Astro Ventilation
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Pro
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 736
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From: Chester VA
Astro Ventilation
So I'm redoing my interior at the moment and I'm staring at the astro vent system that has never worked and am debating on if I should fool with it? It's never worked so have no idea how well it works in general, do any of you benefit from yours? I'm thinking about just securing the doors in the closed position. Don't know if it effects the advice but I'm adding a vintage air kit as part of the project.
BTW just for my own knowledge, what does it exactly do? Obviously opens the rear doors but does it open when you have the vent on? My entire vent system has never worked so I'm kinda green here, when I'm hot I roll the windows down or drop the top, and if I'm cold I park it in the garage so have never cared about the system. I'm only adding AC so the wife will start going long distances in the car with me!
BTW just for my own knowledge, what does it exactly do? Obviously opens the rear doors but does it open when you have the vent on? My entire vent system has never worked so I'm kinda green here, when I'm hot I roll the windows down or drop the top, and if I'm cold I park it in the garage so have never cared about the system. I'm only adding AC so the wife will start going long distances in the car with me!
Last edited by wiseman79; Sep 14, 2009 at 08:06 PM.
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 37,637
Likes: 3,114
From: Crossville TN
If you do not have A/C, the Astro-Ventilation doors in the rear deck are functional; if you do have A/C, they are not. The Astro-Ventilation concept is nothing more than flow-thru ventilation in the passenger compartment. When the car companies deleted the vent window on the side windows, they put exit vents in the rear of the cabin so that airflow would come in thru the dash vents and out thru the exit vents. That's all there is to it. You can peruse a copy of the Chevrolet Chassis Service Manual in the Air Cond. section to see when & how those vents are activated. With A/C, the exhaust vents should be closed when interior air is in the "recirculate" mode and when the car is not running; and they should be open at all other times.
Team Owner
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 38,923
Likes: 1,481
From: Southbound
Cruise-In II Veteran
When it's not quite warm enough to run the AC, I'm sure your wife would appreciate some fresh air ciruclation through the car. It usually doesn't take much to get the system working. Vent ***** on the console should open the vents and allow fresh air through the kick panels in the foot wells. Dash vent ***** should also have fresh air flow.
Last edited by Easy Mike; Sep 15, 2009 at 10:55 AM.
Race Director
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 15,892
Likes: 42
The rear vents are activated by a vacuum servo. The servo is controlled by the positioning of the heater control wheels. The left hand wheel needs to be away from the off position and the right hand (temp) must be at full cold for the vent to open, otherwise it is closed.
The above does not apply to '68 Corvettes which do not have the vacuum servo.
The above does not apply to '68 Corvettes which do not have the vacuum servo.
Instructor
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 153
Likes: 0
From: Atlanta GA
I just redid my rear vents. You can pretty much count on them having some rust. Not that much to them, On the driver side there are two nuts holding on the vacume, a couple screws hold the bracket. You take those off then the vents. The vents are in two parts (right half and left half). There are about four screws that hold them on, with the vent pushed shut you'll easily see the screws as they have access holes cut to accomodate a screw driver. Take the passenger side off first then the driver side. Clean em up, lube em, put a new seal on it and it's like new. Of course the fun part is you have to lay on your back and squeeze into the back compartment to see what you are doing and you can pretty much count on itching from falling fiberglass particles.
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,255
Likes: 7
From: Coralville Iowa
I just redid my rear vents. You can pretty much count on them having some rust. Not that much to them, On the driver side there are two nuts holding on the vacume, a couple screws hold the bracket. You take those off then the vents. The vents are in two parts (right half and left half). There are about four screws that hold them on, with the vent pushed shut you'll easily see the screws as they have access holes cut to accomodate a screw driver. Take the passenger side off first then the driver side. Clean em up, lube em, put a new seal on it and it's like new. Of course the fun part is you have to lay on your back and squeeze into the back compartment to see what you are doing and you can pretty much count on itching from falling fiberglass particles.
Instructor
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 153
Likes: 0
From: Atlanta GA
Ahhhhhhhhhh!
I just love how easy everything is to get to on this era. Just the other day, as I was pulling everything apart to find a short on my instrument lights, I was thinking "hmmm, just seven months before they built this car the same era engineering had just landed a man on the moon." Spooky.
I just love how easy everything is to get to on this era. Just the other day, as I was pulling everything apart to find a short on my instrument lights, I was thinking "hmmm, just seven months before they built this car the same era engineering had just landed a man on the moon." Spooky.
Last edited by WayneB_LT1; Sep 15, 2009 at 08:03 PM.
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