Update on Interior Heat and Noise Problems!

Hissses

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Here is an update on the Heat problem talked about earlier, There is now a kit available and as a bonus it reduces interior noise. Here is a copy of the E-Mail I recieved.

Original Message -----
From: Timothy Cox
To: [email protected] ; Timothy Cox ; [email protected]
Sent: Friday, September 19, 2003 8:05 AM
Subject: Viper Project


Hi Michael

Here is the latest on the Viper project. We have completely outfitted the interior of the car and got an immediate 7-8 db reduction in noise. We were not able to make up the HVAC insulation kit to fit around the a/c plenum box as the customer needed the car for a rally. I am trying to reconnect with the owner of the car to set up a time to make HVAC kit.

Background:
While all Vipers came from the same factory, this car may not be the best test case for taking pre and post measurements. This Viper started off as a standard 1997 GTS and the owner has added headers, a Corsa exhaust, an after-market fuel injection system and a nitrous oxide system. It now has 650 plus horsepower and runs so hot that the paint on the exhaust covers under the doors is scorched. The ceramic insulation pads inside the exhaust covers has nearly burned through both the aluminum shielding as well as the ceramic insulation itself. I am guessing that the temperature in the catalytic converts is nearly 1000 degrees—my digital thermometer tops out at 525 degrees.

I have a suspicion that a “garden variety” Viper GTS would record greater db reductions if the insulation did not have to “compete” with all the race gear under the hood. Once the HVAC part of the project, we will re-test the impact of the changes on the interior temperatures.

Materials Used:
AcoustiSHIELD uses a two-stage dampening and insulation system modeled after acoustic technology currently used in Ford, GM and Chrysler luxury cars.

Dynamat—a self adhesive rubber asphalt material that stops vibrations in metal or composite body panels. Damper pads are placed on panels that produce a “ringing” sound.

Heat Shield—a two stag barrier material consisting of a fibertech material with double laver of pure aluminum bonded to one side. Heat shield reflects 97 percent of radiated heat, has a high dampening factor which expands the effect of the damper material and has a thermal rating of R-18.3 which is equal to six inches of house insulation.

Here is what we did: We completely stripped the interior out of the car to determine what the factory had done to insulate the vehicle. Here is what we found:

Floor Pan: The insulation consists of a 3/4 inch thick multi-barrier material that is bonded to the pre-shaped carpet "canoes" which slide into the car’s driver and passenger floor well. The factory insulation has an aluminum barrier that is facing the metal pans that make up the seat wells. The carpet canoes are sporadically sprayed with adhesive to keep the carpet canoes in place. There was no insulation on the set back section of the carpet. When the aluminum side of the insulation barrier is placed next to a metal body panel, it becomes a single piece of metal known as a “bi-metal” sandwich—with no air gap barrier. We left the factory insulation bonded to the carpet and installed a sequence of Dynamat damper pads where no factory damper material was installed and we constructed pre-cut heat shield barrier insulation panels to create the “air-gap” that was missing. Both the damper pads and the heat shield material was bonded to the floor and transmission side wall, the toe boards and the seat back. The factory carpet/insulation canoe was reinstalled.

Trunk Well: The factory insulation in the trunk well consisted of standard type 1/4 inch carpet pad material which was bonded to the back of the pre-shaped (and poorly fitting) trunk well carpet. The insulation covered about 50 per cent of the trunk well area at best. There was no factory dampening material found in the trunk area. We left the factory insulation bonded to the carpet and installed a sequence of Dynamat damper pads. We constructed pre-cut heat shield barrier insulation panels to create the “air-gap” that was missing. Both the damper pads and the heat shield material was bonded to the trunk well walls, floor and gas tank cover assembly. The factory carpet/insulation was reinstalled.

Roof: Factory insulation in the roof area consisted of small piece of 1/4 inch carpet pad material which was bonded to the pre-formed roof headliner. We left the factory roof insulation bonded to the headliner and installed a sequence of Dynamat damper pads on the roof body panels. We constructed pre-cut heat shield barrier insulation panels to create the “air-gap” that was missing. Both the damper pads and the heat shield material was bonded to the roof body panel. The factory headliner/insulation was reinstalled.

