Team Camaro Tech banner

removing kick panel

41K views 29 replies 24 participants last post by  Davids1968Camaro 
#1 ·
I'm sure this isnt to hard but my driver side vent shut off is broke. i went to take the kick panel off but couldnt get it loose. Didnt see any obvious screws or retainer clips so i didnt want yank on it to hard until i knew what i was doing. Im sure most of you guys know how to get this off, thanks.
 
#2 ·
Jim,
What year car are you referring to? 67-69 are attached with 5 screws each located around the perimeter of the oval vent duct. The driver's side is a pain because You'll have to remove the emergency brake pedal assembly to get it out. There should also be a bead of puddy that seals the kick panel to the opening to prevent any water from entering the car. Once you have the screws and e-brake assembly removed, it will take some effort to break the seal loose. You'll also need to remove the sill plate and pillar post molding to get the panel out.
 
#22 ·
Jim,
What year car are you referring to? 67-69 are attached with 5 screws each located around the perimeter of the oval vent duct. The driver's side is a pain because You'll have to remove the emergency brake pedal assembly to get it out. There should also be a bead of puddy that seals the kick panel to the opening to prevent any water from entering the car. Once you have the screws and e-brake assembly removed, it will take some effort to break the seal loose. You'll also need to remove the sill plate and pillar post molding to get the panel out.
Ok, how do you remove the emergency brake pedal assembly? I saw mention on another site that "The two parking brake studs are about 1.5 inches to the inside of your fuse box outlet."

Upon quick examination (it's 22 degrees in Baltimore today, and I'm working outside....), those nuts are inside the engine compartment, correct?

Thanks, I know just enough to be dangerous.....
 
#4 ·
Like "Lucky" says... it may take some effort... in fact, it may take much effort to break the panel loose, if it's still in its orig seal. Just make sure that you have lots of dum dum (sealant) at hand to replace the seal.

As I think back when I tangled with mine...maybe some heat via a hair dryer might have helped???

Try not to break the panel...but you may come close to doing this.

capt
 
#6 ·
Hi Jim!

I saw this last night, but didn't have the energy to do it justice!

Where the vent is, there is a large oval tube sticking several inches into the cowl.
It has a 3/4" flange all around the inner end.
Where it penetrates the cowl, it is sealed with some sort of thick sticky putty.

First, use a tool to pull the edge off the door pinchweld. I use a 1" putty knife, I heated it up with a torch and bent it 180 degrees, so I had a wide flat hook I can slide under the plastic and pop it off the pinchweld. Put some tape around it so it doesn't marr the paint.

Once that's off, you get to pull and tiwst and pull until the seal lets loose.

At this point, the kick panel will be flopping around and you'll think you're home free. Go have a beer, you are not home free. That flange is all that's holding it on, and that flange is considerably larger than the hole it must go thru, all the way around. Just work it, twist it, pull on it. Twist and pull at the same time. Have another beer. Be sure to cover your carpet so the blood doesn't stain it.
I trimmed the bottom inch off of mine, it made them easier to remove, and I was replacing them anyway.

1 kick panel is a 2 day, 6 wound, 12-18 beer ordeal. Your neighbors kids will learn many new swearwords. Don't throw anything. Don't break anything. It will come off.

Putting it back on is easier. Get the front and top of the flange thru the hole. Twist and push while YELLING as loud as you can. It will pop in.

Make sure you have enough dumdum to get a good seal. That area inside the car is a waterfall. Everything draining off the windshield or hood, down the cowl vert grille, pours down the sides of the cowl. That flange keeps the water from coming in the vent holes. The putty seals the tube to the cowl so the water can't get in behind the kick panel.

Poorly sealed kick panels are a main cause of wet carpet and rusted out floors.

Whew... I need a beer just typing about that Godforsaken ordeal. It's been several years for me, and thinking about the experience still causes me to break out in hives.
 
#9 ·
I too recently went with the pulling off of said kick panels. I could not believe the amount of garbage behind door #1 and door #2. I have since cleaned it up pretty good. needs more so it will drain properly. I will not tackle install til everything cleaned and repainted. TAKE YOUR TIME!
 
#10 ·
Agreed the driver side kick panel was a lengthy ordeal. However I happened to have 2 screwdrivers that both had a 45 degree angle at the tip. I believe one was a tire tool of some sort. I managed to get one screwdriver behind the edge and then used the other one and just worked my way around. It worked great and didn't damage the panel. Also I did trim it just a bit before I put it back in, for next time. :thumbsup:
 
#12 ·
Good explanation Jim I have read it a few times in here and it was a real pain on mine too! So much so I touched up the paint on my verts kick panels while still in the car. It took alt of masking but it was worth it. I trimmed the bottoms of the hot rods panels before I re-installed them.
 
#15 ·
Bob - The original dum dum on the kick panels was added to prevent water seepage from the vents. Over the 40 years or so the stuff has been known to be more like gorilla glue. Welcome to TC by the way. Why not start a thread in the welcome wagon area and tell us more about you and your 68 vert!
 
#17 ·
He mentioned beer, but does the emergency brake bracket need to come out or not?
 
#18 ·
I did get mine off by only loosening the e-brake bracket and pulling it to the side… but I wouldn't recommend doing it that way. Just remove the bracket and maybe you'll get away with 3 or 4 wounds instead of triple that number. Honestly, after I got my kick panel off I realized it wasn't restorable and just replaced it with an aftermarket fiberglass one. Only regret is that I didn't figure that out sooner and just cut the d#$% thing out!
 
#21 ·
Like everybody else mine were a real PITA to get out and it turned out that they were in poor shape to begin with... I'm not putting them back in.
I'm considering aftermarket kick panels with speakers in them. So, I will just seal up the lower vent.
 
#23 ·
Yep, behind the brake booster.
And if you're really a masochist try doing this: (It's the door bar for the roll bar.):eek: (yes, everything went back as original)
 
#24 ·
Awesome work! I was thinking that a roll cage might be nice for the convertible......

And thanks for the response. I keep on thinking that as I get more things off the car it will go easier. I guess that I'm not quite at that stage yet, and I have a snowstorm coming my way.
 
#26 ·
Guys,
Thanks for the article. I just took my DS kicker panel off and repaired the vent flapper. The cable had lost the retaining clip and froze up. Plus the flapper was totally out of the vent. Anyway, you all are right on, it was a B$*^@. When I got done, I felt like a drunk sailor after a all weekend binge. Thanks for the help!!
 
#29 ·
I bought aftermarket kick panels for my ‘68. Wrestled the first one into place just to realize there was no push nut cable retainer on the cable post. First open/close test cycle and cable
popped right off. Good grief! So, wrestled it out, put a ten cent push nut on it and wrestled it back in. Moral of the story, always, always, always carefully check operation before installing. I walked away for a couple days between installation events.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top