April 14, 2001
Well, after a day of mowing lawns and other assorted landscape maintenance I decided the sun was still high enough to get in what looked like a simple project on Deja Bloo before it got too dark and cold to work out in the driveway. So I decided to start by installing my new steel rear seat divider, a metal shield that separates the passenger cabin from the trunk. I thought this would be a simple job... and for the first time ever, I was right! It took about an hour, that's right, an hour! Can you believe it?!
So, for those who don't know what this is, let me explain. Normally, your backseat and your trunk are separated by some cardboard and a little upholstery. A year or so ago some TV newsmagazine made every mustang owner's life more difficult by doing a report explaining that the classic Mustang, if hit in a very hard rear-end collision, could suffer a catastrophic rupture of the gas tank, which is mounted in the trunk, throwing gas forward to the back seat, where it could enter the cabin and kill us all. Don't ask me for details, I don't watch those scare, er, I mean news shows.
The result was that a lot of people flooded the newsgroups asking what we thought. Parents were afraid to let their kids in the backseat. Women refused to ride in their boyfriend's old Mustangs. Mother-in-laws called up and demanded to know if the car was safe. I know this is true because my in-laws saw the program and called us on it. My car wasn't much of a threat at the time, not having had an engine between the fenders in months, but hey, nothing is too ridiculous to worry about once you've seen it on TV. Personally, I think if you get hit in the rear hard enough to rupture the gas tank, you're probably going to have bigger problems to worry about, and people have been blissfully ignorant, enjoying their Mustangs for over 30 years now, but hey, now that you know, you have to do something about it, right?
Anyway, Canadian Mustang came to the rescue by providing a Steel Rear Seat Divider. For $69.00 they will send you a sheet of steel, cut to fit in place of the original cardboard divider Ford installed. They claim their product is not a safety product, not provided as such, etc., only that it is thicker than cardboard. You have to decide if it does what you want. They also include some sealant, and a bunch of sheetmetal screws and simple instructions. The metal is nicely primed, and you can do what you want with it. I plan to hide it, so no further painting was required.
| Deja hasn't had an interior in a while. It's all in the shed, which makes it the perfect time to try out this product. Please note that I can't vouch for how well it fits around the interior side panels. Mine are off, and I haven't reinstalled them yet because of interference with the new rollbar. One other thing, you can see the rear shock access plates. When this project is done they will be accessible only through the trunk, unless you want to unscrew the panel. They are a pain in the butt to get to through the trunk, but it's possible. Just another thing to keep in mind. If you've got a new set of shocks waiting in the garage, do yourself a favor and install them BEFORE you install the panel. I've already got my new shocks on, so this is no problem for me.
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| First of all, the panel won't sit flush against what I'm going to refer to as the rear bulkhead (just because I don't know what else to call it and that sounds cool). First you need to bend in any tabs that are sticking out. There are two big ones near the curve of the wheelwells, and a bunch of little ones across the top. |  |
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| Test fit - looks good without any trimming. I think I got lucky, because they say in the instructions that you might have to trim the corners to get it to lay flat. By the way, it took my husband's help to get it fitted. It's heavy and awkward, and I pinched my finger, causing me to simultaneously bleed and swear, which moved the project along considerably. As we all know, no project is finished until you have sworn and drawn blood. |  |
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| Ok, now I'm deviating from the instructions. They gave me a tube of sealant to use, but I really wanted to use Dynamat. You see, I'm not really afraid of a fiery rear end collision, I just thought a metal plate with some sound deadener on it would help eliminate some of the road noise and make the car a little nicer to ride in. So that's my real purpose in installing this divider. So I covered the back of it with Dynamat sound deadening material. It is sticky and you can easily place it and cut it to shape. I think that was even easier than using the gooey stuff. |  |
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| The panel has two pre-drilled holes to get you started, one on each side. After you get the thing lined up, drill through the holes and put a hole in the car's sheetmetal behind it, and put in a screw through each hole. Once it's held in place, it's easy to go around and drill the rest of the holes, and put in all the screws. I brought two drills out, one for drillin', one for screwin'. Worked pretty good. Now the panel is held in there nice and solid, and I think it will make a real difference in noise coming from the trunk and rear end area. Plus, it looks like a race car now. I almost hate to put the back seat back in. |  |
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| And from the trunk, all you can see is the Dynamat. I would like to eventually carpet the whole trunk, like the street rods do, so someday this will be hidden away. |  |
So that was it. A simple install, at least for me. I'm glad I didn't have to take out and replace the backseat, and since I only have a single bucket installed in the front, there was lots of room to move around. Next I will be installing the carpet and reinstalling the original bench seat interior, so if I have any interference problems, I'll be sure to let you know. So far, it looks good, fit good, simple install, simple project. Why can't they all be like that?