HVAC System: The Viper heating, ventilation and air conditioning system consists of a square un-insulated plenum box located about two inches from the exhaust manifold. The heat radiation from the exhaust manifold, the engine compartment and external air radiates directly on to the firewall of the car and the HVAC plenum box. We found that the temperature of the plenum box measured 163 to 176 degrees after about two minutes engine time. Air is drawn from the interior of the car above the passenger foot well as well as from an air scoop in the hood. Because the temperature of the plenum box structure is hot—the air passing through it is super-heated. We recorded a steady temperatures of ambient air in the 125-130 degree range coming through the passenger air vent. Running the refrigeration pump reduces the air temperature about 20 degrees when the system is fully charged and operating. We are testing several thermal barrier materials that we will use to insulate the HVAC plenum from the engine compartment so that the walls of the plenum box do not absorb engine heat. We are also experimenting with closing off the hood scope air inlet so that the HVAC system only pulls air from the interior of the car. If this engineering give us the results we anticipate, we will produce the HVAC Kit listed below.


Acoustishield Kits
I have constructed four AcoustiSHEILD Insulation and sound damping kits for the viper as listed below. Each kit includes Dynamat damper pads to take the "vibration ring" out of the body panels and Quality Heat Shield panels to insulate all of the interior panels.

VIPER 9702GTS-FC 1997-02 Viper Floor Insulation Kit $199
VIPER 9702GTS-RC 1997-02 Viper Roof Insulation Kit $119
VIPER 9702GTS-TC 1997-02 Viper Trunk Insulation Kit $169
VIPER 9702GTS-A/C 1997-02 Viper HVAC Insulation Kit $159*

VIPER 9702GTS-CAK 199702 Viper AcoustiSHIELD Kit $619

*In production.


Attached are photos we took of the Viper to document the process.

Tim

http://www.quietride.com

374viper_pas_flor_damp-1_copy.JPG


374viper_flor_qhs-1_copy.JPG


374viper_floor_qhs-3_copy.JPG


374Viper_Trunk_Damp-gen_5D527.JPG


374Viper_trunk_qhs_copy.JPG


374vipr_roof_damp_copy.JPG


374viper_roof_qhs-main_copy.JPG


For more information you can contact:
Timothy Cox
Quiet Ride Solutions
Phone: 209-477-4840
Fax: 209-477-0918
 
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Hissses

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There we go, I got them back. And I though computers were going to make life easzier? Oh well :laugh:
 
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Hissses

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How much weight does the complete kit add?
Called and they were not sure of the exact weight but said between 5 and 10 pounds. The Dyno-mat weighs the most as the insutation is very light. He said he will get back to me with an exact weight.
 
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Hissses

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wow! I like it. is it ready to order?
I'm not sure as to the availability on all the parts but you can call

Timothy Cox
Quiet Ride Solutions
Phone: 209-477-4840
Fax: 209-477-0918

Can't wait to get mine in!
 
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Hissses

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Update from Tim Cox:
Here is the conclusion to the Viper Insulation Project. I have two dealers that are interested in carrying this product and I will be contacting them shortly.

HVAC System: We completed the Viper HVAC kit today using the 1997 GTS. As you can see from the photos, we have surrounded the entire HVAC box with a triple layer of heat/acoustic insulation. The inner layer is heat shield and the outer layer is highly reflective woven silica material with a flexible mylar finsh which can take temperatures up to 2000 degrees. Once installed, the edges are trimmed with an aluminum seam tape to seal the entire unit from external temperatures.

Since the HVAC unit is of the square box design, the kit includes four pre-cut ready to install pieces which cover the top, front, engine side and street side of the unit.

