I've dealt with a loud car for a while now. The sound insulation in the interior of my '83 wagon isn't nearly adequate. I'd experimented with using pillow stuffing type insulation before with some success, and a broken windshield wipe linkage as a failure. That story is for the asking... Anyway I found a new one, and this is a good'n. I went to home depot, bought 6 sq ft of their thickest, densest carpet padding, and padded the area above the passenger footwell and along the firewall, as much as I could reach. Result: dramatically reduced engine noise. So I went back and bought a lot more of it, took out the seats, pulled the carpets and put it all over the floor of the wagon. Once again sound significantly reduced, though not as much as the passenger footwell, which was apparently the source of most of the noise. Just an idea I wanted to share with people. My 19 year old car is getting more luxurious every day now...
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Isaac Babcock - '83 245DL and '83 244ti, "Sounds to me like I am right.." -JakeJ

sounds like a funky idea but for gawds sake, make sure the stuff you use is fire retardant.

Drive safe,

Bg Rich.
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'86 245, B230A. 161k. Old 200s never die, they just live on in other cars.

A couple other inexpensive junkyard ways to decrease noise are double up on the felt pads that go above the knees in the footwells. Also I carefully peeled the rubber insulation around the top of all four doors from an 86 or later and put that around the tops of the doors on my '83 245. Both noticable improvements.

I did basically the same thing for just a few more pesos - I used two layers of the "spaced age" insulation (ground up treated rags - pressed with a aluminized mylar) and sandwiched some dense rubber mat in-between. Then the carpet over the whole mess. Nice and santitary. It IS quieter but with a Flowmaster and a tranny with a noisy input bearing, that's relative.
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http://www.fidalgo.net/~brook4/oilslubesfilters.html

Hello Isaac:
My son and his wife have been using my 83 245 for the past 3 years while he finished his B.S. at UT Austin. It has 225K miles and he is planning to return it to me this summer. I will install a rebuilt B23 engine in it,and put in new KYB strut inserts,& strut bearings, plus a new paintjob.I will use your idea also. This is in addition to the complete clutch,motor mounts and all suspension bushings plus overload springs from IPD and SS brake lines and the leather seats from an 86 245. My wife and I are planning to drive it to Connecticut from Texasand leave it there at a relatives house for our summer travels in the future.
Beats renting a car for $1000 for 2 weeks.
LOVE those 245's.
Buena suerte, Genaro.

Hmmm. Does it really work out cheaper after insurance and maintenance?

you might also concentrate on the hood, which unlike many othercars, has no insulation. i believe ipd has a kit, but i'm sure you could fab something up on your own.

You can also poll the junkyards. For sure my car has underhood insulation, and I believe that all 240 Turbos got em. Perhaps some later models too. Doesn't do much for road/wind noise tho with the misaligned hood and sunroof and all. Gotta love the wagons - no @!#@! sunroof to mess with.

- alex

'85 244 Turbo