[Zmagnette] Air Vent Removal

[Kelvin Dodd]

Sorry, the attached is not a very good picture, but you can see the stainless steel hinges.

The screen comes off first, then you can see the screws that attach the flap to the body at the rear. The underside panel is attached to the outer flap by 2 BA screws that thread into welded inserts. The inserts in mine were rusted out, so I had to cut the bolt heads with a Dremel grinding wheel. No fun.

The flap operating mechanism comes out from inside the car after the heater is removed. That should be pretty straight forward.

I refurbished the inside of the vent flap and poured in lots of POR15 before bolting the inner panel back on and installing a new seal from Lou.

The inside mechanism flap got a new seal too. I found MGA windshield sealing rubber to be very useful to replace these seals and also for the heater retaining strap.

I was ^%)^ing bricks because the outer face of the flap had been finish painted and polished, but the insides were totally rusty and nasty. So yes, it is possible to dismantle the vent assembly without too much trauma.

Personal note. We get blinded by experience with British sports cars and their minimalistic comforts. The Magnette as a saloon car has a real heater that is designed to divert air where needed and it is a fairly complex unit, but is not that difficult to figure out. Once rebuilt with new seals and a clean heater core it is very effective giving choices of outside cool air, heated outside air or recirculated warm air.

Note. The heater core is a low spot. Mine was filled with balls of congealed rusty junk. It took about 3 hours of shaking to get all the pea sized chunks out.

Kelvin.

From: zmagnette-bounces at autox.team.net [mailto:zmagnette-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Steve C.
Sent: Thursday, December 19, 2013 3:44 AM
To: List for the Z Magnette Group - North America
Subject: Re: [Zmagnette] Air Vent Removal

The phillips head screws under the lid and above the screen mesh are just to hold the screen in place. I do not know how the actual lid comes out. It gas been more then 20 years since I restored my ZA, but I remember thinking it was not designed to be removed after assembly by MG.

Hi,

How do I remove he air vent* that resides between the bonnet and the windscreen?  I've been unable to find good exploded diagrams in either the WSM or SPL.

* the SPL calls the vent cover: P/N 36 Lid Assembly - Dash Ventilator

I can open the vent up, but it is very rusty and doesn't move well.  The vent cover itself looks to be in reasonably good shape but I suspect it is all rotted out underneath the lid.  When I open the vent, I can see a number of phillips head screws under the lid and above the screen mesh.  I suspect that removing them will allow me to pull the vent lid off, but those screws are so rusty they are going to break long before I can unscrew them so I thought I'd better ask for advice from the group.

I have the heater unit out of the car, but I don't see any easy access from underneath.   I can se e that there are 4 screws under the dash that look like they hold the flap to the air vent duct in place.  However,  it looks like it will still be impossible to extract the flap even if those 4 screws do come out - it's a really tight fit under there.

So before I go about this the wrong way - what is the right way to remove the vent for repair?

Thanks in advance.

Best Regards,

Dick

Dick Sprafke
Providence, RI
57 ZB
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