We also wrapped the plastic air chamber that sits on top of the box to reduce the “saturation effect” of the heat coming from the engine. Not shown is an ABS “cap” that will fit inside the top throat of the air chamber to block outside air from mixing with the return air from the passenger cabin. This car did not have a charged AC system so we were not able to record temperatures changes, but we feel confident that the insulation barrier that we have created will make a significant difference.

The air chamber insulation comes in five odd shaped pieces.

The Viper heating, ventilation and air conditioning system consists of a square un-insulated plastic plenum box which houses the AC condensor coils. The box is approsimately .080” thich and is located located about two inches from the exhaust manifold. The heat radiation from the exhaust manifold, the engine compartment and external air radiates directly on to the firewall of the car and the HVAC plenum box.

We found that the temperature of the plenum box measured 163 to 176 degrees after about 10 minutes engine time. Air is drawn from the interior of the car above the passenger foot well as well as from an air scoop in the hood. The temperature of the plenum box structure is hot—super heating the air passing through it. We recorded a steady temperatures of ambient air in the 125-130 degree range coming through the passenger air vent. Running the refrigeration pump reduces the air temperature about 20-30 degrees when the system is fully charged and operating.

Acoustishield Kits
I have constructed four AcoustiSHEILD Insulation and sound damping kits for the viper as listed below. Each kit includes Dynamat damper pads to take the "vibration ring" out of the body panels and Quality Heat Shield panels to insulate all of the interior panels. Kits come with fully illustrated instructions, and all the necessary spray adhesive and aluminum seam tape.

VIPER 9702GTS-FC 1997-02 Viper Floor Insulation Kit $199
VIPER 9702GTS-RC 1997-02 Viper Roof Insulation Kit $119
VIPER 9702GTS-TC 1997-02 Viper Trunk Insulation Kit $169
VIPER 9702GTS-A/C 1997-02 Viper HVAC Insulation Kit $159

VIPER 9702GTS-CAK 199702 Viper AcoustiSHIELD Kit $619

374viper_ac_unit_complete_copy-thumb.JPG



374viper_ac_cover_top_qhs_copy-thumb.JPG



374viper_ac_cover_bot_qhs_copy-thumb.JPG



374viper_ac_box_qhs-1_copy-thumb.JPG



Hope this helps. As you can see this is avalible from Quiet Ride Solutions. I am going to install it in my 1997 GTS and will let everyone know the results.

Also Tim needs a R/T 10 for a template kit for that model, if interested contact him at:
Timothy Cox
Quiet Ride Solutions
Phone: 209-477-4840
Fax: 209-477-0918
 

Ron

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What happened to your side sills!

Result of OEM cats + supercharger?

While the kit seems well thought out and appears like it would be quite effective, wouldn't a well insulated exhaust system, (headers on back) accomplish the same result with an unmodified underhood look?

Not to take anything away from this, just curious......
 
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Hissses

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What happened to your side sills!

Result of OEM cats + supercharger?

NOT MY CAR, :p I understand that the template car is raced alot and has alot of mods on it. This is the first time I have seen this on a car although there have been alot of posts.

This kit has 4 parts to the complete kit. This is the last part for the HVAC. From what I have read on this site it is not a good idea to wrap the headers and exhaust, could be wrong but that seems to be the general opionion. Also I think the exhaust is the major source of heat but not the only one. The kit reduces noise approx. 7-8db along with keeping the interior alot cooler.
 

James Bell

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Did Tim Cox ever find any dealers to carry his insulation kit? Has anyone done both the interior insulation and exhaust heat shields together?
 
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Hissses

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what was the latest result of the ac insulation job? Did it help like you thought it would?

I got my kit from Tim and I am going to take some temp and noise readings before and after I install the package. I was going to do a 65 mph cruise and WOT test for db readings and for temp I thought about letting it idle for 5 minutes and comparing the temps. Any one have a better idea let me know. James I have not heard who is going to carry the kit but have heard that there are 2 venders on the forum that will be selling it.
 

cwallace777

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Hello Everyone,

I wanted to let readers know the results from the AcoustiSHIELD heat and noise shielding installation on my ’96 GTS. Since the product is relatively new I could not find much written about it so I figured I would contribute my results for others benefit. I am writing this to provide information to other viper owners who may find it useful in some way -- I am not affiliated (nor do I have an axe to grind) with any of the companies mentioned below. Hopefully this comes across as generally unbiased and does not offend anyone – this is my first post.

