Insulating Material

[Rocketz]

G'day, I'm thinking of insulating the sides and roof of my T6. I've used thin mdf to make the lining and I'd like some ideas of the best/easiest material for insulating. Any thoughts?

[Sunny43.5]

Here you go this link will take you to our own van connversion that I did all the work on , New T5 Project Then if you look above in the sticky threads there is another van I did for a fellow Transporter owner here in Qld Insulating T5 "Another wet weekend and someone is getting a makeover"

[Lucas_R]

Insulating against heat or noise - or both? Different products do different things.

Have a look at the products this company offer: Car Builders

I recently purchased some Sound Deadener Stage 1 and the Mass Noise liner for the boot of my car to reduce exhaust drone/noise. Their customer service was very good and they were happy to discuss my issue and then recommended the most suitable products.

[Sunny43.5]

I will jump in here with 50 years of experience behind me with car interiors , as you would have seen in both my links I have used the same product for that same 50 years almost . Now it is Underlay 900 GSM it Won't absorb moisture Won't rot or smell 'damp' Easy to cut and work with Good acoustic and comfort performance . I think from memory its at least half the price of what Stage 2 is for a start for the same amount of meterage . Its not so much how good the product is its the attention to detail in application , the better its fitted corectly the better it works .
In all the vans I have done they are as quiet as most cars inside with very little road noise or other noise intrusions after installation . If you look at both jobs there are different photos taken at different times in one you can see lots of alloy tape covering up all the holes along the sides also same photos at the bottom of the body cavities there are rolled up 25 mm foam pieces which are blocking noise coming up from the road along the rockers and wheel arches . Inside the pillars where no acess was possible expander foam was used . You can buy the 900 GSM Underlay from your Nolans UDA outlet in Melbourne .

[Rocketz]

Lucas_R - I realised as soon as I hit "submit" that I should have specified heat or sound insulation I'm mainly after heat insulation but sound deadening would be a bonus!
Sunny43.5 - I've looked at your posts - I imagine that the stuff you use has to be "glued" over it's entire surface, am I correct? Does it have heat insulation properties?

I've been thinking of a product called Foilboard - basically a sheet of polystyrene with aluminium foil both sides - pretty much self supporting.

[Sunny43.5]

The product works both ways we have it in the roof and sides floor etc , most of those high priced products are just a product based on materials that have been around for the last 40 years or so , yes some of them are good at what they are designed for but at the end of the day a lot of other products will do the same . Yes the stuff I use is glued as it gives better adhesion , in my current line of work I regularly see those self adhesive materials fitted at factory falling off due to heat ! The main thing with doing this job is to get the most amount of contact with the body metal as it then works the best , if you look at the doors you can see the material is glued to the inner surface of the door trims as you cant get to the outer skin .Then you have to factor in side sliding door tailgate as well wheel arches as well . Look its personal choice whats used I was just letting you know what I would recommend , the cost for those fabrics on thats site will be very costly as you need a huge amount of square metereage to do a succesful job . Just as guide to do a proper job will use approx 30 square metres , 900GSM underlay is around $20 a metre on the roll 1.8 metres wide . So 15 lineal metres of Underlay $300 / Stage 2 x 15 lineal metres will set you back a shade over $900 a big difference .

[Rocketz]

Thanks for the prompt response Sunny43.5, I imagine that contact adhesive in a spray can would be the go.

[Sunny43.5]

If you can borrow or hire a compressor for a few days then buy a spray gun from supercheap , then depending on how much insulation and then maybe carpet liner on the walls etc a drum of glue from nolans would be the cheaper option . You would use dozens of spray cans and that stuff is not as good as the drum glue .

[Bryn23]

I have to agree with Sunny, look for high temp spray adhesive, clear is a better option than red, its easier to clean up than red, red also tends to stain on lighter products

A spray gun with a nozzle size of 2.0 will work fine, you will have to strip the gun after each use, as contact tends to gum up the gun internals, we just pull them apart drop them in a can of spray gun cleaner/thinners for the night, then reassemble, a 2 minute job

You will use more contact than you think, a 20 litre drum works out a lot cheaper than 4 litre tins

[Sunny43.5]

Don,t laugh Bryn mine hasn,t been cleaned since i got it about 5 years ago ! I use it at least once a week and never have any problems as they are pretty air tight as the breather hole gets blocked any way . On occasions I take the front nozzle off to clear but thats it .