Noise levels for a 2.0 L FI set up - interior vs exterior padding Options

[Tdskip]

Good morning, hope everybody’s having a good week so far. I know that from the factory there was padding in the engine compartment as well as having an interior back pad. My question is if I put additional sound deadening on the inside and then the back pad is that roughly equivalent to the sound pad that was in the engine bay originally?

I’m sure not having the pad in the engine compartment does lead to increased noise, but not sure how dramatic of an increase that would be with a fuel injected car.

I know this is a subjective topic, but looking for experiences and thoughts if you don’t mind sharing them. I’d like the car to be civilized and usable for fall day driving without feeling overly fatigued ( which I am comfortable doing another vintage cars and don’t feel the need to have a modern vehicle to do ).

Thanks!

[Rikyrat]

Hi all:

Thought I would weigh in on this. I recently repainted the engine bay on my teener. When I removed the engine pad, and scrubbed it, I was surprised to find that it was green, not black. I guess the years had not been kind, anyways, what I did was put fat mat on the firewall, and on the engine side of the mat. Fat mat would not stick to the oem mat, so I ended using contact cement to get it to adhere.
I am getting ready to reinstall the engine, so I don't know how much of the sound will be absorbed by this setup. But I figured, it could not hurt. I will update later

[bbrock]

Can't hurt but you'd be better off sticking the Fat Mat to the firewall and then adding the factory pad. As @Superhawk996 already mentioned, you need different types of sound deadener to reduce different types of noise. Fat Mat and the equivalent are constrained layers that are designed to attenuate the noise generated by vibrating panels. Tight adhesion to the panel is an essential part of the constrained layer system. The engine bay pad is a different animal that is designed to attenuate airborne sound waves like the drone of an engine. Adding a constrained layer to the factory mat will add mass so probably improve the sound deadening, but it isn't using the Fat Mat to its full advantage.