Just for a little background, my car is a ’96 GTS. I have a Lingenfelter 540 stroker motor with Edlebrock headers Randomtech high flow cats and straight through 3” exhaust. As such, it is quite a bit louder than stock. I elected to install the entire kit: VIPER 9702GTS-CAK 199702 Viper AcoustiSHIELD Kit (includes HVAC kit). I purchased the kit from Jon B at www.partsrack.com (360-837-3937) who has been very helpful and informative on many of my viper parts purchases.

The original post stated that a sound reduction of 7-8dB was possible (even without the HVAC kit). For anyone who understands dB measurements you all know this is a tall order. Going into the project I figured that if I could decrease sound by 3dB I would be real happy (regardless of heat reduction).

The original poster also said that the kit weighs 5-10 lbs. The kit sent to me weighed a total of 29lbs, weighed with a postage scale accurate to 2oz, that does not include the weight of the adhesive spray. This was somewhat disappointing since I am trying to keep my car light.

I had the kit professionally installed by Marin Auto Stereo and Alarm (MASA Phone: 415-459-2636). They are very reputable in my area (San Rafael, CA). They said the kit was well made and fit with only minor trimming. I feel they did a great job installing the kit and properly sealing all the seams. In total it took 25 hours (yes 25) to install the full kit, which was quite a bit more than anyone expected. It should be noted that the car smelled like spray adhesive (kind of like the smell of rubber cement) for about a week after the install.

I took before and after sound pressure level readings in my car with a Radio Shack digital “Sound Level Meter.” The meter cost about $50 so it is probably not real high-end equipment but appears to work well. The measurements were A-weighted (human hearing) on “fast” mode. I held the meter at my ear level (I am 6’) above the center console with the sensor pointed towards the rear of the car. All the readings were done with the car parked and in neutral (Sorry folks, I did not have a co-pilot to do full throttle tests). So here are the results:
---------------Before-----------After
1000 rpm--------78--------------73
2000 rpm--------77--------------74
3000 rpm--------83--------------82
4000 rpm--------89--------------89
5000 rpm--------90--------------90

As you can read, the majority of the benefit was at the lower RPM range. I think as the RPM increases the sound coming from the engine directly is much louder than the exhaust sounds coming from under the car and the tailpipe. The sound in the car was deeper, more muffled and less ringing.

Even though it did not do much for the higher RPM range I am pretty happy with the result. I did not really want my car to be quiet when I was really hauling a$$ anyway. The kit provided a noticeable difference at idle and slow driving. I have no way to tell if it helped the heat problem inside the car – in the summer I may be able to give my SOTP impression.

It is hard for me to determine how worthwhile the kit would be to others. 25 hours of install labor plus the kit cost is a lot of money. If you enjoy working on your car and have the talent to completely remove and properly install the interior it is probably worth it. For my car, I feel that the majority of the benefit (from sound reduction) came from doing the trunk. If you have more exhaust noise than you want (inside the car) it may be worthwhile to install the trunk kit and decide if the other kits are worthwhile based on your experience there.

Hopefully you find the information I provided useful. Take care!

Craig
 

andrew8896

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Wow, I would have expected more noise reduction. I ordered my kit from JonB last week, and plan to install it as soon as I get it.

I have some VERY accurate heat and sound measuring equipment so I will take some readings and post what I find.

For a 25 hour install, I hope the benefit is noticeable…

Thanks for the info Craig.
 

