At the stage when I can put the interior back into my falcon, but I'm deliberating whether I should reuse the factory sound deadening/underlay I have or replace with a superior modern alternative. Its a multi-coloured material with a silver foil backing, and is still dry and largely intact. Is there any disadvantage with reusing it? What's it actually made from? Synthetic wool? Is it safe to handle? I'm probably overthinking, as usual, but if there's a far more effective sound deadening material on the market then I figure now's the time to fit it. Here's what I have now (sorry for the bad pic!!)
OK, that's reassuring. So 60's Fords like this didn't use asbestos or anything nasty in the insulation?
Not that I'm aware of... The only major asbestos that I'm aware of was used in the brake shoes/clutches of the time.
I worked in the Ford Trim and Seating Department in the '70s for a few years (before I moved over to engine design and development - but that's another story) and designed parts such as those. Modern cars have much better sound insulation materials - even the aftermarket stuff. So I would upgrade. That stuff was made of old shredded rags - mostly cotton. Most of our suppliers were from the South - Carolinas , Tennessee, etc., where the carpet industry was located. It is important to bond the material to as much of the interior metal as possible, especially the large panels like floor pans and firewalls. Good luck with your project.
I have not investigated a car newer than 2005 but, I have looked at some of the early 2000's in the pic-a-part. They still use that kind of material in some cars. They also use the tar paper type of material with it as well. Better cars have more of each
@Boulderdash Maybe three words from your original post will help you decide. Here it is: "superior modern alternative"
Hot rodding is about making it better than factory, I would suggest going with the more modern insulation, I used it in my 1932 Ford sedan last year and was amazed just how much quieter it was, it also does a excellent job of deflecting the heat from the firewall and floors. HRP
This is exactly correct right here ^^^^^^^ @Crazy Steve this will give you a chuckle. I was heling a guy with a '55 Ford the winter before last. he had pulled the floor covering out of the car to repair the floor boards. NOTE repair not replace. We hung the sound deadener over the railing in the back of the garage because it was wet. After it dried out it showed its age but it was solid as anything we could buy. He had a roll of cut pile carpeting like they used in euro sports cars in the '60s. We cut it and lay it right down over the original sound deadener and called it custom.
I used this sound/heat deadener before putting original insulation back in my falcon. Stuff worked well, was cheap and is low profile so not to visually distort the original look. eBay 1 box was enough for my convertible. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
No reason not to. Also, the modern stuff is much better, and some of it isn't bad priced, so its more a matter of your choice/budget
When I did mine, I purchased a reproduction replacement of the original stuff. Hard to work with and hard to keep glued in place. In the end I tore it back out and threw it away. Replaced with FatMat and don't regret it.
As usual, there are pros and cons to be considered. Re-using the original stuff is free. Buying the new, modern stuff means paying new, modern prices. Re-using the old is fast and already custom fitted. Buying new is a bigger project but will eventually also be custom. If you think you may be doing some metalwork later on, the old stuff could be simpler to deal with. (Such as having to repair after an accident.) The new, modern stuff is heavy because it works on the principle of adding mass. A few rolls of it will add up to 100 pounds pretty quickly. The old stuff is a small fraction of that. But if the trade-offs don't bother you, the new stuff can make an old clunker as quiet as a luxury car. The old stuff, not so much. There's also the option of a hybrid, blend of products. Sound waves don't actually penetrate metal. The waves strike the metal causing it to vibrate like a speaker cone which reproduces the same noise on the other side. A little bit of deadening in the center of a panel gives you the most benefit, with a decreasing benefit as you deaden farther out toward the edges. This means you can get a lot of benefit from a little deadening. For example, 1" strips every 6" in a basketweave pattern could kill 50% of the noise but with only adding 10% the weight of a full coverage application. Replacing the old stuff over the strips will be a big improvement compared to what you had before. Also, if you are determined to forge ahead with the "new" stuff, you don't have to cover every square inch as though you are building a waterproof boat for a Flex Seal commercial. Some gaps and stopping short of fully covered corners and edges will result in very little, if any, noticeable noise increase...... and it might save some unnecessary extra weight. There's really no wrong answer to the question of which to use and how much. It like any other car project. Do you want a show car or will a little patina be no big deal?
I'll disagree with that statement. One advantage to the factory underlayment is it fits without gluing it down. Unless something has changed recently, the factories generally use mechanical means (if any) rather than glue to retain the padding. The issue with glue is if you need to remove it later for any reason, you're replacing; it'll be trash after you rip it out. If you have wiring concealed under the carpet (fairly common) and need to troubleshoot it, you can have a mess quickly. By the mid '50s, the OEMs were paying increasing attention to NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) and the cars were pretty quiet as long as everything was in good condition. Heat transfer is rarely an issue. I will agree if you have an early car (pre-49) something more may be needed as these cars were generally poorly insulated and a engine swap tends to up the heat radiated into the car. The modern insulation is very helpful for these. My avatar needs help in this, but will require new carpet because the PO glued it down... If you're going for bank-vault quiet, it's relatively easy to attain that these days. But this also tends to divorce you from the vehicles 'feel', and that's one of those intangibles that makes these what they are.
Another advantage I forgot to mention in my first reply, the Kilmat insulation not only deflects heat but creates a interior environment were you can carry on a conversation without yelling. HRP
I would think more like a competition oriented hot-rodder in choosing anything that goes inside the cockpit of a vehicle. Such questions as: 1. In case of a fire would it retard or feed the blaze? 2. In case of a roll-over is it going to impede a speedy exit from the vehicle? 3. Does it add to driver comfort in creating a psychological benefit, such as a. Sound deadening. b. Heat resisting, and possible fire retardant? I am sure others will be able to add to this list, according to their particular needs.
If you're buying new carpet it may come with new padding underneath, so check that first before making a decision. One other thought - take a good sniff of the old stuff, to make sure it doesn't smell musty or like mice pee.
I would love to see a vehicle`s floors after it had been driven ALOT with stick on floor deadner. Say 20 years later. Temperature change thru the seasons.
The stick on sound deadener that is available now was not around 20 years ago, most have only been available the last 8-10 years. Most of the modern stuff is made from Bute, not some sort of asphalt base like the early stuff was. The Bute has no smell, and is good for a pretty wide range of temps, -40 to +220, and it sticks really well. I guess time will tell. I'd have less concern about whats on the floors then I would about whats stuck on the roof. The stuff stuck to the roof of my coupe has been there for 4 years now, and it sits outside year around in northern IL. So far, all is good. Gene
I still would like to see what happens. Most cars sit in cold storage. And aren`t driven. Just look what happens to the mechanical side of the spectrum.
Any pictures of the car? We are beating to death this insulation topic... I want to see the Falcon Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I used Fat Mat Rattle Trap on my car. Half the price of Dynamat. More flexible too stretched nice using a good roller and a heat gun.
My local yard where they know me and let me pull my own parts just got in two '90s vintage stretch limos. The next warm day when I can get out there, I'll be pulling up about an acre of carpet in those cars (both have surprisingly clean interiors) to get all of the sound deadening material under that carpet for Ozelle the '55 Ford. Does anybody else remember those commercials for the '65 Ford LTD claiming that the Ford LTD was as quiet as a Rolls-Royce?
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