Mk 1 Mini and Sound Deadening

[cobolman]

I bought an unfinished 1960 Austin Seven Mini. I'm working to rebuild it and, as I do so, it raises more and more questions

2024-01-20_10-07-01.jpg

Today's question relates to sound deadening material.

First regarding the carpet. I still have the original carpet but it's destined for the bin as it's way beyond saving. But I note how thick the base of the carpet is. It made me wonder:
- Are replacement carpets equally as thick?
- Was underfelt originally fitted at the factory?

Second, regarding sound deadening. Currently, per the image above, my car is devoid of trim, seats, carpet, etc. If I drop something metallic in the car, my neighbours in the next town are on the phone to remark on the noise. It made me wonder:
- Was the car originally fitted with any form of sound deadening?
- How noisy is the car in use?

Thanks for any insights

[gs.davies]

I think it depends on the age of the car. The earlier cars didn’t have anything beyond a couple of dabs of felt behind the door cards and a felt under mat.

I drove mine to Italy and back without front door cards, no roof sound deadening, but with some felt under the carpets and a bulkhead mat.

It was very noisy at decent speeds but ok at lower speeds

This year I’ve decided to line it with alubutyl and get as much sound deadening in it as possible. I like to drive mine longer distances and dont see why it can’t be almost as ‘quiet’ as my old SPi was.

[1071 S]

It really does depend on your intentions.

Are you building an "original as you can" trailler queen? Maybe a "looks pretty correct weekend show car? Or maybe a useful fun weekend toy?

In response to your questions:

- Are replacement carpets equally as thick?

IME original carpet is quite, actually (very) thin..... There are still a few bits of what I think to be original carpet in my 63 and I would describe it a kind of thin felt.

Replacement floor coverings come in a million (almost variations. Did your particular model have carpet (most early ones had rubber mats)? You would be incredibly lucky to find "original" replacement carpets. So, again, does the replacement have to be right, look right or usefully replicate that which "might" have been there?

- Was underfelt originally fitted at the factory?

Yes.

Second, regarding sound deadening..................

- Was the car originally fitted with any form of sound deadening?

Yes, from the early 60s (probably from the beginning) there were fibrous sound deadening pads under pretty much all of the trim (floor, on the roof under the roof lining, behind the door and dash trim... pretty much any vinyl trim had a sound deadening fibrous lining behind it.

- How noisy is the car in use?

If you're inexperienced with Minis? the answer will be "very". Minis were a very advanced design in their time... however, NVH was very much an emerging technology...On long (couple of hours) fast (70-80mph) trips I use noise cancelling headphones. Around town, I listen to the radio.... Its not a Honda but back in the day, we drove them to work, took girlfriends to the movies and the beach ... its a car

BTW looks like you've got a very nice and well preserved survivor there... should be a very nice example with not a great deal of hard work.

Cheers, Ian

PS.. Just a personal opinion. I stay well clear of gluing that bituminous modern sound deadening every where. You aren't going to turn your Mini into a concert hall and it gets in the way when you need to access the floor, firewall etc during maintenance.

[Andrew1967]

My 65 S also had soundproof felt fitted to the headlining as well as the underside of the roof itself.

As Ian says, I would never fit the stick on black stuff myself. It has its advantages but isn't right. But does depend on what you want and as they say 'its your car '

[mab01uk]

As I remember when breaking many Mk1 Minis back in the day, the 'Basic' Minis had minimal sound deadening felt factory fitted and the Deluxe/Super/Coopers/Hornet/Elfs had felt behind most interior panels, headlining and under the carpets. many owners also used to add more in an effort to lower noise levels as the Mini was noisier and less refined when compared to other more conventional cars of the day...like say my Mums Ford Anglia 105E!

As most Minis leaked at some point...the felt under the front carpets especially was often wet for months and years on end, until the MOT tester lifted them to show the owner the rust damage below the soaking wet felt.

In the later 'Quiet' Minis of the 1980's the sound deadening below the carpets changed to a moulded shaped black rubber backed foam sponge which retained the rainwater leaks even better to rot the floors....In the end i used to remove the front carpets from my daily driver Minis during the winter months....

[Polarsilver]

Realisation why this ye-oldie Mini Driver is now Deaf..however dont need my Hearing Aids to hear the intake roar on a set of twin H4,s