defroster vents

[Walt]

Hey guys that have installed the ffr heater with defrost, looking at the room between the heater and underside of the body cowl it doesn't look like near enough room for the lower vent piece to fit. Also is there a correct distance from the windshield slots to mount the defrosters?

Thanks
Walt

[Gumball]

Walt,

There is very little room between the heater box and the bottom of the body, but I made it work. Here are a couple of pics. Note that I modified the defroster plenums (the flat funnel things) by fiberglassing in the bottom, cutting a hole in the side of each, and epoxying a 90* PVC elbow to each to allow easier connections. To make the one over the heater box fit, I had to melt it with a heat gun and reshape it.

As for the vents in the body, mine are about 3/4" from the bottom of the windshield. To get it right, you should set it up during one of the body test-fits with the windshield in place. Just be careful to make sure that the slots for the defroster vents are on the dash side of the firewall - mine were marginal to get them where I wanted them to be, so I had to tweak my firewall with a couple of bends.

I have the main heater hoses connected to the ball vents that came with the heater from FFR. When those are closed, all of the air is directed at the defroster vents. However, there is no way to close off the defroster vents.

[Norm B]

I found the same problem and modified the passenger side duct to fit. I used a piece of 1 1/2 inch ABS pipe, cut it at the appropriate angle and used a heat gun to shape it to fit the cut off defroster vent. The two pieces are glued together by black RTV. I also added aluminum guides in the defroster duct to get the air to blow straight up the windshield.

Good Luck
Norm

[Walt]

Thanks guys that was just what I needed to know, I was thinking along the same lines but wanted some input before I started cutting them up.