[Brian Lewis]

Got myself a 1969 Camaro, originally a factory AC but the previous owner ripped out the ac box and heater box/blower from under the hood and placed an aluminum plate over it all it seems.
Problem is, nothing comes out of any of the vents in the dash! I just want air to flow thru the car when on the road. The VENT/HEATER lever (first vertical lever) is stuck in the HEAT mode (full down) and won't move up to VENT. I traced the cable and it seems to go to some box under the dash but I can't pinpoint the exact termination of this cable. Is this terminating maybe somewhere behind that aluminum plate cover from the engine side? I just really want the cowl vents to blow air into the car. Anyone have a schematic of this ac equipped car or advise?

[click]

Brian welcome to Team Camaro. You are in for a fun trip playing with your new camaro.
If you remove the cowl vent in front of the windshield, 4 small screws, you will find a vacuum canister in there on the passenger side that controls the fresh air that enters the car when its open. If the vacuum hose is gone it wont open. (If the guy that removed the A/C system left it there). If he removed it, he might have put a plate there too. Take a peek thru the Grille area and you should see it. That lets fresh air down into the vent next to the passenger foot area. Your thumb pull slide cable next to passenger feet, should let the air in.
I tore most of my dash apart recently and found all the parts easy to unscrew, remove to clean etc. You will see all the cables and where they go then. Its not a bad project to learn about but hard on your back laying under there.
Here is one pic of mine before I had it all out.
Good luck [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[Brian Lewis]

So if I understand you correctly:
The vacuum canister (which I do see!), if its not hooked up to a vacuum, it somehow 'locks' my ability to move the first slider from HOT up to the VENT selection?
See my main problem was it was 'stuck' on hot, thinking it was the slider that was broken, I ripped my dash apart, but then found it wasn't the slider itself that was stuck but something preventing it from moving up, I traced the back down where it goes into an area that I cannot see without further removal of the components under the passenger side.
Maybe what I need to do is get a vacuum hooked into that canister to allow free movement of the first lever? Or is the lever suppose to move even with the car off and no vacuum?

[Mark C]

Not exactly, the explaination is 100 percent backwards. The cowl flapper (damper) is normally open and closes when vacuum is applied to it. The damper is operated by the same vacuum line that closes the hot water shutoff valve in the heater core line. The slide on the kick panel of an A/C car opens and closes the vent at the edge of the dash, not the one in the kickpanel.

It won't help you no matter what position it is in because air is normally drawn through the cowl into the fan and then across the firewall in the fiberglass suitcase in the engine compartment, then through the hole in the firewall and into the ductwork under the dash. If someone removed the suitcase and put a peice of sheetmetal across the hole there is no way to get air into the car at all, except through the passenger side footwell.

You can't move the left most lever because it is hooked to a door inside the ductwork that sticks partway through the hole in the firewall. The door is open (all or it inside the passenger compartment) in the hot position. This allows air through the heater core. In order to close it (air blocked from the heater core) part of it needs to be out in the fiberglass suitcase. Since it doesn't sound like you have a hole in the firewall you can't move the lever.

[Brian Lewis]

Mark thank you very much for that very descriptive insight into the inner workings.
Thus I now understand why the lever is stuck in HOT, because the door can't open!

Now I must investigate my options as to fitting a regular heater box in the engine compartment so that I can get the vent and fan system works at least. AC would be great but its like $1100 or so from classicindustries for all the stuff I believe, and I would probably be better off with a vintageair unit at that point.

[click]

Good job Mark. After just pulling the bottom end parts, I have not yet pulled the suitcase and probably wont till next winter. My info. was definately off but got him in the right direction that all that stuff is interconnected and a mess when one part of it doesnt work right. Thanks for clarifying it for me too. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[Mark C]

You can probably pick up an engine side suitcase off of Ebay, or maybe in the forsale section of this site for anywhere from 75 to a few hundred dollars. They come up on Ebay all the time. That will at least get you some heat and fresh air. They are a major pain to install and will probably require the removal of the passenger side fender though. Just make sure the fiberglass box itself is in good shape as they typically get broken on the lower edge of the engine side of the box. The engine side of the box is reproduced but not the fender side where the fan sits. Firebird ones are completely different than the Camaro ones, and 67/68 Camaro ones are slightly different than the ones used on a 69 so watch what your getting.

[KWIK 69]

Originally posted by Mark C:
...and will probably require the removal of the passenger side fender though. Just make sure the fiberglass box itself is in good shape as they typically get broken on the lower edge of the engine side of the box...

Yep, passenger fender has to come off to get to the bolts around the blower motor.
Also, my old core was broken and had an open hole where the evap drain was AND a 1" hole about 1/2" off of the header. You wanna talk about HOT????