I reviewed the comments of those who had purchased partitions, and those who had made their own. I decided to try making my own and learned a few things others might find helpful.
First of all a salesperson at the Home Depot suggested using sound board, not fiber board. I stood before sound board 1/2 inch thick and fiber board 3/4 inch thich and he said sound board would better muffle sounds from the exhaust. I noted that fiber board was much heavier than sound board and a 4' x 8' piece of it costs twice as much.
Because it was much lighter I decided to use two pieces of sound board for the partition bringing it to one inch thick, and still much lighter. The 4' x 8' piece allowed me to make 4 rectangles so I set two of them aside in case I messed up the first partition. Home Depot cut the 4 pieces for me to fit in the car.
The hard part for me was cutting the template so that I could then cut the pattern out in the sound board. I found a cardboard box whose longest segment was only 4 feet wide. I needed 4' 7" for the top of the partition, but I easily cut another section from the cardboard box and used staples to extend the length. My template started as a rectangle 4' 8" wide and one foot high. The top of my template only needed to be 3' 9" but I dealt with that later. I would add that I always made the first cut on the card board a little longer than I needed, but if you cut it too short you can always staple a new section back to it.
Using the cardboard I measured it across the bottom of the trunk and cut the cardboard until it matched closely, about 3' 9" in length. When trimming this bottom section down you must make your 3' 9" section measuring from the center of the cardboard and not from one side to the other. Using a pencil I sketched an out line of how the trunk space curves up to the ceiling of the car on the sides and trimmed with scissors. To make the template more manageable, I then started trimming the top of my cardboard. I set my cardboard template across the bottom of the car, tried to fit it in place, and trimmed more where it did not fit. The top of your template will be about 4' 9".
I had cut into the sides of my template a bit much, but added more cardboard later to get the template to fit more snugly. The important thing is to get a good fit across the bottom and across the top. You can always add a little to the sides before you outline the template on the sound board.
Once I had the two soundboard pieces cut out I went to a fabric store. I decided not to use carpet for two reasons. I wanted to fold the fabric around my sound board and carpet did not fold well at the edges of the board. I also used staples to attach the fabric to the sound board and carpet was too hard and thick, and would not have stapled well. I chose a fabric that was 1/4 inch thich, looked like carpet, but was much softer. It was flat and smooth on one side and fuzzy on the other. Not much fabric was needed.
I used liquid nails to bond the two pieces of soundboard. When finished bonding (4 - 6 hours) I tried to fit the partition in my car. I decided that I did not want too snug of a fit, but to leave a little room for fabric. I wanted the fabric to make the snug fit. Another advantage of sound board is it cuts like butter, and if a section is a bit too big you can scrape it down quickly and easily for a good fit.
I laid out the fabric, fuzzy side down on the floor in front of me. I then held the partition at its sides in an upside down position. I placed it on the fabric so that the bottom of the partition was about 5 inches away from the top of the rectangular fabric. In this way when I grasped the far ends of the fabric and folded it towards me it covered the bottom of the partition and came down and covered about four more inches of the partition. For each side of the fabric I reduced the length with scissors so that it stretched about three inches wider than my partition. I then grabbed the two bottom ends of the fabric, folded it over the partition, and cut the fabric so that it overlapped the other side by over an inch. Using 3/8 inch staples I stapled the top fold of the fabric to the board. To better secure the staples I hit each with a hammer. I then folded each side of the fabric over the board much like wrapping a present. The 3/8 inch staples worked fine securing one piece of fabric to the board but using them to staple double layers was no good. So on sections of the side folds that did not overlap fabric I used a few staples to hold the side folds in place. You will note when you make the side folds that you can trim the fabric a bit and I suggest doing some trimming. I then grabbed the ends of the fabric closest to me, and folded them over the partition tightly to get a good fit, again like wrapping a present. It should cover not only parts of the board not yet covered, but overlap fabric folded down over the board, and in from the sides.
The fabric fit the board snuggly everywhere but the sides. With my skills this was unavoidable. I then used heavy duty thread and a needle to sew this last fold left to right across the board. With a thick fabric and a desire for tightness the sewing was a pain, both literally and figuratively. I started the point of the needle in the fabric closest to the board by trying to pinch a bit of it and run the needle through sideways. Then I ran the needle upwards through the overlapping fabric above it and tightened the thread, before continuing either left or right across the board. After I sewed the fold completely sideways I then went to work sewing the side folds in place. Do a good job tightly sewing and the overlapping fabric pieces blend together nicely. After sewing I then stapled in areas to insure tightness, following each stapling with the hammer.
I then placed the partition in the car with the folded side facing the rear of the car. The partition makes a big difference. No one would look at my partition and wonder where I purchased it. However it looks good. With a $10 sound board, fabric, needles and thread I got out for under $20. It may not look quite as good as a commercial product, but two pieces of sound board are sturdy, lighter than fiber board, and probably do a better job muffling sounds.
I live in the Denver area if someone wants to see it or use my template. And I am available to answer questions. Good hunting.

 

I bought mine brand new for like $140 shipped...it looks great and it quiets the cabin down a lot!

I would rather just spend the money then go through all that just to make one.

 

I think there's actually a template you can download but I'm with SlowZ06 on this one. I've tried in the past to make stuff and to be honest, the time you spend saving money is time you can spend earning more money and by the time you factor in cost of materials, finding the right materials and gas costs running back and forth getting stuff you forgot or find you need, I'd much rather spend money and buy one.

