What are these for?
Thread Starter
8th Gear
Joined: Jun 2019
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
From: New Hampshire
What are these for?
2 unknown hoses in battery compartment
Just bought my first Vette (71 coupe w/ 454, 4 speed & A/C). First hot day out with the T-Tops off and I experienced the sauna effect that many of you have described. The car already has the shutoff to the heater box, so I gutted the interior and am installing Duramat and Reflectix insulation along with the under body heat shield. While doing this work I noticed two rubber hoses in the battery compartment. One is about 16” long and the other about 12”. They terminate at the bottom of the compartment and are not connected to anything. These are in addition to the drain located right below the battery. I checked the Assembly Manual and could not find any mention of them. Does anyone know what they are and what the should be connected to?
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 37,637
Likes: 3,118
From: Crossville TN
Modern batteries are "sealed"; earlier versions were not. The battery caps had small holes in them to vent gas pressure created during recharge. Since the Corvette batteries were inside the vehicle, GM thought it best to vent the gases instead of breathing them! It had 2 three-cap units with a hose fitting on each. You can see what they looked like in the AIM from those years.
Last edited by 7T1vette; Jul 13, 2019 at 12:33 AM.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 1,114
Likes: 520
From: McClellandtown, Pa.
As mentioned by others, those hoses connected to the original battery vent caps. Here is a photo showing original Delco Split Circle caps that your '71 would have had. In '74 the caps changed to the plain black plastic one shown in the second photo.
There should be a photo in your AIM !
Tooch
