Body / Glass: Fresh air vent on a 1960 Lark

[1oldtimer]

I don't think the vent is working on the '60 Lark wagon. On the pass side the cable moves freely, the arm moves but I think the shaft is broken free of the door. Do I have to take off the fender or inner fender to get to the vent door. Anyone fix this before, have some pics......I see SI has the vent doors on sale or can I weld mine back together.

[rockne10]

My '60 has been gone for years but, there should be a vertical plate that the shaft goes through, held by two screws to the inner fender. The vent door should pass through a slot behind that plate. When those vent doors were NLA I sold the set I had to SI. Whether or not you can tack yours back together will depend on the condition they are in when you extract them.

[1oldtimer]

Wow, that sounds too easy....for some reason I pictured the door being bigger then that. I'll check it out later this week, only if the speedometer and speedometer cable lube could be that easy.

[jclary]

You didn't state why you think the vent door is not working. Are you getting too much air, or not enough? There is a cabin air filter. If it has never been cleaned, it is possible for the vent door to be opening, but a dirty clogged filter could be blocking the air.

[DieselJim]

I purchased a set from SI. The tack welds were drilled out, new seals installed and put back together with small nut and bolts. Remove the 2 screws and slide the vent door out the slot.

[BRUCESTUDE]

I also replaced both mine with the set from SI; fairly easy. While you're in there vacuum and/or blow out vents!

[RadioRoy]

My vents were full of leaves. Cleaning them out made the vents... vent again.

[rockne10]

Wow, that sounds too easy....

"Too easy" is the procedure for replacing the heater core in these models. Would that everything were such!

[1oldtimer]

You didn't state why you think the vent door is not working. Are you getting too much air, or not enough? There is a cabin air filter. If it has never been cleaned, it is possible for the vent door to be opening, but a dirty clogged filter could be blocking the air.

There's no air flow from the vent in the open position (zero air flow) on the passenger side only, the drivers side works great. I looked into the screen from under the dash on the pass side and didn't see a pile of debris. I can look inside where the vent goes or even the heater core I guess to check out further. I'm assuming that the shaft is turning but not the vent.

[pinehurstbob]

When I restored my 60, I had everything apart, cleaned, painted etc. and I still do not have a good flow of air from the passenger side. I just assumed you would get less air on passenger side since the air has to pass through the heater core to get inside. Does anyone know different as we all know what happens when you assume something?
Bob

[rockne10]

There should be virtually no hindrance of fresh air through the passenger side duct or heater core. If there is little to no air flow, suspect the blend door is shut and wont open, the vent screen is plugged, there's a leak in the vent hose or a critter has built a home in your fender. None of these are difficult to correct.

[StudeRich]

I don't see how any of you could have leaves, critters etc. in your Air Vents on '59-'60 Larks or Champ Trucks as RadioRoy does!

Studebaker wisely installed fine screens behind the Air Intakes in the Grill Panel to prevent just such a bad situation.
And if that was not enough, they put in the cleanable, replaceable Mesh Filter in the Heater Core Box or Cowl on later models as well!

I wonder if there could be Issues with the Floor/Defrost Flapper Valve in the Air Distribution Box under the dash on some of these "low flow" Climatizer Cars?

[pinehurstbob]

Thanks for the idea StudeRich. It is about the only part in the system that I did not have apart. Car is tucked away in storage, but I will take a look in the next week or so and post the results.
Bob

[1oldtimer]

Ok, I posted and really didn't check the post again (should have). I "thought" I check the inside screen, which is 1/2 true because the drivers side only has a screen. If I would have checked the thread again I would have seen that the air goes through the heater core ONLY, but I found this out for myself . Anyhow everything is clean (and original), I did replace the torn air bellow under the hood. I think the blend door isn't moving maybe (I'll check tomorrow), but more like the vent on the pass side is just weak having to go through the filter, heater core, ducting and then either out the floor vent or the defrost vent.....I also looks like I need to open the vent to use the heater/defrost. I did fix the speedo cable noise by lubing the cable and speedo head.

[StudeRich]

Well there is your problem, the Right Air Vent must ALWAYS be open for Cool or Heated Air Flow to Floor or Defrost.
Also under 50-60 MPH or so, High Fan speed is needed to get some action going.