Finally got around to doing something to make the interior quieter and insulate from heat especially on the passenger side over the exhaust pipe.


I glued some high heat reflective insulation above the exhaust on the underbody. Inside I used Peel & Seal and a thin layer of reflective insulation above that to cover the whole floor then reinstalled the factory rubber mat.


For the roof I glued reflective insulation to the headliner and filled the cavity with attic insulation.


For the doors I pulled the door panels and used peel & seal on the interior door skins and stuffed attic insulation in the cavity and taped all openings except the vents at the very bottom.


For the dash I stuffed attic insulation everywhere I could reach but I'm still getting some engine noise at low speeds but it quietens way down at cruise speed.


Seems to have helped a lot. The doors close with a good solid thunk and the air will freeze you out with the door to the rear compartment closed. Overall much quieter.
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Where'd you get the peel and stick stuff on the floor?

 

Picked it up at Lowes. Six inch by twenty five feet is about sixteen bucks a roll and I used just over three rolls.

 

I am envious. How much total time and money did you spend?

 

Total was around $125, time would total to about one long day although it took me about two and a half days in the heat. Heat index was 105 so I would work until I felt heat exhaustion coming on and then break for a couple of hours and rehydrate.

 

What's the end result? Was it worth it? Is it much quieter? Much cooler from the heat?

 

Well worth it. The only noise I hear is the engine when it's cold but it's much quieter at cruising speed. With the rear compartment door closed it's like riding around in a refrigerator.

 

Bro I am seriously envious. I have $125 but not the time to do it.
Insulation is a "real world" improvement. Improved climate control and reduced van noise is worth way more than $125.

I'm a bit anxious at the idea of having to choose/find the right materials for the project. Obviously you did it, but i am one of those guys that always thinks "what if there's a better product/material than the one I'm looking at?"....

Realistically I don't have 8-12 hours to spare anyway- it's just a fantasy overall.

 

nice idea. im also a fan of improving noise and heat Level.
i backed my whole Roof, all doors, parts of the floor, parts of the dashboard and the lower sides with Bitumen strips from Mercedes (self glueing) and over it with Card web (not sure thats Translation is correct- see Google "jehnert Dämmvlies) . This makes a huge difference while closing doors, crossing railways and whole driving.


Im impressed of your heat Isolation but to be honest, im not sure how effective it will be. the main Job this stuff does is to reflect the heat.
sure your only Chance to install it was inside, but now it will only reflect the heat that Comes from inside. maybe your Girl is hot, but i guess you dont Need to reflect her heat
it s just on the wrong side... put it directly in the doghouse would help best

 

Understand your point about the reflectiveness of the floor coating. I'm hoping the additional insulation I installed on top of it, which is reflective on both sides, will insulate and reflect some of the heat back down plus the factory rubber mat has a good bit of insulation on the underside.


As for the dog house, I found that on the engine side it had heavy insulation covered with an aluminized coating so I left it alone.


Now for the girlfriend part, you may be right about reflecting the heat. I make her keep the passenger window cracked so the smell doesn't bother me.

 

I am currently about halfway through insulating my '88 e250. So far I have done the following:
1. Glued reflectix to the inside sheetmetal and then to the back of the door panels. I then used rolled attic insulation (the denim kind instead of the fiberglass) to fill the door cavities.
2. I carefully removed the stock doghouse insulation and put on 2 layers of peel and stick hood/firewall insulation I got from summit (looked a lot like your peel and stick reflective stuff) on the inside of the doghouse. Then I put the stock insulation back on over it.
3. I pulled the instrument cluster and trim panels from the dash and stuffed any openings I could find with the denim attic insulation.
4. I pulled the stock carpet up and put down 2 layers of the industrial rubber roofing. I then put an extra layer of carpet pad on top of that before putting the stock carpet back down.

I wish I had taken some before and after noise reading. The difference is very noticeable. I don't have to turn the radio volume up nearly as high and it is easier to carry on a conversion with the passengers. I would definitely recommend this type of project to any passenger van people.....especially in older vans. Newer ones may already have this done from the factory.

I still have to give the other non-door body cavities the reflectix/insulation treatment, along with pulling the headliner and putting a layer or 2 of reflectix on the ceiling (this is more for AC efficiency). I want to find one of the carpeted/insulated doghouse covers for the cabin side of the doghouse, but haven't found one yet. I may be stuck making my own. I also need to address my door weatherstripping since it is old and there is a bit of wind noise. Not 100% sure if it is the weatherstripping or of it is the complete lack of aero that is causing it.

My overall investment is about what the OP said. I did most of it in a few hours a day over the course of a week......although I got my sons to help with the door part of it. The most time consuming so far was the floor. With mine being older some of the seat bolts didn't want to cooperate and installation with the stock hardware was a pain since the extra insulation added a bit of thickness to carpet making the hardware almost too short.

I have pics I can post if you want.

 

I was a little leary of using the attic insulation in the dash because of the possibility of the insulation deteriorating and small dustlike particles floating around to clog up my lungs but I went ahead and used it. Guess we'll see if kills me in thirty years.


Hmmm, I'll be ninety eight by then, guess it won't matter.

 

That is why i went with the recycled denim insulation instead of the fiberglass. There was discussion about the fact that it may hold moisture more than the fiberglass in the doors etc, but with the reflectix barrier any moisture would not reach the metal to cause a rust problem and so far i haven't found any moisture when i have pulled the panels to check. Those are my thoughts. I am sure others may have have a different opinion.