Tip for making a long drive pleasant, two words Options

[Demick]

Two words: Ear Plugs - or maybe it's just one word, earplugs. Who knows.

Having just returned from the WCC, my journey home was only about 325 miles (small in comparison to others). The wind noise, road noise, engine noise etc can get so tiresome on a long trip. Put in a set of earplugs and you will swear that you just got into a modern car. The transformation is unbeliveable. And I guarantee that after an hour or two when you remove them you won't believe the racket that your car makes. You will think there is something wrong with the car because it is so noisy! Earplugs made my 5.5 hour trip home a breeze. Even after spending a whole day at the track. Without them it would have been a very fatiguing drive home.

Demick

[MattR]

Hey Demick, it was nice meeting you at WCC. I'm glad to hear the drive home was (more) pleasent!

[McMark]

Good idea.

[TravisNeff]

here, here - hear? My fuel pump gave up the ghost in Indio on the way back. Brian was kind enough to untrailer his car, pop on some street tires and let me drive his car home while trailering mine.

[dlo914]

our cars either need a higher 5th gear or an additional 6th gear...i know ive had times where i was like this crap is noisey gotta shift higher and go into 4th thinking there was a 6th (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/wacko.gif) (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/rolleyes.gif) (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/laugh.gif)

[plas76targa]

What? (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif)

I've thougth the same thing, earplugs. Your car has a great sound tho' - what exhaust set up are you using?

I agree with MattR, it was good to meet you (Demick) also, as well as many of the others whose posts I've either read or participated in.

I did find the invoice for the Terrycable. I'll pm you the details.

Hope everyone had a safe and uneventful trip home. And for those still traveling home, stay safe. We want to see you again next year!

[Rand]

I don't think I'll ever use earplugs in my 914... or any other older car. I like to hear it if something starts to go wrong. Guess it's because I had a bad experience... I took a Suzuki Sidekick on a long drive with headphones in one time, and by the time I heard the rattling noise it was very loud and immediately threw a rod out the side of the block. We tore it down to see what happened... turned out a rod bolt came loose... we found it laying in the bottom. Must not have been torqued properly at the factory or something. Anyway, if I had heard it sooner I would have stopped in time to save the engine.

[nebreitling]

fun seeing you on I5, demick.

i ought to get some ear plugs for my truck. that thing makes so much wind noise i can't listen to the radio at 60 mph

[Trekkor]

For me it's : " car trailer " . (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif)

Smooth haul up in the comfortable, quiet, a/c'd cab.

Great to drive with you on the track, Demick.

See you at the a/x (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/wink.gif)

KT

[ninefourteener]

QUOTE (trekkor @ Apr 26 2005, 10:43 AM)

For me it's : " car trailer " . (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif)

For me it's "Road Head"

ROTF LMFAO

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/aktion035.gif)

[redshift]

lmao

m

[lapuwali]

No, just better sound insulation. You can't use a taller gearing w/o dropping the engine down out of the best speed range for the cooling fan. If you used a DTM or the like and geared the fan to spin, say, 2x the crank speed THEN you could cruise at 2000rpm instead of 3000rpm and still have good cooling. But with the fan mounted directly to the crank, no dice. Even if you did this, and put on a quiet exhaust, and used an airbox instead of K&N filters, it would only help so much. A great deal of the noise you hear at freeway speeds isn't the engine, but wind and tire noise. 30 year old rubber seals don't tend to keep wind noise out, and a significant lack of interior insulation doesn't help with the tire noise.

Modern cars are so well insulated against noise it's almost eerie. Sit in a new(ish) car with a window rolled down, not moving, engine off. Now roll up the window, and note how much of the noise disappears. Most of this is simply dedicated engineers working on nothing but "NVH" (noise, vibration, harshness), making endless refinements over the past 30 years to insulation materials and seal design. Nothing was that quiet in the 60s, not even a Mercedes (maybe a Rolls, but I have no idea for certain). I haven't tried taking a ride in a 1990 luxo car that was known to be quiet (say, Acura Legend, for example) recently to see if they're still quiet, or if 15 years have taken the edge off the rubber seals.

Earplugs do make a tremendous difference. The foam kind are plenty adequate, just don't try to reuse them too much, as you can get an ear infection from the wax that clings to them. Buy a $20 boxful and use them once. I was always struck, when I first started wearing earplugs while riding bikes, how much MORE I could hear with them. Light valve noise that was swallowed up by wind roar w/o plugs became audible. I could even hear the wind/tire whisper of a car next to me at 70mph, over the sound of my engine/exhaust.

[Gint]

QUOTE (lapuwali @ Apr 26 2005, 02:23 PM)

Modern cars are so well insulated against noise it's almost eerie.  Sit in a new(ish) car with a window rolled down, not moving, engine off.  Now roll up the window, and note how much of the noise disappears.  Most of this is simply dedicated engineers working on nothing but "NVH" (noise, vibration, harshness), making endless refinements over the past 30 years to insulation materials and seal design.  Nothing was that quiet in the 60s, not even a Mercedes (maybe a Rolls, but I have no idea for certain).  I haven't tried taking a ride in a 1990 luxo car that was known to be quiet (say, Acura Legend, for example) recently to see if they're still quiet, or if 15 years have taken the edge off the rubber seals.

Ha. I have. 93 Legend. I need to replace the driver's door seal as it is compressed and torn in a couple of spots so it lets in a little wind noise. But the passenger side is awesome. I can plainly hear the motor running at idle with the window open, but as soon as it closes, forget it. It's the first daily driver I've had that I can really expect to have a cell phone conversation in. All of my others have been way too loud.

I've done plenty of long trips in old cars including 914's. I have and will wear earplugs. IT makes a world of difference. And I agree, the foam units will allow you to hear catastrophic sounds for sure.

[Rand]

I'll try the foam plugs. I just won't be pumping the loud music into the headphones any more. I wanna hear any abnormal mechanical noises. Sounds like this is the ticket.
(IMG:http://www.masune.com/images/products/20562Ml.jpg)

[lapuwali]

When I was riding every day, I bought from these guys:

Northern Safety

They only sell by the "box", which is 200 pair, and one box is only $20. I bought two boxes, and still have some from the second box after several years. If you only use these on long trips, you'll find one box will last you for years. I also found myself using them in the garage regularly whenever I was doing something noisy. I have a pair of "muffs" for this, but find the earplugs are often more comfortable if I'm going to wear them for 2-3 hours at a run. Having lots on hand discourages you from reusing them, esp. when they're only a dime a package.

[grasshopper]

yup, nice meeting you, and thanks for the ride to lancaster.

[Joe Ricard]

Go faster and the sound can't keep up (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/mueba.gif)
I was hopin for "glue a set of titties on the dash" (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/chowtime.gif)

[Joe Bob]

I have kids.....so on long trips I let the wife drive and I use the foam plugs to either read, sleep or whatever.....BTW, the wife snores like sawzall...they are gud at night as well.

[IanStott]

I have a 90 Legend with 348,000 kilometers, my daily driver and it is still extremely quiet. My 74/ 914 will be quiet as I can get it within reason, so I ask which is the quietest exhaust setup?

Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada

[lapuwali]

QUOTE (IanStott @ Apr 26 2005, 07:03 PM)

I have a 90 Legend with 348,000 kilometers, my daily driver and it is still extremely quiet. My 74/ 914 will be quiet as I can get it within reason, so I ask which is the quietest exhaust setup? Ian Stott Moncton Canada

The stock system. It's also got just about the best power/noise ratio of all of them. Plenty make more power, but they all make more noise, than stock.