In need of suggestions

[Jeff190]

Well here I am trying to redo my interior on my truck. Its the beginning of my first full on project. Im going to be pulling the a/c in the process and probably the fans too. Where im stuck is... Should I try and "delete" the vents? How can I do such a thing while maintaining the texture of the plastic? Should I just leave the vents as they are? Got any ideas I haven't thought of? Im going for kind of a function over form, but still classy sort of theme here.

 

[Jeff190]

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

 

[adsm08]

Um, are you seriously suggesting removing the entire HVAC system?

I get not really wanting AC on a vehicle. I hate car AC, I'd rather have the windows down. But if you remove the fan and the vents you won't have a defroster either. I don't know where you are, but in about 75% of the US that becomes an issue at some point in the year.

 

[YungICY]

Um, are you seriously suggesting removing the entire HVAC system?

I get not really wanting AC on a vehicle. I hate car AC, I'd rather have the windows down. But if you remove the fan and the vents you won't have a defroster either. I don't know where you are, but in about 75% of the US that becomes an issue at some point in the year.

X2 I completely gutted the interior of my truck, yanked out all the a.c. stuff and swapped for a non a.c. blower housing but I kept the windshield vents so that I still have heat and defrost in my mild winter desert climate.

I would just swap the a.c. blower housing for a non a.c. one and call it a day. Later down the road you can always yank it out if you decide you really want to.

Sent from my LGMS345 using Tapatalk

 

[Jeff190]

Wont be daily driving this truck. Already got me a new daily driver (94 3.0 xlt 2wd... Gets me here and there) so I am going to be gutting those.

 

[Jeff190]

I guess ill hit you with an ignorant question... Do race cars have interior fans? Haha

 

[YungICY]

If it's literally just a weekend trailrig kind of truck them I would just go ahead and do whatever your heart desires.

I had three main reasons for leaving my vents intact on my above pictured off road only use prerunner.

1) I hate the cold and the defrost vents weren't going to be in the way of a future cab cage.

2) I haven't completely written off making the truck daily drivable again so I would need defrost in winter. Plus I hate being cold.

3) I could kick on heater if my engine started to get a little warm while hammering on the skinny pedal to help engine cooling slightly.

I was at first just going to pick up a 12v aftermarket cab heater and gut everything for cage work but I decided I could do that later if I really wanted to and it would save me the hassle of removing a working system that was already conviently in place.

Im not sure exactly what you're asking about race cars but I think you were pointing in the direction of electric heaters etc. If so, yes that's a thing. Idk how they work as far as defrosting goes though.

Sent from my LGMS345 using Tapatalk

 

[Jeff190]

Just wondering if there was any absolute necessity to having vent fans, heater. I live in California and I actually prefer the cool over the heat. Basically im windows down 95% of the year with almost no reliance on the heat/ac. Im almost set on gutting everything underneath the dash and slapping it back in. But my main concern lies with the actual vents on the dashboard themselves. Has anyone tried shaving them? Or does anyone have any means of getting rid of them to clean up and smooth out the dashboard?

 

[Mark_88]

Have you pulled the insert out of the dash yet?

On my 96, that is very close to all later years in design, had a removeable piece that went over the dash vent for defrost and I'm pretty sure with a bit of fiberglass or other material that you could patch that up if you wanted to...

The side vents may be a bit trickier, but I recall that they also have inserts mostly...plugging them wouldn't be hard either...or you could simply plug the inserts by covering them over and then popping them back in...been a while since I looked at mine so I might be a bit off on this...

Pulling the dash is actually not hard if you need to to do what you want...but some of those holes are used to access the attachments if I recall...

I'm with the others on not doing this but it sounds like you are probably never going to run this on damp or cold days...that's when the vents are most needed...in Canada anyways...

I'm too old for sex in vehicles and that was another reason for liking having a good defroster...maybe a victory lap dance when you win a race...haha...

 

[Jeff190]

Should be similar. My current daily driven 94 xlt has a near identical dashboard so im sure its the same style. As for the project all the panels + the dashboard are pulled and im going to be refinishing it all. Figure this would be the best time to delete some holes. I have the passenger side vent pulled apart and I've cut a little cardboard backing piece that im going to glue on the inside so I can attempt to fill the piece so its flush. I've heard alot about this stuff called sugru that's supposed to be like playdoh that hardens to rubber and bonds with a bunch of different surfaces. Never used it before but im gonna give it a shot I guess. I saw a page on this guy who used it to plug small holes in his center console. He was even able to create a sort of texture stamp with some of the sugru by pressing a chunk of it on one of his panels. Totally stealing his idea. Ill post pictures if there's any success/if anyone really cares

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I'd be interested in how things turn out. Post some pics when done, please. And maybe a link to this "sugru".

 

[Jeff190]

For sure. It may be a few days. It takes 24 hours for the stuff to cure and I just made my "stamp piece". I will say they really don't give you a lot of this stuff for the money. Its like 12 bucks for 15 grams of the stuff... Also got my vent piece backed and almost ready to fill. Just playing the waiting game until tomorrow evening! And just google up sugru. They have their own website. Big name hardware stores should carry it. Got mine at osh

 

[Jeff190]

This shit isn't going to work. I need to do it proper and find some plastic filler. I guess there are texture sprays just for this kind of thing but haven't found one right for the application yet.

 

[Jeff190]

SEM texture spray? Anyone use it? Debating using it over bondo.

 

[Jeff190]

Using some plastic epoxy, cardboard, bondo, texture spray, primer and the color im shooting my interior with, I finished my piece! Looks alright to me. I will keep using this method to fill/delete the rest of the vent spaces