Austarion

I am now on a mission to make my car the most comfortable/quietest starion EVER.
I have purchased this and will be stripping everthing out of my interior.
What do you think the implications would be of filling body panels with expandable foam ? i wonder if it would prevent of assist rust ?

Having done some research on the net it seems foam is a common practice way or reducing noise levels and yet still remaining light. Rust does not seem to be a problem.

Try this stuff out, its awesome.


SikaDamp® 630

SikaDamp® 630 is a non-curing and lightweight self-adhesive mastic used for reduction of structure-borne vibration. Processed with an aluminium constraining layer, this material can be cut to specific size for each application. SikaDamp® 630 is suitable for any thin plate application from small appliances such as white goods (washing machines, fridges, etc) to marine applications as well as the automotive and transportation industry.

http://www.sika.com.au/cmi/pdfs/DAMP630TDS554.pdf

Some of the old super tourers used expanding foam in door panels as side impact protection. It works but causes problems with accessing window mechanisms and once in bloody near impossible to get out.

Yer greg, I wont be putting it in the doors, I stripped out my entire interior this sarvo ( took about an hour or less ) and started filling nooks and crannies with foam, the sound proofing should come this week, meanwhile the diff is coming out to have new seals put in. Should be quiet as a church mouse !I will be using the adhesive mats for the door panels.
Stuffing a lot of the really large areas with rockwool acoustic insulation.
should make a real difference to the driving comfort.

will be a bloody nice, comfortable cruiser when finished Daryl. :beer

Thats the idea for us old blokes Greg :beer

After stripping everything out it's amazing how pathetic the sound proofing is on cars of this age. I guess NVH wasnt a big deal in 1984 and thats why modern cars are so much nicer to drive. I have crammed a heap of rockwool sound insulation into every rear panel I can fit. when you tap on the sides of the car now with your hand it is really solid, doesnt sound tinny at all. I am filling every other space including even drilling holes into the A pillars to fill them with foam. Should make a huge difference for very little weight penalty.

and the added bonus with all that foam is if you ever launch it into a river it will float not sink, making recovery all that much easier :D

An other bonus might be that the insulation keeps the heat(or cold) out of the car.
But whatever you put in it to isolate, make sure it doesn't burn especially around electrical connections. If you have a bad electrical lead somewhere then the isolation could cause the bad connection to become extra hot.

Thanks Xentro, the floring stuff comes with special tape. Spent another hour or so this afternoon pouring another three cans of foam into everywhere I could ( where I couldnt get to I drilled a hole ) that now makes 5 cans of faom filler, one huge bag of rockwool acoustic insulation and in the next few days my floor and panel sound proofing arrives. Will post pics tomorrow hopefully.

all the sound proofing is now in and i started to install the carpet tonight. will post pics when i get my computer back.

what about using pink batts (the special soundproofing one) and stuffing that into every cavity you can find, with regular dynamat type stuff on floor, doors, firewall and roof?

Yes, here in Aus its called Rock wool. I stuffed the rear guards chock full of the stuff. When you tap on the outside of the car it is really solid. Every where else was drilled and filled with foam, even the A pillars.
Here are the pics including new carpet. I tell you the difference in the driving noise is simply remarkable, its like a brand new car.


This shows the side rails filled with the foam now coming out.





Notice the batts in the B pillar behind the door

Every hollow space is now fille with either foam of batts, evey panel is lined with Hushmat

what do you estimate is the total weight penalty?