Amazon.de probably won’t ship to the UK
Of course they do, I order from all different Amazon daughter companies all the time…
Amazon.com mostly doesn’t ship to the UK. I’ve tried it many times.
Maybe it is a .uk thing. I recall others in Europe saying they can buy anything from .com.
But you are right about .de – at least in some cases. I have just tested it by buying a 4GB USB stick, just to see if it works, and the order was accepted.
I am interested as well to add sound insulation to the firewall. However, I am unsure about effectiveness. I suggested to the editor in chief of aviationconsumer.com a month ago to run a comparison review of the different materials, install options and their effectiveness. He loved the topic and responded to get “cracking” at it. He didn’t mention when it will appear though.
The firewall on the TB20 is sound insulated by some kind of foam material. This comes either pre-cut to fit into the various little areas of the firewall where the stuff should be put or comes as sheet material so one can cut the material by hand. On the back of the foam is a label one can peel off to expose the glue with which the stuff is affixed to the firewall.
I have been replacing the firewall material on my TB a couple of years ago with the original Socata-material but, alas, the stuff is already falling apart again (simply crumbling away). As replacing the insulation material takes about a day with most of the effort going into removing the old stuff, especially the old glue, I would like to replace this now with some other material which hopefully will last a bit longer.
Aircraft Spruce has various offerings on products which could be used for such an application.
Does anybody have personal experience with a suitable replacement and can give a recommendation?
RXH wrote:
Does anybody have personal experience with a suitable replacement and can give a recommendation?
A good active noise suppression headset is much better than any insulation. Will not work for heat insulation of course.
The Socata material is indeed rubbish. It just falls apart… actually it falls apart where there is any airflow so e.g. the bit behind the oil cooler lasts no time at all.
I looked into this a few years ago and found that all the stuff which looked better quality was not self-adhesive. You had to apply glue to it manually.
It was also heavier but that is always the case for any sound insulation improvement (foam for soundproofing in cars, in PCs…).
Funnily enough the other day I was clearing out a garden shed and I found a load of such stuff, which I must have bought about 10 years ago and then forgot I had it 
Quite possibly from Spruce. The shipping must have cost a fortune, due to the size. I think there are markings on the packaging. Drop me a line with your address and I will send you a piece.
In the same boat as RHX. Looking into http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/appages/soundex7.php (SX-600 black mat flame certified for firewall), but have not made up my decision. Hear from various folks that it does reduce noise noticeably, albeit not by much. Also I am interested what to use to remove the old residual old glue, and what glue to use to put the new material on?
Thank you!
P.S.
I do have an ANR headset, but I don’t have ANRs for all 4 passengers.
Thank you, I do have good ANR headsets for myself and all regular passengers.
When I last replaced the foam a couple of years ago I initially used at the recommendation of my A/P Acetone and MEK to try to get the glue off. Did not work that well actually. I then tried the “Old glue remover” from the German version of home depot (“Obi”) which worked a lot better. But still one needs a lot of patience and elbow grease to get the stuff off. I used a plastic Scraper which is an essential and needed lots of cleaning rags to wipe the old glue off the scraper and the firewall.
I have used this stuff from Wuerth before with good results (should also be available in the US) but I have not tried it on the firewall foam yet Glue Remover
When I had the foam off I did a flight with a blank firewall before I put the new foam in. At least to my ears it does make a noticeable difference in the sound characteristics of the cockpit if not so much in noise level. One or two years ago I replaced the insulation material in the sidewalls of the cockpit behind the carpets which was some really nasty old glass fibre stuff with lots of loose fibres everywhere. I am currently travelling so I cannot look up what I used to replace that with but this measure made a very noticeable difference in the noise levels.
@Peter
I will drop you a mail.
I found two packs of this stuff, 1/2" thick, which I bought years ago and forgot about it. I got it to replace the crappy Socata foam which falls apart after a year or two.
The Q is what glue should be used to attach it. A/Spruce suggests a contact adhesive but is that OK to use on the firewall (on the engine side)?
The Socata foam is self adhesive which is convenient but the material disintegrates.