GTS Bruce

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Too hot?Throw out the cats and restrictive exhaust.Too Loud?WHAT?NEVER TOO LOUD!WHAT? IT HAS A RADIO YOU CAN'T HEAR?WHAT RADIO?I LIKE THE SOUND OF OPEN PIPES!BEST PART IS YOU CAN'T HEAR YOUR WIFE OR GF!WHAT?! Bruce
 

andrew8896

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Well my kit has been installed and I am happy with the results, noticeably quieter.. less of the nasty road noise. I think every piece was important, but the trunk was the biggest improvement.

The only bad thing is the installation time; I guess that is too be expected with what you are doing though.

My buddy also bought a kit, but he is now selling his car, and the buyer doesn’t want the kit (I guess he doesn’t want anymore mods done to the car, funny I used to be like that when I first got my car). So his kit is sitting here in my garage… if anyone is interested it is un-opened. I will sell at very good price.

If anyone is interested send me a PM.

Thanks, Andrew
 
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Hissses

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Andrew, did you install the kit yoursef and how long did it take you to install the kit? I finally got to install mine today and it took me jusr over 8 hours to install the Kit. The only hard part is putting the panels for the B pillar back on and the amp back in as it is a bit thicker so the nuts do not reach the studs. I have some Db readings before and some drive readings. Will post as soon as I can take her out and check the noise and temp readings.
I am suprised how much louder Craigs car is with Edlebrock headers Randomtech high flow cats and straight through 3” exhaust. I have Belanger headers Random Tech high flow cats and Corsa exhauts and mine is 5 to 8db quieter before kit. (compared to his before readings)
 

cwallace777

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Hissses,

My '96 GTS is a 540 Stroker motor and it has straight through exhaust so it is not surprising that mine is 5 to 8 db louder than yours. I suspect that most of the difference is from corsa vs straight through exhaust.

Glad to hear that you got the kit installed in 8 hours -- that sounds a lot more reasonable than the 25hrs that it took MASA to install mine. The more I drive around with the kit installed, the more I like it.

Craig
 
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Hissses

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Well lets see, I got to take her out this weekend and do some after readings....

-----------Before-------After
RPM---------db-----------db
idle----------68-----------66
1000--------71-----------68
2000--------72-----------69
3000--------75-----------72
4000--------84-----------79
5000-------too chicken,ya I know

45mph/3rd---80-----------77
65mph/4th---90-----------86
65mph/5th---80-----------78
65mph/6th---78-----------76
wot------------92-----------90

I could swear that there is a bigger change than that. I sure sounds alot quieter and alot less road noise!
As for the temp change I drove a 2 mile circut with the windows closed and vent off. outside temp was 73 before and 76 after. Took readings of the foot box. It was 11 degrees cooler on the pass. side and 9 degrees cooler on the drives side. My wife and I went to a Car show Sunday and she said that it was alot better!
They numbers don't lie, but the old SOP says that this is alot better than the numbers indicate. The lack of road noise and the cooler interior are really nice.
Best part is the wife thinks it was worth it :laugh: and that is always a plus.
 

andrew8896

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Hisses:

My dad made the above post, together with a friend of his spent over 9 hours installing the kit on his car. They may have been able to do it in less time, but he takes his time when he works on his car. It worked out nice. I'll ask my dad about the recorded sound levels he noted.

I am split over whether I want to install my kit or not... with the nice weather coming, I am really not exciting about taking the car apart.
 
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Hissses

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Hisses:

My dad made the above post, together with a friend of his spent over 9 hours installing the kit on his car. They may have been able to do it in less time, but he takes his time when he works on his car. It worked out nice. I'll ask my dad about the recorded sound levels he noted.

I am split over whether I want to install my kit or not... with the nice weather coming, I am really not exciting about taking the car apart.

Andrew, I should confess on the time.. I have been working in a dealership for 24 years doing this kind of work on another brand. I must admit that the Viper was pretty eazy to take apart. It always takes alot longer the first time you do a job. And your right, if you are going to do a job, take the time and do it right! I tend to get picked on for being such a perfectionest. Oh well
 

PHILIP

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Does the old insulation need to be removed prior to installing the new insulation?

Was the original insulation installed primarily for heat or noise insulation?
 
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