dynamat extreme plus Dodo Super Liner

Materials have been ordered and I plan to measure the Sound level baseline plus with each of the additions and I'll report back in a week or so.

For those interested in sound deadening the website recommeded by c1800 www.soundeadenershowdown.com is by far the best I've come across.

At the moment I'm not planning to remove the carpets and put sound deadening on the floor.

The noisy diff is a seperate subject that I will probably need to tackle in due course.

The advice as usual was very much appreciated THANKS!

DAve

[dingov70]

I was going to reccomend Dynamat or a similar product ( worked very well in old LandRover ! ) but was beaten to the starting line . As for eliminating "smells" replace any / all grommets & seal with high temp silicone , however an old car is always going to present it's aromatic features to those who least appreciate them . maybe a thick smear of Vicks applied directly to theri top lip may help , Who knows & keep me posted on that one

[Underdrive]

Ear plugs and a decent air freshener should sort it in the mean time, for less than a fiver!

[volvoid]

Ive got a big roll of bituminous sheeting, not the felt variety, not thick, cut pieces and stick it to all the metal panels where it wont be seen. Helps a lot.
Roofing felt will do a similar job. Can then use felt sheets over the top for more padding.

Is your diff knackered ? Does it have clean oil ? etc.

[MAMDaveM]

I'm sure the diff isn't knacked, just whines under drive. The sound isn't an alarming one, I seem to remember reading somewhere that the diffs can be noisy even when new. I did notice that there was a little bit of lateral play on the RHS driveshaft, but though this is because it needed shiming or I just hadn't tightened the castellated nut sufficiently. There doesn't seem to be much backlash on the propshaft and no clunking when taking up drive.