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Not sure if anyone has had a loose slat or two in one of their AC vent assemblies, but I had one in the passenger door vent of my '84. It was bugging me so I decided to fix it. I'd thought I'd share how I did it incase anyone has a similar issue. It's not the most elegant repair but it'll save you from having to buy the entire vent assembly. And in the end the fix is invisible.
To begin remove the vent assembly with the broken slat by gently prying it loose from each end a little bit at a time.
Be careful not to lose the spring washer that is on the pivot post.
Once removed you can remove the wavy metal slat retainer.
With the retainer removed you can remove the broken slat by gently flexing the vent housing and twisting the slat out of its pivot holes.
In my case one of the two pivot nubs on the center slat had broken off. The fix was to use a thumb tack which has roughly the same diameter as the pivot nub.
First remove the head of the tack.
Next I used a set of vise grips to hold the tack while I heated the pointed end with my wife's crème brulee torch unlit it got red hot.
Now with the slat in a vice, simply and steadily plunge the hot tack into the location where the broken pivot nub was located (about 3/16" deep).
Once the melted plastic cools the metal tack is securely bonded.
Next I diked the tack until it protruded the same length as the original nub and then removed the sharp edges with a file.
Remove any excess plastic around the tack with a razor blade.
Now just reinstall in reverse order and the you'll have a vent assembly where all the slats move in unison.
Made a similar repair, but I used a spent 1/8 pop-rivet shaft. I'd been pop-riveting something together (installing steel door panel reenforcements l'd made for my 84) and had the inner portion of the spent pop-rivets laying on the table...started monkey-farting around on the vents of the 78, which are similar...but different, and came up with the same idea. Shaft size of the used/spent pop-rivet is roughly 1/16 and worked well.
The outer portion of the 84's vents are somewhat thicker, outer housing, and offers a better chance of success. The 78's are very flimsy and even after repairing, the outer portion/housing wants to bow-out some in the center, allowing the inner slats to fall out of the holes in the outer housing. As long as you don't touch them...they are okay.
Not sure if anyone has had a loose slat or two in one of their AC vent assemblies, but I had one in the passenger door vent of my '84. It was bugging me so I decided to fix it. I'd thought I'd share how I did it incase anyone has a similar issue. It's not the most elegant repair but it'll save you from having to buy the entire vent assembly. And in the end the fix is invisible.
To begin remove the vent assembly with the broken slat by gently prying it loose from each end a little bit at a time.
Be careful not to lose the spring washer that is on the pivot post.
Once removed you can remove the wavy metal slat retainer.
With the retainer removed you can remove the broken slat by gently flexing the vent housing and twisting the slat out of its pivot holes.
In my case one of the two pivot nubs on the center slat had broken off. The fix was to use a thumb tack which has roughly the same diameter as the pivot nub.
First remove the head of the tack.
Next I used a set of vise grips to hold the tack while I heated the pointed end with my wife's crème brulee torch unlit it got red hot.
Now with the slat in a vice, simply and steadily plunge the hot tack into the location where the broken pivot nub was located (about 3/16" deep).
Once the melted plastic cools the metal tack is securely bonded.
Next I diked the tack until it protruded the same length as the original nub and then removed the sharp edges with a file.
Remove any excess plastic around the tack with a razor blade.
Now just reinstall in reverse order and the you'll have a vent assembly where all the slats move in unison.
I dunno, that's both elegant and creative. Style points for the creme brulee torch!
For whatever it's worth. 928Intl has a whole box of loose vent slats from all vintages, probably not worth putting in an order for just a slat but I bet one could get Tom and Pichai to add a slat to an order for next to nothing (no idea what the single slat price is... )
For whatever it's worth. 928Intl has a whole box of loose vent slats from all vintages, probably not worth putting in an order for just a slat but I bet one could get Tom and Pichai to add a slat to an order for next to nothing (no idea what the single slat price is... )
Just ordered one small part yesterday...shipping more than part...looked over the site twice, trying to come up with some other items to make the shipping cost set-well in my brain...couldn't find anything needed (how sad or good is that...lol).
And then you tell us this...oh well...there's always next time...if I remember.
06-15-2016, 04:51 AM
AC Vent Slat Fix