As a matter of fact, mine just arrived from www.corvettepartition.com and I can vouch for the fact that it's a perfect fit and took all of about 2 minutes to fit. I can also say that I got exceptional service from Brian Matthews who even reduced the price of the partition significantly to offset the postage cost and import duties to the UK. Top bloke!

Edited to say mine has velcro attachments top and bottom too - so there. LOL.

 

I got mine from www.corvettepartz.com and it fits great and matches the interior perfectly. It even has velcro along the edges so that it holds on to the carpet and doesn't move. Their customer service is also great!

 

good for you.
I also made my own. (downloaded the pattern).

Saving money, doing DIY projects on cars or around the house
is what enables me to afford cars like these.

rod

 

Ecklers, $89.95 with 10% discount online when you spend 100 bucks, so I got a hood seal also. Partition looks and works great and no damage to Z climbing in and out of it measuring and the like.

 

Yes, I considered the Ecklers, but wasn't sure of the sturdiness since one side was strictly foam and the other was a slim board. I have a 20 lb dog I let ride behind me on trips and I was concerned with her shifting weight (on one of those rare occasions when I stepped on the accelerator) and busting through. Without her I'd have probably gotten the one that was only foam, and much cheaper. I believe that the Ecklers is a good decision for some of us.

 

I made mine too with 3/4" fiberboard and stereo enclosure carpet that matches our interiors perfect. Took a day and was fun. I like to DIY all the time so that is as much the hobby issue for me....Cuts down on the noise and looks good too.

 

I love the sound of the exhaust so much I don't want anything to mute it in any way.....especially when I'm shooting for that 200 MPH record! PLUS I can't hear my wife screaming!

 

One of the enjoyable aspects of this forum is that you hear from many different kinds of people. You are the first person to suggest that one advantage of a loud exhaust is to drown out your wife's screams when you shoot for the 200 mph record. I confess I hadn't thought of that and you make a good point. Perhaps there are forum members who know of devices that can be purchased or self-made that would help channel exhaust sounds into the car's compartment. A thought occurs to me that you might find interesting. If someone could produce CDs that play exhaust sounds then the sound board might be of interest to you. A CD with exhaust sounds on high volume would be a whole lot cheaper way to impress friends than a Borla for instance, and sort of like the fake CB antennas people were buying a few years ago to impress people.

 

I posted this last night

Brian

 

With a partition, you can put your wife in the boot and significantly reduce the volume of her screaming which may upset your girlfriend sitting up front. He he.

 

Too Funny, thanks for the Tuesday morning pick me up...

Brian

 

Way to Go

I tried to do one a while back myself and it just didn't turn out how I wanted.

I threw in the towell and bought one from www.pfyc.com

Worth the $130 bucks to avoid more frustration.

Send some pics...

 

I'd be interested in trying the project myself..

Is anyone willing to snail-mail an actual full sized paper template of their
finished partition? That would save a ton of time avoiding the need for
basic measurements and template fitting... Thanks!!



Terry

 

Good Job Charles.

I couldn't see spending all that $ for the partition either. But I didn't want to mess around trying to shape the partion (And yours is to far away to copy ) So I bought the $50 foam only pc from ecklers. Some time this winter I'm gonna cover it myself

Semi-diy

 

A good choice and I almost did it your way. My first partition is okay and I will keep it as a back-up in case something happens to the new one I am making. Instead of all the folding I did I'm going to try to cut the fabric closer to the actual shape of my board and then do some sewing. I was surprised at how well my sewing went. With the furry material it seemed to hide all of my uneven stitches. When I went back to the fabric store to get more of the furry, carpet-looking material I ran across what they called fake fur. Any of you who have seen the sheepskin seat covers, which I have in my car, will know immediately what the texture of the fake fur is like. It's much more plush. I know some of you have said just to buy the partition, but the car is a labor of love and the partition is something I can do.
P.S. I bet with a little effort I could even make fake fur seat covers.

 

Surely this is worth the extra money in terms of quality and fit?

 

Quality & fit? First of all the sound board is used in speaker systems because of its superior features to foam or fiberboard in muffling the sound. Secondly you will see that sound board is much lighter than fiberboard thus limiting the weight you add to your car. Both the stitching and the staples were hidden by the furry fabric I used, and all of the folds, stitches and staples faced the exhaust not the driver. There was a bit of looseness in the curved areas on the sides, but installation hid this, and in fact used it to better the fit. By making the board a tiny bit shorter than needed in all dimensions the fur fills the gaps. The one I made fit so tightly that velcro, etc. were unnecessary.
Some honesty here - I could not sell the first one I made and expect to get back a reasonable amount of money for my time and materials. For $20-$30 more dollars a buyer could get one professionally made and the back of mine looks good, but not professional.
Why make one yourself? 1. I enjoyed all, but sewing the folds, but I am cutting my next one differently so that sewing will be easier. 2. The 1/2 inch sound board is cheap (1/2 the cost of fiberboard so you can use 1, 2, or 3 layers of it to make the thickness of the board you make fit your needs. A 3/4 or 1 inch fiberboard may add unnecessary and do a poorer job of muffling sounds. 3. You can pick the fabric and colors you want. Fabric can range from extremely thin to furry gorillla-like coats. 4. Not everyone can afford every mod and you can save money.
So you see, for some people there is an option here.

 

My foam pc fits very good. It's just a pressure fit and it's tight and never moves. And extremely light. And if the need for the airbag to go off ever happens it wont hurt when it hits me in the back of the head.