Removed the ventilation system vents from interior side of my convertible today to clean up, paint, and install new gaskets...

Looking for suggestions on what to do with the rear compartment underneath the body. At some point in time, the Corvette was painted and there is a lot of old paint that is adhered to in places and peeling in other places on the inside of the rubber housing. It looks like crap. Was contemplating on removing the unit to clean and reseal. I thought it might also be a good time to blast and repaint the rusty bracket that secures it to the body. Has anyone ever removed one of these before?

From what I can tell, it appears that there is a thin piece of fiberglass that the rubber compartment secures to with rivets on one side and the rusty bracket on the other side. From there, it appears that the entire assembly is then secured to the body with some kind of body adhesive. The heads of the rivets are not visible from the inside of the body and only the tails of the rivets are visible from underneath. So the only way it appears that you can properly remove the rivets is to remove the entire unit.

What do you think? Am I worrying about this too much? Should I just leave it alone? Not sure which direction to go here.

Also, anyone know if there should be anything attached to the round holes in the bottom on the rubber housing? Seems odd that they are just open the way they are.

Thanks for any suggestions any of you may have.

 

Hi sr,
Interesting pictures! Good Question!
I think I would leave it in place.
Taking it out would make preparing and painting it VERY easy... BUT... I think it will be a LOT of work to get in back in place and looking like it wasn't ever out.
I believe you could better spend your time prepping and painting it in place even though that will be difficult.
Regards,
Alan

 

Nothing attaches to the holes; they allow water to drain.