Hotrdd
New member
Need help with a Ford E350 interior noise and steering question.
Useful details
Advanced 4x4 conversion
38" tires, 305 wide
Was told its a bigger turbo
4" exhaust from headers all the way back.
8" lift on the van.
In the process of converting an Advanced 4x4 7.3L Ford E350 van. The van is a 2002 Ford E350 that started life as a cargo van but we have since ripped everything out of the inside and started to convert it to a passenger / cargo for towing. What we have done so far is install 1/2" rigged foam to the rear of the van with, L-Track for all of the seats and then 1/2" plywood covered with commercial carpet tiles. In the front of the van the doors have 5mm thick sound deadening on the inside of the doors and then hush mat on the surface before putting the door covers back on. The floors and dog house area have several coats of AL's Heat and Noise and then a layer of hushmat and then commercial carpet. The inside of the dog house was redone with sound deadening and then two layers of the dog house insulation. I combined from two dog houses to try and make it as quiet as possible.
NOISE
So I've spent a lot of money on sound deadening material but the noise in the cab was still really bad 67 - 73 decibels. On the trip down the noise was horrible but after trying to reseat the dog house it was much quieter on the way home but still in the high 60's. When the turbo kicks in or its under boost we are looking at the 70's. I need help trying to figure out what to do next. The back of the van is still a shell but I need to address the noise from the front first. If I can't drop the decibels a ton I'm going to have to ditch this van and go look for something else that doesn't require earplugs to drive in. While the decibel numbers may not mean much consider that I need to talk just below a yell in order for my spouse to hear me in the passenger seat. If the van was under boost forget about talking at all. What I am comparing this to is my old 99 E350 7.3L that was 2wd and 3:55 gearing. That van was still not super quiet but was good for long trips without all the fatigue. This new van is horrible and requires active noise cancelling headphones or earplugs for longer trips. I thought the new van would be much better after we added all of the additional sound deadening. Plan is to run some more tests today and see what I can find.
1) dog house - The seal on the doghouse is in really good shape but is there a video on how it should mate to the metal surface. It looks like there are almost two seals in one, but while the rounded part of the seal fits nice up against the metal doghouse I can't figure out what the other portion of the seal is for that looks like it should go over or around something?
2) exhaust and turbo - Is there anything I can do to the exhaust and turbo to quiet them down? Do find places to add more sound deadening or some sort of blankets to quiet this thing down. OR maybe I need more sound deadening on the floor? I really need some ideas that hopefully I can test before investing a ton of money and not getting results.
STEERING
Have a question about my steering and if it can feel any better. I just finished a 16 hr. road trip with the van and except for the noise above the other thing that felt weird at times was the steering. The van runs really, really straight and true but at times over 60 mph the van felt like it was floating, hard to explain but the best description was like water skiing just outside the wake or driving on a couple inches of loose gravel. While I was driving on asphalt the van would start to sway slightly. I think maybe the lift of the van exaggerates it but my wife would ask me if it was windy because the van was moving a lot. I found on the return trip that relaxing my grip on the wheel and allowing the van to track actually made the ride feel better. Is this as good as it can get or should I expect a more solid feel? I noticed looking at some of the ford trucks that they have two steering cylinders under the trucks but my van only has one. Should I be adding something to the front to make the steering feel tighter?
Useful details
Advanced 4x4 conversion
38" tires, 305 wide
Was told its a bigger turbo
4" exhaust from headers all the way back.
8" lift on the van.
In the process of converting an Advanced 4x4 7.3L Ford E350 van. The van is a 2002 Ford E350 that started life as a cargo van but we have since ripped everything out of the inside and started to convert it to a passenger / cargo for towing. What we have done so far is install 1/2" rigged foam to the rear of the van with, L-Track for all of the seats and then 1/2" plywood covered with commercial carpet tiles. In the front of the van the doors have 5mm thick sound deadening on the inside of the doors and then hush mat on the surface before putting the door covers back on. The floors and dog house area have several coats of AL's Heat and Noise and then a layer of hushmat and then commercial carpet. The inside of the dog house was redone with sound deadening and then two layers of the dog house insulation. I combined from two dog houses to try and make it as quiet as possible.
NOISE
So I've spent a lot of money on sound deadening material but the noise in the cab was still really bad 67 - 73 decibels. On the trip down the noise was horrible but after trying to reseat the dog house it was much quieter on the way home but still in the high 60's. When the turbo kicks in or its under boost we are looking at the 70's. I need help trying to figure out what to do next. The back of the van is still a shell but I need to address the noise from the front first. If I can't drop the decibels a ton I'm going to have to ditch this van and go look for something else that doesn't require earplugs to drive in. While the decibel numbers may not mean much consider that I need to talk just below a yell in order for my spouse to hear me in the passenger seat. If the van was under boost forget about talking at all. What I am comparing this to is my old 99 E350 7.3L that was 2wd and 3:55 gearing. That van was still not super quiet but was good for long trips without all the fatigue. This new van is horrible and requires active noise cancelling headphones or earplugs for longer trips. I thought the new van would be much better after we added all of the additional sound deadening. Plan is to run some more tests today and see what I can find.
1) dog house - The seal on the doghouse is in really good shape but is there a video on how it should mate to the metal surface. It looks like there are almost two seals in one, but while the rounded part of the seal fits nice up against the metal doghouse I can't figure out what the other portion of the seal is for that looks like it should go over or around something?
2) exhaust and turbo - Is there anything I can do to the exhaust and turbo to quiet them down? Do find places to add more sound deadening or some sort of blankets to quiet this thing down. OR maybe I need more sound deadening on the floor? I really need some ideas that hopefully I can test before investing a ton of money and not getting results.
STEERING
Have a question about my steering and if it can feel any better. I just finished a 16 hr. road trip with the van and except for the noise above the other thing that felt weird at times was the steering. The van runs really, really straight and true but at times over 60 mph the van felt like it was floating, hard to explain but the best description was like water skiing just outside the wake or driving on a couple inches of loose gravel. While I was driving on asphalt the van would start to sway slightly. I think maybe the lift of the van exaggerates it but my wife would ask me if it was windy because the van was moving a lot. I found on the return trip that relaxing my grip on the wheel and allowing the van to track actually made the ride feel better. Is this as good as it can get or should I expect a more solid feel? I noticed looking at some of the ford trucks that they have two steering cylinders under the trucks but my van only has one. Should I be adding something to the front to make the steering feel tighter?
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