Members Audiopile Posted March 15, 2013 Members Share Posted March 15, 2013 In my personal quest to see just how much crow I can eat in a lifetime, I'm the new owner of well used but seemingly expensive (to my standards) Sprinter van... after my badmouthing them for years as being seemingly expensive to repair and a little to "tinny" and over-engineered for my tastes.Anyhoo... (cough... got a little of that crow stuck about 1/2 way down)... After a few intense days of flogging along, I have most of the really obnoxious squeaks, rattles, and clattering tamed down to the point where the rattling and booming of the bulkhead has my attention.Does anybody have any thoughts or seen some good ideas on taming the noise inherient in a steel bulkhead? I'm thinking of covering one side... possibly the cargo bay side... with 3/4" neoprene foam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dboomer Posted March 15, 2013 Members Share Posted March 15, 2013 We used to use spray-on undercoating in the old days ... but it adds weight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted March 15, 2013 Members Share Posted March 15, 2013 Butyl rubber flashing tape:http://www.homedepot.com/p/Quick-Roof-EPDM-Self-Adhesive-Rubber-Flashing-Tape-FT910/202267106#.UUNUa0eeZzwA few strips dampens the panel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Audiopile Posted March 15, 2013 Author Members Share Posted March 15, 2013 dboomer wrote: but it adds weight. That was my concern with adding neoprene foam... it will add weight... and might not really reduce the booming of the bulkhead, and might prove to be an exercise in futility... like putting heavier heads on a drum to try and make the drum quieter.Maybe sheeting it in plywood... even thin plywood like 3/8" might actually work better by stiffening the bulkhead so it isn't so boomy.I guess if I filled the cargobay with something to hold the bulkhead from flexing... that might work. I wonder how many cans of foam it would take to fill the cargo area of a Sprinter van? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bugzie Posted March 16, 2013 Members Share Posted March 16, 2013 Foam backed carpet. Thats basically what comes on the new ones and it works well. Why are you worried about such a small amount of weight? Those things are incredibly efficient as far as mileage goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Audiopile Posted March 16, 2013 Author Members Share Posted March 16, 2013 Bugzie wrote: Foam backed carpet. Thats basically what comes on the new ones and it works well. Why are you worried about such a small amount of weight? Those things are incredibly efficient as far as mileage goes. I'm not concerned about adding some weight... unless I'm just adding weight but not actually solving the problem.I've noticed that if I have cargo against the bulkhead, the bulkhead noise is virtually entirely eliminated (reduced by 99.9%+). I envision that adding more vehicles to the Tacoma Narrows bridge (Gallopin Gertie) likely wouldn't have eliminated the oscillations that destroyed the bridge: But, as I understand it, a well placed shock line (maybe as small as 3/8" and weighing pounds, not tons) if added to the bridge may have nipped the oscillations in the bud before they had a chance to start.My vehicle's bulkhead oscillates... fairly severely under some conditions... and makes a lot of noise doing so. Diminishing or eliminating the oscillations and thus eliminating the noise is the objective. The weight of the method of resolution is a minor consideration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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