74BBcherryred

My rear deck grills are only for decoration as they don,t open and all they do is hold water (when i wash ), is there supposed to be drain holds there or anything else for that matter. Dave :auto:

Alwyn678

Should be for ventilation . They should NOT hold water. Drain must be blocked


[Modified by Alwyn678, 11:08 AM 3/20/2003]

LAvetteman

Which grills are you speaking of????

Missileman

The grills on C3's were for some cars with Astro Ventilation that was an exhaust point for cabin air with the side windows shut in certain ventilation modes. The rear grills on AC equipped 74's are strictly for decoration and do not vent anything or have any drains attached to them. If you never had AC it is possible for someone to replace the rear clip (they come with the grill recess closed off) and not replace the Astro box.

SnoDrgn

They were used for venting cabin air on the Astro ventilation cars. I do get small puddles building up after washing rain but it shouldn't hold water. The two drain hoses are are the inside of the car and drain the water out to the wheel wells. When I bought my car the hoses were rotted and leaking water into the rear compartment area. :cuss You may want to check that they aren't clogged with leaves and gunk it water is pooling. :yesnod:

Tom73

I am assuming that you have a coupe. If you have A/C the AstroVentulation is non-operative and the rear grills do not have a function. But they do collect water and should have a drain tube running from them to each rear wheel well. Crawl back into the storage compartment and check them out.

If you have a convertible, the grills are behind the rear bulkhead and will be open to the ground.

tom...

RMVette

:iagree: Also make sure that the wheel wells weren't undercoated and consequently stopping up the drain holes. :seeya

74BBcherryred

Ok i looked in the rear of the car and can see the area where the are located(inside underneath rear deck) and there is nothing there at all .No holes ,and yes my car is a coupe which had air until bubba took it out but thats another story . When i say it holds water i mean that water just sits there when i wash the car because it has nowhere to go so i use paper towels and suck it out (pain in the a*&$) Dave :D

Tom73

Dave,
Take a look here: http://www.docrebuild.com/dr-r-web/8...L#anchor173355

tom...

74BBcherryred

Thanks Tom but i don,t have anything like that drain tube shown in that picture ,there is just nothing there ,just the resesses for the grills to sit in to make it flush with the rear panel .

no_radio

I have a very original (til I modified it, but not the body) '74 with AC and it has never had any drain hoses that I have seen. I have done a pretty complete restoration of this car. I will check when I get home tomorrow or over the weekend, but personal experience, and what I recall from the NCRS Tech Manual (also at home and I am not) there are no drain hoses on AC cars. Mine hold some water when the car is washed.
Also, note that the Dr Rebuild link states "Additional Rear Vent Door Parts". I know for a fact that there are no doors on AC equipped '68-74 cars, therefore I doubt these parts were ever equipped in non AC parts.
Jeff




[Modified by no_radio, 11:19 PM 3/19/2003]

Tom73

This is from the NCRS Judging Guide for the '74; "On coupes, a soft black rubber drain tube extends from the side of the air box below the grille to the upper inner rear wheelwell as a drain for watter, which collects in the box."

One question. Do you have the "box" below the grill? You state "the resesses for the grills to sit in to make it flush with the rear panel." So is there a box below the grill or does it just sit in a solid recess? A 74 should have the air box. In 76 they did away with the box and put the grill into a solid recess. Then in 77 they did away totaly with the grill. Your description above sounds like the '76 grill set up.

tom...

FinnShark

Here is a pic of mine vent grilles. There is no draining holes what so ever... I don't know if the vent pockets are modified or not when the car was painted. Originally there has been AC in the car and it is -75.

Aaron-74

My 74 was an origanal A/C car, and mine has no vents back there either. And they do hold water and leaves... :p:

SnoDrgn

74BBcherryred

Hi mine are the same as Finnsharks and are the same that No Radio discribes and no i don,t have a box under the grill area i am happy now knowing at least that area of the car wasn,t bubbafied ,thanks for the information and i will just stock up on paper towels LOL Dave :auto:

69vette66

here is a pic of my grills and they do work, empty water down and out of the wheelhouse. I have seen alot with a piece a sheetmetal cut to size and put in, but it should be open.

:cheers: Larry

74 vert

:banghead: :banghead: My vent drain into the rear of the car and water hits the carpet. I'll be fixing this when I get the time. I don't drive the car in the rain ever.

Big Fish

My 75 has no drains as well, an A/C car. Dumb, huh? I've heard some people glass in that area but I want to keep mine as original as possible. All they are is garbage collectors. :rolleyes:

Tom73

You all are getting me confused here. The original rear deck vents on the coupes had a "tub" below them like is shown below. (sorry, hope you guys do not mind my stealing your pics for this) This tub allowed for the interior air to escape and collected water to keep it from falling into the interior of the car.

Water that gets into the tub would then drain out a drain tube from the bottom outside edge to the wheelwell. It was my impression that this type was used from 68 till 75. The Astro Ventilation was done away with at the end of '75 production. So all 75 and earlier Vettes would need to have the tubs for the Astro-Ventilation.

Then in 76 the got rid of the tub and as the vettes no longer had the Astro Ventilation system. They went to a fake grill that sat in an indention in the rear deck as show in this pic.

I thought this was 76 only. Then in 77 they totaly did away with the rear grill. In 78 they went to the bubbleback design and this was no longer an issue.

Or, am I totaly out in left field here?

Now this applies only to the coupes as the convertibles had different placement of the grills. From 71 on the convertible grills were behind the rear bulkhead so if the car had a/c there was not a "tub" and they were open all the way to the ground.

tom...


[Modified by Tom73, 9:22 AM 3/21/2003]