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Noisy / loud while driving

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HondoMan View Drop Down
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Joined: 17 Aug 18
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    Posted: 17 Aug 18 at 09:42
I have a 1990 T3, I bought three years ago.  I love the beast!  Done quite a few upgrades and work is still in progress.

One issue I have is the loudness whilst driving.  When I'm on the motorway, windows up, I cannot have a normal conversation with a passenger next to me, without say, 'eh'? every 30 seconds.  I padded the floor under the rubber matting, which honestly did FA. 

If anyone else had this issue, what can be done to dampen the noise?  I'm sure it has to do with head or front winds and an uninsulated driving compartment. 

The bus is former army and a wall directly behind the driver and passenger.  I'm sure this has FA to do with the rear placed motor.


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Pete Westy View Drop Down
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Joined: 16 Aug 07
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Pete Westy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Aug 18 at 18:26
I had the same problem with my 1990 Atlantic when I bought it.
Noise reduction is a pretty complicated (and expensive) subject.
The first major improvement was to replace all the old rubber door seals and then the cab window seals. This was a major improvement. The next step was to fit new front wheel bearings and new tyres, this also made a big difference. I'm currently running on Hankook and very happy with them.

The next and very important step was to remove all the works standard fiberglass insulation behind the panels. (This gets soaking wet and rots your van from inside) repairing and refitting the 
Replace any existing insulation with self-adhesive closed cell foil-backed insulation stuck to the panels. Fit this to the skin door panels, under the carpet and behind the dash. I used stuff about 6 or 7 mm thick.
I also removed the cab headlining and stuck it to the cab roof. This made a big difference too. I next stuck this all over the floor and sides and back as far as I could.

My ventilation fan motor failed and I had to remove the whole heater/vent box. When it was out I could see that all the foam seals on the flaps had turned to powder. Replacing these seals also made an unexpected noise reduction

The other major noise reduction was repairing and properly fitting the engine undershield. If yours is a diesel, this makes an enormous difference.
If you look on 7zap you can see where VW fitted the sound damping originally.
Hope this helps
Pete



I've spent so much time under the Atlantic I'm changing my name to Titanic.
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