Advice needed: Engine Pad – Yes or No?

[uptheorg]

I know that the 1973 RSR did not have an engine pad, but certainly that is a liberty I could take with mine considering there are much greater “transgressions” in the build of this car (3.6L varioram anyone?) But, do I want to take that liberty?

The builder/prior owner spent an enormous amount of time finding just the right tune for the exhaust and this was a major selling point when I bought the finished car: the exhaust sound was enormously satisfying when you hit the loud pedal.

So I had the car in for a host of other items including pressure-washing the engine because everyone wants to see it, lol. My Porsche mechanic, who has been working on my cars for twenty years, took it upon himself to install the engine insulation in spite of the fact that I told him beforehand that I didn’t want it. (He only charged me the price of the pad $107.00.) Certainly there are advantages to having the pad: less heat in the cabin, quieter cabin, better-looking engine bay.

My problem is the fact that the exhaust doesn’t sound the same! It is obviously quieter, but many of the higher “pitches” are gone and the deeper “notes” are all that come through. When I drove the car before the installation of the pad, I wore a high-end pair of earplugs that allowed all the pitches through and I still enjoyed driving immensely with them. I have come to believe that even the way the sound resonates with the body of the car has been affected because of the pad. I don’t need the earplugs now, but I am convinced that the sound is muffled in a way that I cannot abide by.

I hate to destroy good, functional work (the installation of the pad) and yet I feel that I must! If anyone can enlighten me to other reasons I should leave the pad in, please let me know. Maybe the muffling is only in my head? I asked a buddy who had driven the car before if he heard the difference and he replied by telling me his high-pitch hearing is gone from all the gun-shooting he did when he was younger!!!!

[Scott Clarke]

Sound pads can trap moisture, resulting in yet another potential rust-enabling issue with the rear deck. I got rid of mine with no regrets.

[Mr9146]

It's as much for heat as it is for noise. You'll be able to hear the engine just fine with it, and the lighter weight one that is available doesn't do much to cancel noise in my opinion. But the heat transfer into the interior through the firewall is reduced with the addition of the engine pad.

With all due respect to Scott, I've not had a problem with them trapping moisture ... these cars don't see the type of use they once did, and even the occasional introduction to a torrential downpour or getting caught in snowstorm in Yellowstone last June didn't make much difference to my car. Of course, if you leave the car parked outside, uncovered, through the seasons then I think the moisture retention may become a problem.

I've run cars both ways - with and without the engine pad - and I will probably have one in every street car I own from now on. Theme cars and racecars are obviously different animals.

EDIT: I don't think I was much help.

[Scott Clarke]

In my case, the sound pad took water from a leaky and plugged sunroof drain tube and distributed it across nearly the entire surface of the rear deck, turning what would have been a local patch into a wholesale panel replacement. Also, it concealed all of this damage from me, the not-so-experienced, first time 911 purchaser.

[Mr9146]

In my case, the sound pad took water from a leaky and plugged sunroof drain tube and distributed it across nearly the entire surface of the rear deck, turning what would have been a local patch into a wholesale panel replacement. Also, it concealed all of this damage from me, the not-so-experienced, first time 911 purchaser.

OUCH. That's rough ... especially on your first 911. Another reason I'm a non-sunroof coupe kinda guy.

[Scott Clarke]

Yep, no sunroof on the next one!

[Xavier PJB]

Very good question, which made me think of it :
I will remove the engine pad, for 3 reasons : First I already drive my car with earplugs, I need to get warm (heating has been removed), I hate rust.

You are talking about a RSR and liked the sound of it before, REMOVE IT !

Cheers
Xavier

[Cliff]

The new one I had in my 912 burned like a candle!

[NorthernThrux]

If you are going to take the liberty, there are plenty of sound deadening materials that don't trap moisture. You could get a pad cut out of one of those materials instead of the OEM style.
Or use those same materials on the inside under the parcel shelf etc. Should accomplish what you want.

[RickS]

When the car was stripped for paint, it had the original crumbling pad - but no rust even with a sunroof (had to throw that in). I also discovered that the PO had installed Dynamat on the rear shelf and down the front of it. Obviously he wanted a quiet car. I had the sound pad removed but left the Dynamat (weight be damned!) and the sound level is just fine, even with a sport muffler - with no increase in cabin heat. When cruising, conversations can be held at a normal level but at wide open throttle the bark from the sport comes through nicely. Eastwood has a lessor weight product the may work just as well. So there is an alternative to reinstalling the maxi-pad, and in my humble opinion (OK not that humble) the engine compartment also looks cleaner - improper, but cleaner.