Air Source For 280Z Footwell Vents

[TomoHawk]

On the 280Z, there are those vents below the dash in the corner by the door. Where does the air come from, that you will feel blowing on your foot? I've looked at the chassis with the fender off, but I don't see any channels going back to the area of the vent.

If you pushed a snake through there, should it come out somewhere?

[Patcon]

If we are talking about the same thing. They probably come through the front upper frame rails, like they do on the 240Z. The black accordion boots that pass through the radiator support on each side funnel air into the frame rails that comes out through the footwell vents.

Charles

[TomoHawk]

The 280Z does not use the accordion tubes, but I think the air goes through the upper frame rail as you say. There must be some other way the 280Z funnels air to this channel.

[TomoHawk]

Would it do much harm to the chassis (strength-wise) to put a hole in there, similar to what the 240z has, in order to get some pressurized air to the footwell vent? An elbow of sorts could probably be fitted.  I suppose a single 4cm hole wouldn't hurt, IF you had to.

 

Remind me to take the camera when I go to the paint shop.

Edited February 23, 2015 by TomoHawk

[Zed Head]

You must be talking about the manual air vents.  I've wondered about those.  I have the AC system and all of the external air comes though the central heating/cooling system, through the cowl supply, described in the FSM chapter.  I've never seen a good description of the vents with the manual pull knobs, which, I assume, only came with AC-delete cars.  

 

I have pondered adding them to my car, since the combinations offered with the AC system are kind of strange, with the Bilevel and the Fresh and the Defrost.

[TomoHawk]

I suppose you could blow some smoke up through there to see where it comes out.

[Zed Head]

Some people are converting more modern systems to their old Z's.  Make the car do what you want it to do.

[TomoHawk]

I explored my car thoroughly, and I'm fairly sure I found  where the air gets into the upper frame rail. 

 

The 240Z has the plastic elbow to the radiator support, and the 280Z gets the air in the same place, but instead of the plastic elbow, the radiator support has a gap between the front & back panel, and the air flows through there to the upper frame rail.