Dashboard vents Above radio

[wedgewa]

I was able to fix the rotted foam behind my center vents without removing the dash. The louvers and their immediate surround will come out from the front.

Spent some time with small tools, brushes, Q-Tips, and solvent, cleaning the remaining gunk off the sheet metal flap.

Once the flap was free of gunk (but not cosmetically attractive), I brushed on some flat black Rust-Oleum paint through the opening.

I then applied some peel & stick black dense foam tape around the perimeter where the sealing actually happens, leaving the rest of the flap with just the new flat black paint. The tape is not at all like the original foam. I got it from a large auto/truck AC specialty shop. Though they told me it is not sold seperately, it comes as part of the installation material with various AC components. It's actually considered an insulating wrap. They told me most shops keep leftover pieces around and I was given my piece free. It cut easily with ordinary scissors and they told me it would not rot like foam.

If I hadn't gotten the material from the AC shop, I was going to look at peel & stick insulation strips for home doors and windows.

[wedgewa]

"Another question... I need an A/C compressor for my 7. I tried looking for one a while back but couldn't find one and gave up. I'm determined to get one now. Summer is coming up again and Texas weather is harsh. Where can I get one Do I have to do a conversion"

It's a York compressor and is fairly common. I had the same type in a Ford Pinto from the 70's.

AC specialty shops rebuild them regularly so it should be possible to exchange or rebuild yours. Such shops can also build new AC hoses from scratch to replace the originals that most Triumph parts suppliers will tell you are NLS. In fact, most of the AC system parts are pretty standard US pieces.

I take my AC work (all cars) to a large facility near Seattle that services large trucks as well as cars. They are also a regional parts distributor. They work on anything. Saw a Sterling there on one recent visit.

But even though they convert lots of systems (including my old Ford F250), they did tell me that the TR7/8 system does not convert to R134 well and advised me to stick with R12 (freon). Which is still available but expensive.

[FI Spyder]

If your front flap is gone what's the back flap like? While you might be able to patch it for a better fix, I would remove, do both flaps properly, clean and grease all lever pivot points, clean contacts of switches. Makes sliding levers easier and heater motor is getting full voltages and of course make sure the bottom drain (A/C) is sealed properly so water can't get up into interior (see other post).

A club member uses RedTek 22a to recharge his Jaguar system. Don't know how it varies from ours but is supposed to be compatible with freon system (just purge if necessary and refill). It works,,,blows cold air.

Freon isn't available in Canada (we ship it down to US so they can destroy ozone layer there.)[:D]



TR7 Spider - 1978 Spifire - 1976 Spitfire - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra