Defroster vent repair II

[66_B_Body4ever]

First I want to thank 66sat440 for an ingenious repair on his defroster vents. This has got me thinking about repairs as well. I suppose I never considered a repair due the issues with it not appearing correct for a concours restoration.

What I need to know is how many of you would accept a repaired defroster vent, welded or otherwise? Also how bad of condition are yours? I am about to attempt a welding repair today. I believe these ducts are made of Polyethylene, which means welding is the only reasonable repair.

Please post pictures in this thread to give me an idea how bad yours are.

66sat440, I didn't mean to steal your thread, in fact I credit you for getting my mind working.
Cheers!

 

[66_B_Body4ever]

Here's the vent before welding.

 

[thebankerstoy]

I've looked at 100's of these defroster duct vent nozzles over the past 20 years and the two area's of damage that I have usually found, are that one or both of the mounting "ears" or tabs are broken off, or the top edge of the vents are warpped from the sun. If Chrysler would have made these area's a bit thicker, these parts would have lasted for just about forever, as they are SOOO tucked into the dashboard shell, that the only area of the vents that see daylight are the top edges, which are the weakest area of the vents! :black_eye:. Some of mine look like the one pictured below and some have been badly repaired and a couple are just cracked.

I do have the ONE nos passenger side vent shown below with the tag on it, but I'm afraid to use it as if I can EVER get these reproduced, my nos vent could be used to make the mold for the new passenger side parts.

Richard

 

[66_B_Body4ever]

I am missing the drivers side vent as my car came to me dissassembled. The flange I am welding will be 2.5 mm in thickness. I am welding it up this afternoon, I have just fabricated the flange.
Richard, it would be a good idea to hang on that baby, although I have a hard time believing your baby see's much weather!
-J

 

[thebankerstoy]

I am missing the drivers side vent as my car came to me dissassembled. The flange I am welding will be 2.5 mm in thickness. I am welding it up this afternoon, I have just fabricated the flange.
Richard, it would be a good idea to hang on that baby, although I have a hard time believing your baby see's much weather!
-J

Yep, guilty on that count, as since the end of 1997 when I retired it from drag racing, it has only seen a few hundred miles and it hasn't seen any road miles since 2005 when I parked it over at my friends house next to his 69 Road Runner while I was doing an extensive restoration project on my sons 72 Dart Swinger.

As far as the work that you and Ron are doing on the defroster duct vents, PLEASE keep posting pictures of your guy's work and how they fit in the dash shell once completed. It's a pretty tight fit where they mount up to the dash, so it should be VERY interesting to see how all of your guy's hard work turns out. As Ron knows, I am currently having Mike Ross at B/E&A working on restoring all of my used vents, but if he is not able to get them done, I will be contacting one of you to see if mine can be fixed, as I'm waiting to start working on my interior until I receive my new dash pad from B/E&A that is due to be released in a few weeks and I also need a set of the defroster duct vent nozzles.

Richard

 

[66_B_Body4ever]

Nice Dart, I had a 71 Swinger years ago, wish I still had it!

 

[66_B_Body4ever]

The Repair

So I positively identified the plastic as Polyethylene, which absolutely requires welding as there is no known adhesive that will chemically or mechanically bond to it. So I welded.
The following pictures show an airless weld (fusion). Not a hot glue gun!
I obtained a 2.5 mm thick piece of PE and rough cut it to fit. I then notched the flange leaving some of the old material for alignment purposes. Before welding everything was cleaned thoroughly with plastic cleaner then clamped together. I used PE welding wire and fused the new mounting flange to the old vent.
Once the welding was complete, I stress tested the part well beyond its required strength...she's a keeper. While this plastic is white, I am sure I could find black PE. Paint does not adhere readily to PE, but I will use some plastic adhesion promoter and see how it works.
What we wind up with is a part that has not increased in dimension in any fashion, and has a very solid mounting flange...cheers!
Once again, thanks to 66sat440 for getting me going on this little project.

 

[66sat440]

no problem 66 b body, these vents have been a pain for 66 and 67 owners for a long time so the more ideas we can get going for repairs the better. i think your repair is going to be a more correct fix that looks factory and mine is a how do we bang this together and make it work repair. have fun with it. ron

 

[66_B_Body4ever]

Thanks Ron,
Nice car, have more pic's?

 

[66sat440]

you must have posted while i was typing, that looks great! not much for pics of my car right now going to have to snap some and put them up this weekend. need any bits and pieces for your 66? i may have something you could use that i took off mine. easier than going cross border. good work on those vents! ron

 

[66_B_Body4ever]

Yes, I need lots of bits and pieces. I have a great body almost rust free, and while its a Belvy, I want a 66 Satellite interior. I can assemble a list and PM you if you don't mind...Thanks!

 

[66sat440]

thats fine by me,my interior was redone at some time so the door panels and seats are not factory but i know a guy that has about 10 66 67s that might have something you need. ron

 

[66_B_Body4ever]

Thats what I like to hear! thanks again Ron.

 

[66_B_Body4ever]

I suppose the response to this thread sums up why Richard (thebankerstoy) had no support for getting reproduction parts (vents) going. I thought more people might be in the same boat as Ron (66sat440), Richard and myself with these parts.
Cheers!

 

[thebankerstoy]

I suppose the response to this thread sums up why Richard (thebankerstoy) had no support for getting reproduction parts (vents) going. I thought more people might be in the same boat as Ron (66sat440), Richard and myself with these parts.
Cheers!

The very sad thing about these parts, is that they ARE all in the same shape that our vents are in! All of these 66-67 defroster vents are the same age and pretty much in the same shape. If yours aren't broken now, they will be the first time you try to remove them for one reason or another. It just amazes me that folks will go on ebay and pay almost as much for old broken, or badly repaired parts, as they could have paid for a brand new and much improved reproduction set from B/E&A. I just don't understand it.:confused:

Richard

 

[Mike_Dodge]

I thought I had mine fixed for good using that silver tape used on metal chimneys. It held it pretty good..

til i looked down at the windshield one day and saw nice shiny tape looking back at me.

 

[66_B_Body4ever]

Good one Mike...nothing sticks to PE...Nice Coronet...

 

[Patrick]

polyurethane/Polyethylene

Polyethylene was used for every plastic mopar part up to 79. Also all of the so called rubber bumpers are Polyethylene. There are all kinds of products out there to repair bumpers with that works great. I used a bumper repair kit from TCPglobel to repair the inside qauter window slants in my 73 Charger SE. Also SEMS polyurethane plastic and fabric paint sticks. I've also found that if I clean the stuff good and shoot with polyurethane primer J.B. weld will stick and hold. This lower door panel was cracked in the arm rest area. I cleaned primed it and repaired it with J.B. quick. Then painted it to match the others.

 

[Mike_Dodge]

Good one Mike...nothing sticks to PE...Nice Coronet...

Danke sire..

Someday it'll get painted!

 

[66_B_Body4ever]

Sorry Patrick, Ma Mopar used SMC, Polypropylene, ABS and Polycarbonates as well as polyurethanes since the 60's. It is a known fact that no adhesive can chemically bond to PE. I am very aware of the adhesion promoters that we have in industry and they work very well on olefin based plastics such as polypropylene, and although polyethylene is an olefin based plastic they don't work. It is easy to confuse PP with PE as they are both commonly used. The best way to identify these materials is by the ISO code, although Chrysler didn't always stamp them into their parts. Some repairs seem to adhere initially but ultimately fail. Sorry to correct you, just better to know.
Cheers...Jeff