Sound pad necessary

[dipso]

How important is that sound pad in the engine compartment?
Mine is always loose and I don't like the way it looks anyway.

It is so thin and always loose, does it really work?
The engine noise already has to travel through the metal, through the back of the seats, and through the cushion on the seats to get to the inside.
Is the pad really necessary?

[vulcan300]

It can be removed if it is bugging you. If you look at many of the engine pics on this site you'll see that the pad on the firewall has been removed. Tearing it out was one of the first things I did when I got my car. As an added bonus, removing it makes it a lot easier to work in the engine bay.

[sc_rufctr]

The pad is not really necessary. If it's in good condition then having it there is a bonus but most people remove it if it's ugly/worn out looking.
You can still get them new but they're not cheap.

You may notice some extra sound in the cabin but a sheet of Dynamat behind the rear seat pad against the metal would fix the problem.
I wouldn't use Dynamat in the engine bay although according to Dynamat it's Ok to do this.

This car has had the full treatment but considered by many here as overkill... (not my car)

[geoz]

mine fell off even though it was supposedly new when i got the car ... so i helped it a little & removed it completely

[widgeon13]

None in my car but I have a new one sitting on the bench, just too much of a PITA to install. I suppose if I was listening to Mozart on the CD player it might make a difference but I'm just listening to the wraaaaaaaaaap of the M&K at about 3500 RPM so doesn't really make a difference to me.

[Zef]

Removed since day one...so far, so good.

[eapcpa]

I consider it extra parts.

[KNS]

You'll notice a difference in the sound coming into the cabin from the engine compartment with the sound pad removed. It's also been said that if yours is old, crumbling and falling apart, than it's not doing such a great job anymore at keeping the noise level down - so the difference with it gone won't be as great.
An air cooled engine is much louder than a water cooled engine and Porsche put lots of sound (and heat) absorbing material in the whole back half of the car because of it.

[widgeon13]

I wouldn't expect that the foam padding particulate getting sucked into the air intake does anything good for performance.

[dipso]

Mine isn't to old but I am putting on carbs and an MSD and I just thought it would look cleaner without it.
It will make routing and mounting easier if it's gone, I assume.

I guess I'll just remove it. I always figured it can't be too good for air flow if it is sagging.
Looks more like a fire hazard than a sound pad.

[mholbrook38]

I just pulled out the (hopefully) last remnants of the pad and it's associated crumbling foam yesterday. There was "dust" everywhere. I took my leaf blower and blew the engine compartment out for about 5 minutes. An amazing amount of dust and foam pieces flew out. Hard to see in the corners back there but I think it's all gone.

Frankly, I like the noise of my flat six and with the Fabspeed air box cover it makes a very nice roar when on the loud pedal.

[RoninLB]

sympathetic harmonics turns the whole rear metal panel into a speaker

I use Dynamat in the engine compartment and under the cabin rear seating area panel and parcel shelf


different strokes......