Carnut
Member
I recently disassembled parts of my dash and found a common problem that has been talked about several times on this site, my defrost vents had broken ears. I looked through some of the threads and didn't see a fix that I thought was easy and simple, so I tried something that I am happy with and thought I would share. I designed a bracket (1/8" thick) that bolts to the vent. After receiving them from our local laser cutting place I primed and painted them black. I used the bracket as my template to drill holes (7/64) through the plastic vent and then used 4/40 button head cap screws to bolt the vent to the flange. I made it universal so it fits drivers and passengers vents on 1966 and 1967, but may also fit other Mopar models, not sure what parts cross over. The flange goes around the cut out in the dash so you can't see it and its about 1000 times stronger than the plastic vent.
I had it done for $4.50 each. It took me a couple times to get it right as I didn't realize there is a slight curl in the dash opening. I thought the plastic vents were just warped! I also adjusted it with slots so you can position them best. I did slot my plastic holes a little to help with this as well. Sorry for the poor pictures, I am never good at that!
If its possible, I would be happy to share the DXF file with this site so people can download it and take it right to their local laser cutter and have the cut out, just let me know how.
I had it done for $4.50 each. It took me a couple times to get it right as I didn't realize there is a slight curl in the dash opening. I thought the plastic vents were just warped! I also adjusted it with slots so you can position them best. I did slot my plastic holes a little to help with this as well. Sorry for the poor pictures, I am never good at that!
If its possible, I would be happy to share the DXF file with this site so people can download it and take it right to their local laser cutter and have the cut out, just let me know how.