Rear seat-to-trunk divider steel

Yeah, like Frank from Florida did to his Comet. I've always seen them sold for older mustangs, to help in the case of a rear end collision. If I end up doing the fuel tank swap, with the drop in style, I'll be sealing every square inch up.

 

I have to wear fire retardent clothing for my job with a natural gas pipeline and these clothes are only good for the initial fire burst - I would only be asking for a couple of extra seconds with a firewall such as this

 

The Boss 302 Chassis Modification Book says:

 

X2 for that. I would be interested if I could still get the back seat in.

 

I would be very intrested in at least one depending on the following: quality, cost, and the ability to install the rear seat.

Thanks, Chuck

 

Put me down for one

 

Ok guys, I am comfortable to move foward. I will have some made, it will allow me to gauge how much things will be to make, and ship out to the few that would buy them. I will also get into contact with Auto Krafters to see if they would like to work with me on placing it into their inventory. I will keep you guys updated with what I find out tomorrow.

Like I said, these will be able to install without troubles, and your seats will install without issues.

My question is,

As far as I know, the divider doesn't change from year to year correct? I know 69-73 are the same, can someone confirm later years?

 

I see it working if it's just a...fire...but not with the tank exploding in the trunk. for that you would hope the trunk pops open before it blows the back seat into the car. seems we need a...pop latch for the trunk lock...

...I think I have an idea that might work, let me think about this a little more...

 

I'd be interested also, should help with sound deadening as well.

 

if you put some...sound deadening material...on it...if not it may have a drone sound.

 

on my '73 I'm trying to think how I could wire my electric trunk latch...to my inertia switch... that way on impact the trunk would pop open and create a path of least resistance for a fire ball...
this would be more useful on the 69-70s...

 

I have read that putting a solid sheet metal panel in and fastening it well is one of the best mods that can be done to stiffen up the entire rear structure of an early Mustang. Our cars are so similar, so it ought to work well for us too. The idea is to prevent the body from "racking" .... moving around diagonally a bit, especially when cornering, etc.

It was implied that screwing it in place could be OK with enough fasteners ... perhaps every 6 inches or so? Spot welding in would work too, if you didn't care about being able to ever remove it. I seem to recall the suggestion being 16 gauge steel or 12 gauge aluminum.

The source for this was a pretty scientific evaluation of subframe connectors and their effect on how they could reduce flex. It was measured by changes in the door gaps as the car was jacked up before and after the connectors were installed. BTW... the results for typical connectors were pretty weak. It was suggested that connectors also be tied more to the rockers, making more of a ladder structure. This all was in an online article, but I can't get to the computer I have it bookmarked at right now. I will repost if I find it later.

I agree that 1/8th steel seems a bit much. On the flipside, I wouldn't worry too much about added rear weight in one of these cars. They are very nose-heavy and a little added weight in the back can help restore some balance.

 

mine seem to be doing a good job and are not tied into the rockers...

 

I couldn't find the testing that was based on micro-measuring door gaps before and after installing regular subframe connectors, but they were disappointed with the results .... essentially not much change in twist. They probably do help front-to-back. If they had better results, I would have gotten some standard connectors already.

Here is a link to another interesting bit of testing done, and they do talk about a rear firewall in here. He charted an 11% reduction in twist. Pretty solid results.....

http://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums/threads/torsional-rigidity-test-67-coupe.723029/

I had my Comet really high up in the air at one point, too, like Frank's picture. It was on two jack stands by the front torque boxes and one on the passenger rear. When it came to place the driver side stand, I only had to pick that side up a 1/4", and my car has no frame connectors. I didn't use a jack ... I manually picked that side up by the back bumper, and had a friend set the stand. I think it says more about how nose-heavy the car is rather than how rigid it is. I wasn't straining to pick it up.... maybe a 30 lb lift.

 

A friend of mine did not make it through this vicious rear end collision a few years back on his way to his very first car show with his just finished Nova - not to say a firewall would have saved him but it couldn't have hurt to at least be in place - maybe a second of time was all he would have needed