Patches

Seems I have made a tradition of doing mods on my C5's during the July 4th holiday so I planned a few for this weekend and the coming week. The first was installing the insulation kit I received from Madvette Motorsports for Mrs. Patches' coupe. Years ago, I used several rolls of Frost King and Reflectix to insulate my coupe and have been dreading the insulation job on her's. But I have to say, the Madvette Motorsports pre-cut kit made it considerably easier and better. Plus, no cut up hands from the FK's hard foil that I endured last time and practically no laborious figuring of how to cut the pieces up to get the best coverage. There was a slight bit of patching in some small areas but those were minor and far between.

Mrs. Patches helped out as well which was nice.

Anyway, this isn't a typical how-to that I would normally do because it's essentially just pulling the interior out and taping the pieces in. Just a few tools were required to get the entire interior out including a couple of Torx bits, sockets, scissors, a carpet knife, a couple of screwdrivers, a trim removal tool (optional) and a roll of tape.

Here are the requisite pics. I will point out a few interesting things as I go.

I bought this roll of tape at Lowe's when I did this mod on my C5 years ago. It's excellent stuff, allowing you to form it into corners and curves and holds the insulation nicely. Plus, it can handle temps that the insulation is rated for.


Parked the C5 in the "working bay" to allow easy access


Pulled the top off as well


Ready to pull the interior


Seats out


Interior out


Passenger side


Parking brake lever assembly


Passenger floor pan


Lateral accelerometer - passenger floor


Driver floor pan


Driver footwell


Driver seat belt assembly


Front cabin


Driver door


Window pullies can be seen looking into the top door gap


Rear cabin








The cabin vent in the driver quarter panel


The manual fuel release cable

Patches

The finished product:

Driver side


Driver footwell


Passenger side


Tunnel and center wall


Looking forward from rear


The rear tub




Workin' it!


And, last but not least, Mrs. Patches lending a hand.


Overall, the job took the course of a day with several long breaks sprinkled in between. Last time took me all day as well but the hassle factor was significantly higher due to not having pre-cut pieces.

We don't have any cabin heat issues due to the headers I installed July 4, 2007 since I simultaneously installed an insulated EE tunnel plate so this mod was primarily for quieting the cabin. Compared to the FK mod on my other C5, I'd say this is on par with the sound reduction I got back then. It's significant but not earth-shattering. After all, Mrs. Patches still wants to be able to hear her NXT exhaust she so loves. After sampling the interior noise level change, we both felt it was just enough and not too much noise dampening - definitely a mod worth doing.

0Madvette Motorsports

Glad to see you had fun this 4th of July, and the kit looks good with that interior!!! Thanks for posting this!!

LMBZ4ME

Great Job Patches!!

I would be a bit hesitant about ripping out my entire interior but you made this appear pretty straight forward.

Patches

As I mentioned - I've done it before so this time was even easier in pulling the interior. Not much to it, really. The Madvette instructions are pretty good if you need help as well.

02 C5man

You have got the cleanest garage I've ever seen!

MSG C5

I agree! Looks great.

Question on your floor tiles....Do they withstand tire heat very well? I have those ribbed floor liners that roll out over the cement. They look pretty nice, however I have burn spots from the tires (heat). I was thinking about installing some race track floor tiles, however I was curious whether they also mark up from tire heat.

Also, what type of lift do you have? Looks great!

peter pan

Very nice and detailed install and you got one clean Vette and garage

Patches

MSG C5,

No problem with heat - these tiles are polypropylene and can take some abuse. Plus, you can pop in a replacement easily if one is damaged.

Lift is a Bend Pak HD9. Made in America and excellent quality. Also, it's tested/certified by ETL SEMKO, a division of Intertek.

csexton

Enjoyed the install pics Ed

Chuck

FactoryRaceCar

Amazing job Ed! Great pictures and writeup as usual as well

MSG C5

Thanks. Congrats on a mod well done. I'm considering an insulation kit as well as I plan to upgrade the leather and install a DD NAV system. Since I'm going to be pulling apart the interior, I might as well go all the way and insulate it.

dobewillie

great job guys

TracyRR

It makes it nice to "see" the job before you "do" the job!! Nice job documenting your work! I also had the same project this weekend.... except i used Luxury Liner Pro (about 70 pounds of it). In town it made a nice difference but the real test is on the hwy.... I'll hit that on monday.

olbear1962

Very nice story Patches, very tidy job looks great, your workshop looks awesome.

Lancejoker

Very nice. I should really get a tunnel plate. I can't believe how much better this kit is cut in comparison to the other guy's. If I would've known this was coming out I definitely would've held off. I still need to purchase the doors panels from Madvette.

tlc0706

Excellent post.....Thanks.....I still need to do my front.....

Gonzo

Nice Job, Nice Work, Nice Thread

Vetteman Jack

Excellent post, Patches. A job well done.

madmatt9471

Subscribing - Have wanted to do this to mine too

PATCHES - About how much would you say it helped reduce noise?

I want to muffle some noise and I don't mind if it cancels a lot (Actually I prefer more noise cancellation then less )

Or do they have a KIT with more noise reduction? then what you bought


Let me know !

Thanks,Matt