Has anyone ever rebuilt or otherwise repaired the floor vents on their S30, the ones operated by the pull knobs under the dashboard?

I'm starting to reattach all my interior bits and pieces, I noted that after only 54 years, the "rubber" that seals the vents closed has cracked and broken off in a few places which is plainly evident in the photo. That will make for some drafty driving in cool weather.

I estimate the material thickness at about 1 mm (1/25" or 0.040"). I see 0.040", 60A durometer, adhesive-backed, transparent silicone rubber sheeting (about 1/2 square foot) on Amazon for $11 so that's my target material at the moment as the silicone should never "dry out" and get brittle. Anyone have an alternative?

Also, the movable flap looks to be held in place by and pivots on two pins that protrude into the air horn and look to be retained by plastic, friction-fit washers. Has anyone disassembled one of these and determined if everything survives the process to then get reassembled?

Edited 18 hours ago18 hr by Seppi72
correcting typo

I redid that foam on mine but decided disassembly was a bad idea. I bought some thin foam off amazon. Glued it on an closed the flap to hold it. Trimmed to fit after it cured

Here is a post showing a bit about what I did to redo mine: https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/63087-restoration-of-bringatrailer-240z-hls30-35883/page/63/?&_rid=2858#findComment-663237.

I can't find it now, but someone found a material that I thought may be a better choice. It may have been @Patcon. The rubber I used is very durable, but it is rubber sheet. I found it to be less "shapeable" than the original foam like material. If I had to do it again, I'd look for a very thin neoprene or more foam like material, as I think this material would folder around the edges of the flap better.

Thanks for your reply, inline6. Here is that portion of your build thread. Excellent pix. Very helpful. I'll check out Grainger, McMaster-Carr and others for thin neoprene foam.

As and aside, I tried searching just the "S30 Interior" portion of the forums for this specific topic before posting this new thread, but "vent" returns over 500 hits and I didn't want to spend the time investigating each one's summary to see if it was germane. I know, I'm just plain lazy. But I remember spending countless hours in the departmental library "stacks" tracking down references in Chemical Abstracts back in the pre-computer days. Probably added 6 months to my graduate degree program doing that.

March 19, 2024

• Author

comment_663237

This past weekend, I rebuilt the side vents - the ones that are opened/closed via the knob underneath either side of the dashboard.  The rubber parts that seal around the edges of the disc that moves to close/open were dry rotted, but intact.  I thought about installing them as they were, but when I poked at the rubber, it crumbled easily.  These vent mechanisms are actually pretty difficult to remove/install, so I decided to rebuild them.  I have some thin rubber sheet I got from McMaster-Carr some time ago.  It comes in handy for making gaskets, and applications like these. 

For each vent, I had to first remove all the old rubber material.  Then, I cut two semi-circular pieces a little over size so that the edge would fold over seal against the ID of the housing.  I then used the contact adhesive I have been using to glue them into place, one on one side, and one on the other.  To finish up, I cut some 1/8" this open cell foam which seals the vent housing to the car body.

    

Adhesive type matters. I have found contact adhesive available at local stores isn't good enough for high heat (automotive) applications. With interior temperatures going well north of 100 degrees repeatedly, it let's go.

This stuff does not. It is only available by the gallon, and has a relatively short shelf life (a year or so), but I find it to be amazing, and crucial for any adhesive application in our cars.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by inline6

I agree. I bought a couple of pints of the regular stuff when I first started my upholstery work and quickly went through those (brushed everything on, no spraying) so I bought a gallon of the HHR and will likely have half of that leftover when finished with everything. Maybe I should rebuild another Z just to use it up? Oh wait, I have one of those...

Edited 11 minutes ago11 min by Seppi72
added details