Interior Questions

[BigDan3131]

This is aimed mostly for those running rubber floor mats with no carpet and or anyone with no carpet period. First off how noisy is the interior of your trucks? At cruising speed no radio with windows up, say at the speed of 60mph. Next, what have you done to minimize the noise again without putting in carpet with jute backing. If you have AC does it stay cold and with heat does it keep the cab warm enough.

I sprayed the top of my roof with the 3M Dynatron paintable undercoating I have been using for years and compared to the back of the cab without any its a thump sound instead of a tinny noise. I was trying hard not to do anything on the inside of the cab since it was nearly perfect but I noticed rust coming thru in a spot inside the roof area and that means I would have to paint it. So its either put another four coats of the undercoating on [which can be painted because it dries hard] or putting an ugly headliner in it. If I do the undercoating it will cover down to the top area above the windshield and all the way down to the floor behind the cab. I plan on putting it on the floor and firewall anyway.

[imjeff]

Noise is kind of a subjective opinion for most. I try to add sound deadening to every classic I have apart. Dynamatting the floor, doors and back of cab makes a big difference. I don't mind the sound of my big block so I don't want it too quiet! The AC works fine without any of it as it's a small cab.

[Cooper197]

A great alternative to Dynamat (and is far cheaper!) is FatMat! That's what I threw in my truck, but I also have carpet and such, and it's just as quiet as our 2001 Diesel truck is!

[Chevy1966]

Any of the old trucks, including the Squarebody series up through the '80s are going to have some level of undesirable noise no matter how much effort and $$ you throw at the problem. That being said you can certainly do some good with the materials available to us. First, understand that noise control is a science and involves a lot of physics. Noise comes from many sources and across a wide spectrum of frequencies. Different materials are designed to either deaden or block different frequencies of noise. Just like you, I am on a quest to figure this out and I have several vehicles to test out different solutions. A couple of my trucks have no carpet, but the lack of carpet does not seem to be the major factor in the sound level. First try to bring the wind noise under control by fixing the seals on your doors (good luck). If you want to talk to some serious experts in noise control, give a call to these people:
http://cascadeaudio.com/car_noise_control/index.htm
They are very helpful and will give you a lot of valuable information even if you don't buy their products. Let us know what you decide to do and how it goes. By the way, the A/C is no problem - there is a lot of cooling power for a small amount of space. --Rob

[doobiebro]

I can tell you adding dynamat under my rubber mat on my 60 stepper helped alot..

[donthekawguy]

The heat is what gets me. I don't even drive it when it gets above 85. The sound depends on a lot of things like mufflers and where it exits. I'm going to Lizard skin the underside of the cab and fatmat the inside. I'm also going to try the Honda Civic weather stripping even though I have no noise coming from the doors or windows.

[supercharged]

If you want a smooth quiet ride.....buy a Cadillac!

[BigDan3131]

Buy any new truck and its so quiet you cant hear the motor running. I think I will do a test piece tomorrow. I have a piece of dynamat and I will scuff it with a red scotchbrite pad then spray the undercoating on to see if it sticks, if it does then that's my answer.

I do have all new rubber seals and everything underneath will get sprayed too.