I have been in process of reconfiguring the central Ac vent on a pre-facelift xjs. Has anyone done such thing? I have seen how some block off all or part of the center vent, however I want to re-route it elsewhere.
Does anyone have any details on the ductwork behind the dash? I have taken the vents and wood out and can see the Initial duct. To which sized fittings is it routed?
Thanks all!
l have not rerouted but l did blank off the fixed centre section of the trio of vents using a modified drive blanking plate from a PC, hiding the phone mic. for my sound system within. l do not have a pic handy but can take one if you wish. there is not really any ductwork to speak of behind that vent but rather the main body of the assembly and the upper blend flap.
Mine is 1989 car, not sure when changes were made but early cars are different.
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I took a piece of wood to match the material in the car, planed down, machined to size to cover the center, finished the wood, got a leaper from another vehicle that mounts flush, affixed to fabricated panel, foam tape adhered over center grille, works and looks like it is factory.
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James, this is what I did with my car. I think this is from an XJ40 (?) and is an easy and effective change.
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Lovely Very nicely done!
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Why bother to change it…is there a problem with the vent…I don’t see why anyone would change it???
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Because I’m an xjs-sinner. I want to change the layout of the dash, a bit.
Nothing wrong with it. Still blows ice cold air.
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I also enjoy making different modifications. They help to refresh my car or have something useful.
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There is a problem with the original fascia vent design, as shown in the attached picture from my wife’s 1990 XJ-S convertible, that using a modified XJ40 vent fixes.
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The original vent design has three sections, a left section with a diverter, a large center section that just blow air rearward and has no diverter, and a right section with a diverter. In operation in a 1990 XJ-S convertible, most of the fascia vent air blows rearward through the center vent with no control to where it does little or no good, in the rear of the convertible. Perhaps this design is helpful in a coupe to provide air to the rear seat passengers, but in a convertible it is a waste of cool air. The XJ40 vent has two large diverters to control the air providing 100% of the cooling air to the front seat passengers. I purchased an XJ40 vent on eBay and just need to finish the work by trimming it to fit since it is not an exact fit and needs to have some of the plastic housing and the two vent open/close wheels removed. The second attached picture shows the XJ40 fascia vent that I will be modifying to fit, like Dave did so perfectly in his picture.
Regards,
Paul M. Novak
1990 Series III V12 Vanden Plas
1990 XJ-S Classic Collection convertible
1987 XJ6 Vanden Plas
1984 XJ6 Vanden Plas
1969 E-Type FHC
1957 MK VIII Saloon
Ramona, CA USA
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“Rear seat passengers”! Indeed! Good one!
Dave,
Can you post a picture of the XJ40 vent after you trimmed off the unnecessary plastic and got it ready to install? I know that it needs a fair amount of cutting to remove the open/close wheels and more, but before I get my dremel cutter out and it would be good to know where to stop cutting.
Regards,
Paul M. Novak
1990 Series III V12 Vanden Plas
1990 XJ-S Classic Collection convertible
1987 XJ6 Vanden Plas
1984 XJ6 Vanden Plas
1969 E-Type FHC
1957 MK VIII Saloon
Ramona, CA USA
You bet, Paul. All I have to do is pry the wood trim loose, and the vent ass’y will come out. Tomorrow!
Dave.
Paul, it was still daylight outside, so I pulled the vent out from the dash. I’ll send one pic. and PM the rest! Hope they help! Dave.
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Dave,
Thanks. I received the pictures off list as well as this one. The pictures help a lot. I plan to work on this later this week since I have the XJ40 fascia vent on hand, the pictures you sent out printed out, and I have been planning to do this for some time but just never got around to it. You left me in a situation where I have no excuses left for not doing this now. ;-)
Regards,
Paul M. Novak
1990 Series III V12 Vanden Plas
1990 XJ-S Classic Collection convertible
1987 XJ6 Vanden Plas
1984 XJ6 Vanden Plas
1969 E-Type FHC
1957 MK VIII Saloon
Ramona, CA USA
Am I missing something, why would anyone permanently close off the center vent ? I changed mine from the old style to the “newer” two adjustable’s like Dave’s and that works great in a convertible
Thanx. Now I see what’s going on.
As they say “Done and dusted”.
I replaced the original fascia air vent in my wife’s 1990 XJ-S convertible today with a vent from an XJ40 that I sourced on eBay. I had to do a fair amount of trimming of the plastic XJ40 vent with my Dremel cutting wheel to get it to fit properly. Attached are before and after pictures.
Now I can take this off the list of stuff to do and continue with my interior wood, vinyl and leather work.
Regards,
Paul M. Novak
1990 Series III V12 Vanden Plas
1990 XJ-S Classic Collection convertible
1987 XJ6 Vanden Plas
1984 XJ6 Vanden Plas
1969 E-Type FHC
1957 MK VIII Saloon
Ramona, CA USA
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My 2 cents. The large center vent keeps the system from creating enough pressure to properly supply the outside vents. You can create a panel to close off the venter section of the center vent. Thus, creating a bit more pressure in the system and more air to the outer vents where you really want the cold air. You want to cool the air on the outside of the envelope and create air flow in the cabin.
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Stephen,
I blocked off that large center vent years ago in order to get more airflow to the outer vents, but I was disappointed in the results and so was my wife. That is when I stumbled across the XJ40 vent idea. I got the XJ40 vent about a year ago and it was sitting on the shelf in my garage awaiting the time when I was tackling the interior wood, leather an vinyl restoration work in my wife’s 1990 XJ-S convertible. That time was today, and I am pretty pleased with how it looked. From what I can see the flow directed to the driver and front passenger it is going to be significantly greater than in the original design even with the center of the original vent blocked. The XJ-40 vent will direct all of the air where it is needed, even if that is only on the driver. I still have to get the A/C working after my recent engine bay restoration work, and I will write back to the list once that is done and I can evaluate the fascia vent air flow.
Regards,
Paul M. Novak
1990 Series III V12 Vanden Plas
1990 XJ-S Classic Collection convertible
1987 XJ6 Vanden Plas
1984 XJ6 Vanden Plas
1969 E-Type FHC
1957 MK VIII Saloon
Ramona, CA USA
Lovely job Paul, you are welcome to do mine next!!
My original plan to completely re-route the center vents hadn’t gone as well as I liked, so I essentially kept it stock and revising the top dash a bit I will post pictures when I’m done.