Going with Double din radio - what to do with vents?

[Redsquall]

I’m thinking about trying to route the vents just so they shoot out down below under the kneepads. I don’t really want to cut into the kneepads to make vents Has anyone done this before? And how well does it work? Or is it worth cutting into the kneepads to make new vents? When I rewrote the vents – do I need to get some new tubing or something to do that? If I install a double din radio – is there anyway to have like really skinny vents above or below the radio that are like a centimeter tall? Thanks!

[jangell]

I recently did this. I have an in-progress page that I'll publish shortly (with notes about the "in progress" parts) as I've been trying to get the car to actual start and run again, but the radio install is mostly done, save for a trim piece around the face.

I had some kind of grand plan to mount the vents on the top of the dash, but in the end I did the "vents in the knee pads" thing that others have done.

One issue I had is that my double-DIN radio was so deep that it hit the (but now unused) old center vent ports in the air distributor box, keeping it from seating properly. I built a new distributor box out of cardboard and air vent duct adaptors, then fiberglassed over it to make it air tight. Seems to work pretty well.

To fit the radio I modified the center stack. This is not usually recommended, since they're hard to find, and there's an aftermarket double-DIN-compatible stack available that you should probably use instead. Mine was already modified for another radio, though, so I didn't feel too bad about it. Either way, you're going to be removing the center stack, which isn't as bad as it might seem.

I also installed a capacitor in such a way that it powers the radio for a few seconds during cranking, because I didn't want to reset the 7+ second radio startup sequence. However, I need to test to see how well it actuality works.

http://www.tmproductions.com/repairs...-radio-install

Since the radio support it, installed a backup camera right between the license plate lights, as well as a hidden antenna as a possible replacement to the power antenna. All of this is covered on that page.

Good luck

-- Joe

[jangell]

Instead of cutting into the knee pads, you can install vents under the kneepads. You can get aftermarket vents built for that. Vintage Air seems to be an easy brand for this kind of stuff (they sell generic parts instead of things built for specific cars), which is what I used for the adaptors, "Y"s and actually ducting (which I bought from JEGS, if I remember correctly). The original ducting is 2.5", and the Vintage Air ducting will work with the old air distribution box just fine.

Here are a couple of examples of under-dash vents:

https://www.jegs.com/i/VPA/960/49054...SABEgLzrvD_BwE

https://pitstopusa.com/i-23925660-vi...-1-2-hose.html

I personally just didn't like the look of them, which is why I went with the knee pad vents. Also, I think the knee pads are already pretty low, and going under the dash would have made them even lower.

-- Joe

[jangell]

Ok, one more thing: There is very, very little room around the radio, so I don't think you can install skinny vents above it. Also, radios need a certain amount of space around them for ventilation, and putting your your ducts directly above them will likely interfere with that.

The "ideal" solution is to build a completely new armrest cover thing (I forget what that part is called) that is a few inches taller, and build a taller center stack piece, thus provided enough room for full sized vents. This is obviously a lot more complicated than just installing them in or below the knee pads, or building some kind of pod above the radio to hold the vents. You also have to deal with the fact that there probably isn't enough room to actually run the ducts between the radio and the distribution box, although this can be solved by using "Y"s on the ports on the sides of the box and redirecting over the radio, once you find some thin-but-wide ducting.

You can see why I just cut into the knee pads.

-- Joe