Basic Dynamat Questions

[jage]

I've got 2 or 3 projects lined up for Dynamat but I've got some basic questions.

1. Doghouse
a. Engine Side
Pull the doghouse, clean degrease the current silvery insulation, and then apply dynamat OVER the current insulation. Is this right? Do I just add it to the current insulation? Any clearance issues?
b. Internal
I'm planning to add some to the doghouse under the console. Any issues with this?

2. Jeep
a. I was thinking about doing my Jeep Wrangler with some- should it go outside the tub on the bottom or inside under carpet, shifter and console?
b. Should I just do the tranny hump or the whole floors? It's a softop so this is more for heat than sound.
c. How well will this stand up to mud and water? The jeep gets extreme use and I don't want mess or rust as a result.

3. Fridge
a. Should I just dynomat over the existing gray cardboardy exterior?


b. Here's the planned areas:


If "C" is too much (too thick) should I leave the dynomat off or change the blocks in the fridge compartment?

4. Removal
Going backwards seems near impossible- can you remove Dynomat? How? How messy is it?

[scatter]

Jage - I put Dynamat over the outside of every surface on my fridge. But, I have the small one if it makes a difference as far as clearance goes. On mine, the fridge sits on rails on the floor and has a narrow space under it for cooling air. Gotta be careful not to block off any cooling air. The insulation seemed to help some on the amount of time the fridge ran on each cycle.

On the doghouse, I would remove the stock Ford insulation and put the Dynamat right on the doghouse itself. Then put the Ford stuff back on top. There will probably be a clearance issue in some places as it's a pretty tight fit just to get the engine in there. I think it's just a matter of going for it and seeing where the clearance problems might be. You can always remove some insulation where it is too tight. I don't know about removing the Dyanmat as I haven't had to do that. From the looks of it, just pull it up (maybe using a putty knife ) and then clean the surface with acetone or something. I don't think that part will be much fun....

Good luck on the projects and let us know how it goes.

[kzemach]

J-

I just put a Dynamat-like material in my van, so I can tell you what I did.

Doghouse: Agree with prior poster that you should go under current insulation due to charring and burning issues. Some history: When I first got my van, I put some neoprene foam OVER that stock insulation. I used a whopping 1" thick foam, and, well, near the turbo/exhaust, it burned a bit (damn lucky neoprene's got all the Cl in it, or I'd have probably started a small fire, but I was carefully checking it out after the install... had my extinguisher ready). To mitigate, I carved back some of the foam near the turbo/exhaust area (passenger's side), and covered the entire front surface with two layers of aluminum ducting tape to reflect the heat. Works fine now. HOWEVER, I would still caution you to put it under the stock stuff. Dynamat is PROBABLY fine over the stock insulation, but why risk it. Email Erik Badger; that's how he did it and he might have some pics of his process.

Under the console: I just did this by unsnapping some of the connects on the stock fiberglass insulation under the console and along the sides, then slipped the dynamat-ish stuff I used in there, and reclipped the prior insulation. Then, I ALSO did the sides from the inside, under the carpet as far as I could pull it back. I'll tell you from this weekend, that it STILL gets very warm, but hopefully it's doing something.

Under the van: Since the carpet is glued to the floor and I didn't want to deal with that hassle, I also crawled under the van, luckily the underside was pretty clean, and dynamatted the underside underneath the front cabin area. I can't say I noticed a lot of noise reduction from this though.

Door: I did the passenger door so far, and after I do the driver's door, I'll try to post some pics.

Fridge: I'm a firm believer that while Dynamat may be great at sound and heat, it's better for sound than heat. Thus, for the fridge, I used 3/4" foam on the sides, and I reflectix (the aluminum bubblewrap) on the top and bottom, making sure not to block the airflow to the compressor from the top or bottom. Seemed to help. I will note, and this really needs to be a topic of its own, but that fridge is a total POC. I can't believe that Norcold company has the gall to sell such a crappy unit. More in another post sometime.

Your Jeep: I'd dynamat on the inside, not the outside/underside if possible. Or, do both....

[Railvan]

I put Dynamat on both sides of the doghouse. See some photos here:

http://www.pbase.com/railbat/inbox

I left the Ford Dynamat-like insulation on the inside (engine side) and filled in around it. Then I added the Dynamat Hood Liner. I then reinstalled the Ford fiberglass insulation. I had to trim the edges of the Ford fiberglass liner, which caused the edges of it to delaminate. I ended up adding thin stainless steel bolts through the doghouse walls to hold the liner in place, and also to hold a thin stainless steel panel in place where the turbo pipe rests against the inside of the doghouse.

I added two layers of Dynamat on the outside (people side) of the dog house too. This will be covered with fabric to match the seats.

I also put Dynamat on the cab floor too after removing the open cell foam that SMB installed under the carpet. I removed the glue that held it down too, but that was a messy job. I used acetone to get the glue off. I added Dynamat and then replaced the padding with padding made of recycled rags. It is dense and the density helps dampen the sound.

Over all these projects helped quiet the cab quite a bit. It really helped kill the high pitch diesel clatter, and helped less with the mid-range engine noise.

Brian Rutherford

[kzemach]

Originally Posted by railbat

I put Dynamat on both sides of the doghouse. See some photos here:

http://www.pbase.com/railbat/inbox


Brian Rutherford

Holy Canolis Batman! You're a madman! Good job, but wow, that was a lot of work...

[BroncoHauler]

Jeremiah,

As far as the Jeep goes, I'd recommend something like LineX sprayed in the interior. Not as effective as Dynamat, but much more rugged. I have the entire tub of my Bronco sprayed and it made a significant difference.


Herb