Rattling interior

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Mesozoic

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 30, 2011
Messages
415
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Location
Tucson, AZ
My Car
1971 Mustang fastback restomod. Caged, stiffened, lowered, on 17" wheels with 4 wheel disc brakes and Bilstein dampers. PST polygraphite suspension kit w/Mustangs Plus springs. Custom SEFI-EDIS8 EEC-V injection based on '96 Crown Vic harness (CDAN4 strategy). 90mm induction, LMAF, 80mm Accufab TB, Edelbrock Victor intake, 42# injectors, fully ported RHS Pro Action 215 heads, long tube headers. '69 351W stroked to 408 using Scat 4340 crank, H-beam rods, SRP pistons. Comp Cams 284 Magnum hydraulic roller cam, Canton windage tray and main girdle w/blueprinted standard pressure oil pump. Serpentine conversion using late model 5.0 parts. Backed by a built 4R70W, FB Performance 3000 RPM triple-disc converter, custom alum driveshaft, stock Ford 9" w/3.50:1 billet LS.
My car is old. Very old. It was almost certainly not expected to have survived as long as it has and as a result, the interior rattles when rolling down a bumpy road. The suspension is sport/competition level stiff with custom valved Bilsteins, lowered, lower profile tires, and the chassis made stiffer with a fully welded rollcage tied into the frame, along with welded subframe connectors. Couple a stiff chassis with 500+ horsepower and you end up with a '71 Mustang that could really use some sound damping in a lot of areas.

I think the doors are particularly bad for making noise - not entirely sure why, but they are. The dash panel may also be somewhat culprit. On newer luxury vehicles I've taken apart I've noticed that there is ample use of thin rubber insulation between panels and their mounting interface. Would it make sense to add some to my Mustang in areas like the doors and the dash? What have others done to remedy all the noise and rattles in theirs?

 
I just went through my doors and the biggest noise maker was the windows rattling against the felt covered stops near the top of the door. Its a metal bracket with foam covered by felt. On mine the foam was completely flattened so the windows rattled on them. I just glued new 1/4" closed cell foam to the bracket and recovered with some upholstery felt, now my windows track nice and make zero noise. I also went through all the door mechanisms and re-greased everything, and installed water shields. My doors are tight and quiet now. I also used the door panel clips that have the foam on them. Other than that I have gone through my whole interior and installed all new hardware and made sure everything was tight. You can't make all the noise go away, but my car makes very little noise now. My dash pad was another culprit, but I found that some of the hardware was missing from that too. I have used closed cell foam in a few things to quiet down noises, just try to figure out what is making the noise and use sparingly. good luck!!

 
Once a year I go through my car and tighten everything. You would be surprised how much things loosen over time and I agree with Omie01 on the doors a lot of noise comes from the window mechanism and just spend some time with the upholstery off doing as he recommended and you will see the difference. Remember these cars weren't all that quiet when new and comparing them to todays cars isn't fair. My uncle worked for Ford for 30+ years dating back to the 60s and his job was to find rattles and creaks and fix bugs on new cars and he told me some very interesting stories of things he found while doing this. So if your opening a door up for the first time in 40 years don't be surprised if you find bolts-clips and other assorted spare parts rolling around in there also the occasional zippo lighter or in my case a tube of poly grip.

 
On the older cars I build Resto mods I consider sound deadner heat isolation a critical part of the build. It makes a huge difference ! It starts with checking the unibody and its welds / joints for any cracks especially the front at the hinge pillar /shock towers/ front crossmember /fender aprons. Once you verify thats all good I remove the entire interior seam seal all the floor joints. 1 layer of raam mat then a layer of ensolite on top of that. Of course you need to do the same in the doors with a layer of ensolite between the door and door panel. I just did my green 72 this week..It's one of the best mods upgrades you can do !

IMG_1655.JPGIMG_1664.JPGIMG_1666.JPGIMG_1667.JPGIMG_1668.JPG

 
On the older cars I build Resto mods I consider sound deadner heat isolation a critical part of the build. It makes a huge difference ! It starts with checking the unibody and its welds / joints for any cracks especially the front at the hinge pillar /shock towers/ front crossmember /fender aprons. Once you verify thats all good I remove the entire interior seam seal all the floor joints. 1 layer of raam mat then a layer of ensolite on top of that. Of course you need to do the same in the doors with a layer of ensolite between the door and door panel. I just did my green 72 this week..It's one of the best mods upgrades you can do !
Nice work! :bravo:
 
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