Engine Sound Pad questions

Sonic dB · Sonic dB's Garage

Im gonna start using 911 on sales calls and will need to tone it down a bit. Currently the engine sound pad is missing.

Q)

1) Is it easy to install a new engine sound pad WITH the engine in place? or must the engine be dropped first?

2) What is the effectiveness of sound reduction with the OEM sound pads over not having one? 20%....50%? What can I expect will happen to deaden the sound after installation?

Thanks

RoninLB · 09-05-2003, 07:59 PM

are you saying that customers will be in your 911?

Sonic dB · Sonic dB's Garage

Occaisionally... also the Regional manager will travel with me a couple of times a quarter.

Its also to be able to hear people talking and vice versa when I make phone calls while driving....using a headset of course.

Guess I will have to do something about the A/C too....though Im personally happy to just put the top down.

GB83SC · 09-05-2003, 08:44 PM

sound pad does very little and yes the engine needs to be droped to do it proper. You would get better results with sound insulation under the carpet.

Sonic dB · Sonic dB's Garage

GB.... would you suggest removing the back seat and lay down Dynamat there and under the carpeting?

GB83SC · 09-05-2003, 08:55 PM

Yes, there have been a few treads in the past months about how quiet it makes it.

GB83SC · 09-05-2003, 08:59 PM

Here it is--

Sound deadening works too well

Sonic dB · Sonic dB's Garage

Cool Ill check it out thanks!

Sonic dB · Sonic dB's Garage

* That thread is a little confusing, as evident by the last question in it which went unanswered.

After you pull up the back seats....is there already an OEM layer of sound deadening that was put in there by the factory?

If so...do you have to rip this out in order to install the Dynamat (or equivalent) in its place?

Anyone?

GeorgeM · GeorgeM's Garage

Here's another thread on the stock sound pad alternative.

thread

speeder · speeder's Garage

From everything that I've read around here, it seems that the factory pad doesn't do much. The padding on the inside of that wall is probably as much or more for heat shielding as sound, but I believe it was RallyJon put Dynamat or equivalent on the inside and said that it was too quiet. He couldn't hear his motor, so it definitely works.

I think that you can install a factory sound pad or some replacement w/ a partial engine drop, ie. just remove 2 bolts that hold motor up to the rear of the car and carefully, (slowly), lower the motor with everything else still hooked up including axles, etc. It is a piece of cake w/ rear of car on jack stands and a good floor jack+ a piece of wood between jack and case of motor.

I am very interested myself in putting something better than the stock pad in its place.

RoninLB · 09-06-2003, 12:56 PM

IMO the higher frequencys will be deadened but not the lows. So if you have a loud muffler it will still be loud, only cleaner. Like tranny and road noise will be deadened. I'm not a pro........Ron

fintstone · fintstone's Garage

I was able to replace my factory sound pad without even partially drpping the engine. It wasn't too difficult. Unfortunately, I noticed no difference in noise level. Mine is a targa, though...so it might not be the same for a coupe. I intend to add the dynamat later. One thing which does help a little in my targa is to keep the seatbacks upright instead of folded down.

Elombard · 09-06-2003, 02:19 PM

It might be an age thing too. The factory sound deadening in my 73 was pretty well dead. The rubber was fine of course but the foam was totally decayed due to heat moisture and time. I would suspect an 86 car to be getting pretty tired too. I would think the factory rubber stuff would be similar to dynamat in its properties, I am sure the dynamat is superior however. I wonder what they use in a new (996) I bet it is pretty good. I wonder how expensive it would be?

I just put Pep Girls sound pad in mine and I am thrilled with the results, $10 bucks, easy install, very light weight and result is very quiet and keeps the heat out better. I think I gave more details in one of the above attached threads. One thing the sound pad alone wasnt that great, but when combined with the carpet it became very quiet.

Elombard · 09-06-2003, 02:21 PM

One more thing. AppBIZ is making an aftermarket engine sound pad now, I thibk Wayne is selling them, they sound neat, are light weight and are shiny silver (like foil) on the engine side. I bet it looks good in the engine bay. Might check that out if you have not seen it.

JCR · 06:55 PM

I installed dynamat and a factory (from Pelican) sound pad on the engine side.

The sound pad was easy to do with engine in and air filter housing removed. What I did was first do a test fit to find where the bottom edge should go to line up the top. Spray both bulkhead and pad with 3M trim adhesive. I put a thin plastic dropcloth (cut to fit) over the glued pad to make it easier to fit without the whole pad sticking.

Start at the bottom, make sure everything is straight and press glue along bottom edge. Peel away the plastic as you work your way up from the bottom.

I'm happy with the results.