motorise vent

[fc4kiwi]

has anyone done a motorise vent instead of pushing down the handle that sit under the dash,if so could someone throw a picture or drawing at me, as im in the mode to build a new dash and dont want that handle hanging down below.

[RET]

It's an interesting idea - I've never heard of it being done. Its more common to see the vent welded up on modified cars.

I would think it should be straightforward enough to do.  Once you get rid of the handle - "look at the handle" - you've also gotten rid of the three bump stop positions, so it should open and close smoothly with a electric window motor or similar.

cheers
RET

[Phantom]

G'day all,
                   Ret why do they weld up the vent on modified cars , mine is welded up and then bogged and it looks shizenhouzen, Trev if you are still out there hoe is my cowl coming along?
                                            Cheers Rusty

[robbzfc58]

russ if i go near it with an angle grinder at this time of year i'll get shot....farmers are funny about having their farms burnt out
           cheers trev
 ps  motorised vent sounds lioke a nice novel idea

[RET]

Well I've never done it myself, but it's my understanding that the vent usually goes because the linkage and/or handle gets in the way of something being fitted under the dash, such as air-conditioning.

Or because it's a permanent way to stop the thing leaking

cheers
RET

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Why not use a pop-up headlight mechanism from a VL Calais or an RX7 or similar? The Galaxie I have down the back uses a vacuum arrangement, hmmmmm.

You guys, stop giving me ideas!

[customFC]

This idea is not a new one. There are a few Hot Rod suppliers in the USA that offer a kit for this modification.
Here is one showing the basic components.

Here is a link to their site.
http://www.julianos.com/power_cowl_vent.html

Here is a different set up.

The link to this site.
http://www.hotrodsusa.com/buynow/manufactures/balls/cowl.htm
It might be worth a phone call to your local Hot Rod parts store to see if they import a version.
Regards
Alex

[Ed]

Cool idea, but not so good  if space saving was ur primary motivation. (hard to obtain scale on those pics)

I love modifiying my FE, but of the few things always destined to stay.. the vent handle was one of them!  I love it and  went to lengths to repair it.

Im using my cowl vent to cool my ignition module.. sneaky huh.

Cheers

Ed

[JB]

Hi Guys,

This is something I also had a look at while doing  the van... There is a company up here that repairs the hydraulic/gas struts that I have used for the tailgate, they also supply a hydraulic ram that you can set up certain positions of actuation. This unit is small enough to do the job of the 3 position lever that the FC/FE has, but from memory it was about $350.00, so I made the centre console around the original handle.

There would probably be a supplier of the same things down your way.

Cheers
Jason.