Astro Ventilation
I finally got the Corvette I've been waiting for for nearly 30 years. So I am new to Corvette ownership and this forum. The corvette that I got is a nearly unmolested '74 454 coupe that was in storage for years and only has 67,000 miles on it.
The only thing that appears to be missing is the Astro Ventilation plenum. The underside of the vents were closed off with a painted piece of aluminum. My question is, Does it work well enough to go through the trouble to track down the pieces and reinstall the system? I was also thinking of fabricating a custom plenum and attaching a computer base fan that would be run off of a photocell mounted on the back deck to ventilate the interior when it is parked in the sun. |
Re: Astro Ventilation (GATOR454)
Does the car have a/c....if so, the vents are blocked...
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Re: Astro Ventilation (GATOR454)
Does the car have a/c? If so, the plates in the back are original, astro ventilation was not operative with a/c.
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Re: Astro Ventilation (Martin72)
Yes, it has A/C. Does that mean it didn't come with one? If so, why did they print Astro Ventilation on the windows?
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Re: Astro Ventilation (GATOR454)
GM probably just had all side windows with the astro ventilation script on them even though A/C cars do not actually have it.
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Re: Astro Ventilation (bcliff)
You would think that they would have installed the parts on all the cars....and have the vents open on an a/c car when the control was set to vent...but noooo.....only on non a/c cars.
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Re: Astro Ventilation (Martin72)
Can they be converted?
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Re: Astro Ventilation (tjl5709)
There are some vacuum parts and/or cables involved, so it would be a challenge to incorporate on an A/C car. I'm considering some sort of door arrangement that would be operated manually.
I tested the whole idea by removing the two plates and found a couple of problems that may only apply to convertibles. First, you need lots of air volume out of the vents to create enough positive pressure in the cabin to overcome the high pressure area right behind the top. Second, all the seals on the top have to be PERFECT to allow the cabin to pressurize. Basically on mine, it just sucks in warm air (we're talking hot right now) once I start moving. On a coupe, the area behind the rear glass might be low pressure and it would work better. I used small streamers hanging down over the openings to check airflow in or out. Hans |
Re: Astro Ventilation (GATOR454)
Put in a removable rear window and your ventilation problems are gone.
Great mod. Terry |
Re: Astro Ventilation (Wrencher)
Thanks for the info.
When I first bought the car I was scrathing my head trying to figure out how it could possibly work and figured it must have been removed. Thanks for enlightening me. Last night I told my Wife that the car has lied to me twice now. The first is a running battle as to whether or not the door is actually a jar or not (bad switch) and now that it has Astro Ventilation when it never did. She said "That settles it the car is a Male." I told her that I disagreed and ran away as fast as posible since it would be an argument that I couldn't possibly win. :banghead: Thanks again David |
does my 1974 w/ac have astro ventilation
how do I find out if my 1974 with A/C have astro ventilation?
Did they not come with it if they had A/C? |
I forgot to mention it is a coupe
Thanks for your help |
Astro vents are open when the heater control is in the C position and closed when it is in the H position, they are vacuum operated.
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Originally Posted by mr303
(Post 1591641661)
Astro vents are open when the heater control is in the C position and closed when it is in the H position, they are vacuum operated.
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If you have AC, you don't have Astro Ventilation. It's that simple.
Also, I think this thread is 13 years old. |
Originally Posted by marinfarms
(Post 1591641935)
thanks for that. How can I tell if I have the astro ventilation?
I like the computer fan idea to exhaust more air from the cabin but I'm considering using the vent fans they use to get air into race car cabins and put them where the kick panel doors would have been in a non a/c car. Refitting all of missing air con to my car is beyond my budget at least for the time being. |
Originally Posted by Brcmpbl
(Post 1591642006)
If you have AC, you don't have Astro Ventilation. It's that simple.
Also, I think this thread is 13 years old. That is exactly what I needed to know. I looked every where on the internet and could not find this info. Thanks again |
Originally Posted by marinfarms
(Post 1591641443)
...how do I find out if my 1974 with A/C have astro ventilation?...
:thumbs: |
Originally Posted by Easy Mike
(Post 1591643062)
Astro-Ventilation is nothing more than a trade name for GMs fresh air vent system for early C3s. All 68-75s had Astro-Ventilation. AC cars had Astro-Ventilation but used different ducting for cool air handling which non-AC cars did not use. Door glasses have Astro-Ventilation scripts.
:thumbs: the Astro-Ventilation. I saw an article that said they installed all the 74's with windows that had the Astro-Ventilation script on them. I have to say that this forum has been great for info that is otherwise hard to find. Thanks to Everyone |
Depends what you want, really.
If you want the car to appear as it did from the factory, get the Astro script on the glass. All cars did have the script in 1974, you're correct. If I was replacing the door glass on my 1970 with AC, I would get the glass with the Astro script, but I like that kind of thing. |
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