22 replies to this topic

[Burnard]

The foam is in the pipeing that comes from the front of the car, i dont have any foam in the parts of the vents in side the car.

[leaky]

Well as far as I nu. And I'm an idiot so I'm probably wrong. Their was some stuff that stops the water coming through at the flitch panel. Thats why that area is so prone to rusting.

[Ethel]

I don't think an open vent would leak any more than it would with the "eyeball" still fitted but you can get a bit of roadspray through them: which would be trapped behind the dash. I doubt a speaker would work too well with a small hurricane blowing into the back of it though.

[Burnard]

Well on the drivers side, the plastic box that splits the air supply to the heater and to the vent has a little hole in it, so in theory any water will drip out that hole rather than enter the car.

Both sides have foam inside the pipe allong the full lengh, i just assumed that this absorbed most of the moisture and was the reason it didnt get in.

How ever, i do stil have my vents in my dash, but i need some pipe to connect them to the vents in the flitch which i dont have, i was just trying to work out if it would be ok like that for now untill i can get it sorted properly

[leaky]

It should be ok. I couldnt see why it should be a problem. Its not like you'll be driving it round in the heaving rain at the moment anyway.

[bamby]

Burnard,

It will be fine driving around without the pipe connecting the "eyeball" vent to the flitch - i am currently driving round without one (have been for 6th months)

one thing that i will note is that I do have a slight water ingress from somewhere as yet I have not worked out where this is coming from specifically so just a heads up, but as Mini-jon has stated the amount of water that will come through this vent will be minimal compared to water coming in from another area.

bit to consider is that with any car you get a certain amount of condensation build up - i do with all my cars, mainly the mini as it gets garaged then goes outside etc (mainly in temperature changes)

[WelshMiniNut]

get rid of them mate,they are a water trap and one of many design flaws with the mini,wled a plate in the inner wing over the hole or even bond one in place,i had to put in new whole flitch panels because it had completely rusted away,and if the windows steam up just open the window

[biggles1293]

Do you mean the vents to the far left and right facing into the cabin? if so then its entirely upto you, these are fresh air vents not part of the heater. I have a full length walnut dash and have put speakers in them. Just make sure you suitably block the holes in the flitch panel as you may get water ingress after you have removed the vents.

I agree, mine were done before I got the car, and have had to now block the holes with seam sealer as water was coming in through the vent holes that are left - no more leaks, well from the dash anyway!