Rear hatch louvers

[Virto]

Anyone have any experience with Motorsport's rear louvers? The catalog says that they require no drilling, but beyond that, doesn't do much of a job explaining anything.

I do have a set of aluminum louvers that came with the car, and they have a pair of metal hinges with two holes each at the top...looks to me like they would need to have the car drilled...which I'm not willing to do.

Just wondering if anyone could enlighten me. Replies are appriciated.

-Kelly

[sblake01]

If the MSA louver is like mine, it will have mouts that slide under the window seal and mount with adhesive and the louver mounts on them. No drilling. Mine was a dealer installed item according to the PO.

[Virto]

I certainly don't know of any mounts on the car...but perhaps I've overlooked something. I'll see if I can get a photo of the louvers tomorrow and maybe then you or someone else can say if the mounts are of that variety.

Thanks for the help!

[bg240]

My 72 Z has louvers like Stephen's. I will need to look at the brand. I installed them in 1982 and have had no problems after the struggle to get them installed. There are long aluminum strips that go along the top and both sides of the window. The strips slide between the glass and molding. The louvers attach to the strips. The top strip has two screws on each side with the thread facing up. The hinges attach to these screws. At the bottom of each side strip is a lock that holds the bottom sides down. The problem I had was that my Z was 10 years old at the time of installation. The rubber molding was hard and it was difficult to slide in the strips between the glass and the hard rubber. I had to use a small putty knife to pry up the rubber molding being careful not the damage the rubber or scratch the glass. If the louvers you are looking to buy are like mine, make sure your rubber molding is flexable enough to slide the strip under. Otherwise, you may need to take out the rear glass and put in new rubber molding. What is nice about my louvers is that I could remove them and you would never know they were on the car. I won't be doing that because I know I could never get them back on because the rubber is not very flexable.

[beandip]

Anyone have any experience with Motorsport's rear louvers? The catalog says that they require no drilling, but beyond that, doesn't do much of a job explaining anything.

I do have a set of aluminum louvers that came with the car, and they have a pair of metal hinges with two holes each at the top...looks to me like they would need to have the car drilled...which I'm not willing to do.

Just wondering if anyone could enlighten me. Replies are appriciated.

-Kelly

I have the same set that you have . My hatch was already drilled for the hardware so I found the luvers and installed them. I did like them and because of the thinness of the metal my vision was not impaired at all . The down side is that the metal ones rattle , and there is a center rubber covered part that rests on the glass . It will wear a line in the glass from rubbing . When I redid the my exterior I filled the holes for the henges and the fasteners at the bottom corners and now I cant force my self to redrill in the new paint. There are some brands that are made of ABS and they are quiet , but I have seen them blow off. Gary color me luverless.