Creamy Foam Filling....

[rfoutch]

Has anyone ever thought about using that expanding foam, not the ones in the can, but the mix and pour type, to fill the body of the thing. I know that they used to sell it at TAP plastics.

I was looking yesterday and noticed that there are body plugs everywhere and that the shell is hollow.

As tinny as the Thing is, it would make the car much more solid without adding much wieght at all.

The key would be figuring out how much to use, I would guess that one would do it in stages...(And I bet it would float too!)

What do you think?

Randy

[fathing]

If any humidity would get into these cavities and trust me it will, your Thing would just slowly rot away. It would never dry out. This foam deteriorates over time. It is called polyurethane foam and it is basically the same what is used in your sofa or in a household sponge. It all depends on the cell structure, open cell foam acts as a sponge where as closed cell foam repels water. Nevertheless even closed cell foam will accumulate 1-2% of its weight in humidity. Trust me your Thing would rot away and you could not do a "thing" about it. There would be no way to weld your car without it catching fire. I used to have a Citroën and this piece of junk had a so called sandwich floor with exactly this foam in between. The factory did that back then to avoid resonance. Guess what, it rot away... so I think this is a bad idea.

Greetings

Dominique

[bljones]

There are several differnet types of foam insulation- what you want is a closed cell, low expansion foam. This stuff forms a moisture barrier so it doesn't become a sponge and cause more problems than it solves. As fathing mentioned, do NOT use open cell foam. The only downside is that in the future, you may have to prevent rust perforation that occurs from the outside in, or accident damage, that may require new metal to be welded in- welding and foam do not mix.
If you want to cut down the "tinny" sound and lower road noise, line the interior with bedliner, gravel guard, or carpet.
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OG JHC
Author of Original Rant #1
"It stingd itself to dead... now that is control on you"

2%

[chinarider]

It's much easier to make the car more solid by adding a rollcage (like thingshop's show bar, etc.). It mounts in 7 places, and I noticed a positive difference in the overall solid feel of the car after installation. Doesn't really add any perceptable weight to the car, and you get the double-benefit of having an added safety feature.

Road noise is an issue though, and there are plenty of options and ideas out there. I recall when I helped a friend take apart and refinish an old splitty camper, we found that (I'm assuming the westy people) used ordinary fiberglass insulation between the interior panels and the body of the bus. This was a 35 year-old VW, and we didn't notice any moisture/rust problems, and of course, this type of insulation is both removable and fire-retardent.

[HamburgerBrad]

VW used that foam in the late model bugs. the area behind those vents you see rusts terrible because water works its way back and gets trapped in that foam.
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OGST | CU05 | OGJHC
1970 baja|1953 oval

Wanted: two beat up, ugly, curb rashed 6" phone dial wheels