What's the deal - they look as if they should allow outside air in - but they don't or am I missing something here? I rather they be a solid cover and be nice looking if they don't function as a vent. Has anyone modified theirs to do either?

 

Their ability to let air in will depend on the car. my non AC '78 (wreck) had little manually operated rods that when pushed or pulled would let warm(er) air in the cabin.

My "with" AC '78, you need to fiddle with the AC control on the console to get them to open. I dont recall which setting opens them (assuming all the vac line are hooked up right). Somebody will be along with more info im sure.


dodosmike

bottom right of pic #1

 

So you have/had both a '78 ac and non ac car - mine is a '78 too and I don't think I've seen or know about those doors. Did they only come on non ac cars? Did they pull air from the fender vents behind the front wheels? That have to be better air than what we get now - huh?

 

Yep, two cars. The red 78 is in boxes now. The silver one is on the road. Drove it to work today actually.

Is yours NON AC? Any little **** to pull? In my first pic, imagine a fender on the car. The door being open would pull air from the cowl area. How "warm" that air would be would depend on how good a hood seal you have and the ambient air temp. I run with the heater hose closed (hot water shutoff) and the fan disconnected. Notice the fan lowest setting is "low" and not "off"? Pass side under hood, beside the hood latch, 3 or 4 wires on L shaped plug, pull it, the fan will stop blowing hot air. I run most of the summer with the tops off and windows down, Heat from the sun on my forehead is my biggest worry.

My silver car has AC, but unhooked by P.O. The compressor is in a box somewhere. Ive never had the desire or need to put it all together. I live 300 miles north of Buffalo NY. My summers are cool compared to the southern US. That, and I store my car for the 5/6 months of winter we have here.

Non AC cars, that door will open with vacuum (or lack of vacuum, I forget) depending on the settings on the console. As i mentioned, this all assumes that the hoses, springs, rods and all the other climate stuff is operational.

I think for next summer I might put the "pulls" on my vents to see what happens.

One way to tell on 78's if the car had AC originally is if the kick panels are fully carpeted or have a plastic opening, NON AC cars wil have a block off plate over where the two vents are above the center gauges and of course it will have the AC controls in the center console beside the fan control.

dodosmike

 

Mine's a '78 ac car - ac not working - needs gone thru and charged up - never been updated to 312.

 

Factory air cars have no fresh air from the left side kick panel. The cowl is closed off to outside air. You get outside air only from the right side kick panel and only on VENT.

 

Thanks Mike - do you think it is possible to modify the left side to work too?

 

I think if you got digging around in there you could find a way to make it work, even if (maybe the only way) to put a manual "pull" rod on it, something like in the pic above.

Here is a closer pic of the left side of the NON AC car. (Off topic but take note of the frame directly behind the tire...!)


If you can figure out where and how the air is blocked, this "cutaway" pic might help with unblocking it.

dodosmike

 

are you missing the piece of carpet that covers them?

 

Yep - interior was replaced by PO (Bubba) and I didn't know they are suppose to be covered with carpet!!

 

(Off topic but take note of the frame directly behind the tire...!)
OUCH!!

 

Not without removing the clip. Dodos pic shows where you have to go to get to it. Do you have the AIM? The AIM shows the cover bonded over the opening for the vent door.

 

I see that - that's why I asked. I thought I read somewhere on here about a guy drilling a hole and using a '67 vent assembly to get fresh air in the cabin.

 

I suppose you could go in from the inside and cut out the lower cover. Then you could install the stock non-ac flapper door in there. The only issue I can think of is the flapper door holes were in the flange (which is not in the a/c car) but you could possibly make one. It would be a pain..

The picture below shows the two openings being covered for the a/c cars.

 

Thanks - looks like I may have a winter project.