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I was looking at a 1968 Convertible yesterday. A friend is thinking of selling his. He is asking a little over what I think it is worth, but I am the buyer and not the seller. We are discussing price. It is definitely a driver, but that is what I want. Anyway, I am straying from my question.
While the top was up, I looked at the rear storage compartment and could see lots of daylight coming in. When I popped the convertible deck lid so I could see all the way to the back without straining my neck, I saw what I think are rear vents. It looks like they are flappers (half are missing) to prevent water from leaking into the inside cargo compartment from the rear outside deck vents. The flappers would pivot back when air is flowing through them, but I guess if water was coming in from the rear deck lid, they would flap down from the weight of the water and allow the water to drain out without entering the inside cargo area.
Here are my questions:
1. Am I correct of what I think these are and how they work?
2. Since some of the flaps are missing, I will have to get new ones. Is it hard to install a properly functioning set of flaps?
3. Are the flaps supposed to be easily visible from the cargo compartment or should there be something in front of them so you cannot see them? Can someone post a picture?
4. What else should I be asking?
I have continued to research and found out the vent is called Astro Ventilation. I found one forum site on repairing the vents: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...re-thread.html
The above forum site also referenced another forum site, but the pictures on that site were all deleted.
So now I have a good idea of what the vents are and how to replace them, but I have no pictures of what it should look like from inside the cabin. Anyone have pictures?
BTW: I should also mention this car does not have AC.
68 was different from the later years in that it only had the rubber flaps mounted to a frame. 69+ systems also had a vacuum actuated door at the rear.
The left drain hole in my '68 vents/the right drain was worse (the rubber drain tubes were just as clogged up causing the rubber flaps to be useless making the carpet wet & moldy from rain water overflowing into the storage area..........since my car is a resto-mod I removed the entire tray area/sealed the drain ports/sealed the deck openings, but kept the grills installed for physical looks.
(I would NEVER have removed the trays on an original car/I would have rebuilt them)
Last edited by doorgunner; 03-27-2016 at 02:22 PM.
68 was different from the later years in that it only had the rubber flaps mounted to a frame. 69+ systems also had a vacuum actuated door at the rear.
John
Thanks, the pictures with the black carpet are exactly what the back looked like except several of the flaps were missing. I was wondering if there was anything to "hide" the vent from view, but apparently there was not supposed to be anything to hide it judging from those pictures.
The left drain hole in my '68 vents/the right drain was worse (the rubber drain tubes were just as clogged up causing the rubber flaps to be useless making the carpet wet & moldy from rain water overflowing into the storage area..........since my car is a resto-mod I removed the entire tray area/sealed the drain ports/sealed the deck openings, but kept the grills installed for physical looks.
(I would NEVER have removed the trays on an original car/I would have rebuilt them)
I did not know to look for the drains as I was not even sure what this area was. Next time I see the car, I will know to look. Thanks!
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
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On mine the drains are in the rear corners. I took off the deck grill covers and used a soft wire to push down into the hole if the water wasnt draining well.
On the inside there should be 4 screws holding the metal frame to the body. Remove those and pull the covers off. Then just remove the old flap by gently removing the rubber plugs. The new flpaps will come with a slightly thicker gasket. Its pretty obvious how everything should be reassembled. Its just a flap that cabin air pressure forces open and outside rain or air pressure will keep closed. I wouldnt depend on it in a down pour but I'm not planning on drving in the rain.
03-27-2016, 10:34 AM
1968 Covertible rear vent question
