At some point I may replace the worn headlining on our '93 240. This has me thinking about adding some sound and heat insulation to the roof panels between the braces in places where there is room for it. I have a roll of insulating material which is silver colored plastic bonded to foam rubber which I purchased a few years ago intending to insulate steel garage doors. We moved before the insulation was attached to said doors and I still have the stuff.

My thought is to make paper patterns of the different areas, cut the insulation to match the patterns and then attach the insulation to the car with 3M upholstery adhesive. The idea would be to both achieve some sound deadening and to insulated against the hot sun of summer and the cold winds of winter. That wagon roof is one big heat exhanger.

Has anyone else done something like this?

John

There is a guy, long time poster/knowledgeable guy, Robert Ludwick (I think) that insulated the roof of his car.

He talked about it a couple of times but I can't remember they type of material he used.

I also saw an excellent post on turbobricks.com by a guy who tested several types of adhesive sound deadener/insulation like dynamat, fatmat, etc.

The roof of a car gets hot as hell in the summer and may cause the stick on stuff to fail.

I would not worry about bumps or ripples in the headliner since they are ridgid in the 240 sedan.

I used 50 sq ft of FatMat on my doors and trunk. Still, have 50 sq ft left and was going to put some on the roof too -when I re-do my headliner with zebra print fabric and put in a new front window.

I did notice that the stuff in the trunk (on inner side of rear quater panels) has "leaked" a black asphalt like juice after the heat of the summer.

It is still performing well but I am concerned about sticking it to my roof.




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Enem v15 cam, adj. cam gear, new head, trans cooler, stainless brake lines, e-fan, braces, IPD sways, 100% poly bushed, Bils, boxed front & rear arms, wagon lowering springs, FWD rims, 25/32mm adapters, powder coated stuff, zero mile-d, & more

Hey John, I did this job to help out the weak volvo A/C system. The panels between the reinforcing channels were quite rectangular, if my memory serves me, so I was able to do a neat job without having to make templates. The biggest chalenge was holding the insulation up till the glue set (I used liquid nails!) I did this using scrap pieces of thin plywood propped up with sticks! The insulation helped with the cooling (that big slab-o-tin puts off some heat in the summer!) but no help with the sound.

I recall posts about adding roof insulation in Spring, along with the posts about A/C issues. If you haven't done so, search the archives [good luck - I have mixed results w/the archives but it's worth a try]

"search the archives" Hmmmm, I have tried the search over a dozen times and never have gotten useful results. Worst discussion board search software I have ever run into.

John

Haven't done this myself, but be concerned about the flamability of the insulation. You will also need to make sure it is stuck to the roof big time to prevent "lumps" in the head liner.

jorrell
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89 244 171K miles, 92 245 241K miles, 06 XC70, 00 Eclipse custom Turbo setup

re: "...to prevent "lumps" in the head liner...."

I don't know when they changed the roof liner from flexible "fabric" (like my old '80 wagon), but my own '93 sedan has a rather rigid liner (I'm assuming the wagon is similar). I don't think it would flex enough to show lumps.

Ken, sedans and coupes have rigid liners, while wagons have flexible all-vinyl liners.
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'84 245 Diesel

I didn't realize that the wagons still (to the '93s) had the vinyl headliners? My last wagon was an '80. Seems so antiquated compared to the molded, stiff plastic.

Thanks for enlightening me.

Ken:

The previous poster is correct, yep, still flex vinyl in a 245. This may seem antiquated, but compared to a rigid fiberboard 244 headliner with a leaky sunroof, I'll take the flex vinyl any day of the week! Without a sunroof though, the 244 headliner is awsome in my opinion.

The vinyl flex liner in our 92 245 (14 years old) is still flexible, taught, and without cracks. When it comes to Volvo interior designs, this is really the only one I can praise, given how every other piece of plastic in the interior wants to shatter when you look at it wrong!

jorrell
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89 244 171K miles, 92 245 241K miles, 06 XC70, 00 Eclipse custom Turbo setup

Prime the roof with 3M spray adhesive, and use the sticky stuff.
And or paint roof white and be the first Volvo Land Crusier on
your block!
Ken
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White 86-245 DL, M 46, IPD bars & Wagon Overloads,Commando Bumpers,SS Belly Pan & Air Pickup,Straight-Shot EMT Chassis & Tower Braces,Scorpius Alloys,2 Belt No AC Conversion,Black POR-15 No Glare Front End