Air vents blow out lots of mess!

[matt86]

Could someone tell me where the inlet is for the cabin air vents? I want to put a piece of material/fine mesh over the inlet so it doesn't take in any debirs. I keep getting covered in bits of tree and dust when I turn on the blowers!

[Jimbo_Jet]

Me too, it's doing my head in. The amount of dust they blow out is more than any car I've ever know. I've got a MK1a but I don't remember it being this bad on my old MK1b?

[MartG]

The intakes are the plastic grilles at the base of the windscreen under the back edge of the bonnet.

Maybe worth removing the plastic grilles and cleaning out the area under them.

[matt86]

I will have a look under the plastic grilles - I don't think it helps that I have to park the car overnight by lots of trees!

I read recently that Lotus Elise's have a simlar problem, and that people put a bit of fabric over the inlet to stop debirs coming into the cabin.

[elbon50]

Modern cars have hepafilters on the intakes for allergy reasons

The Mk1 only has grilles with wide apertures intended to stop large objects falling into the intakes

I removed the grilles on mine recently. Rainwater also gets in & should drain under the front wings. It has rotted through a panel inside my car which resulted in a big leak into my footwell every time it rained

No rain recently so dust gets in instead

Peter

[bobbyh]

pipe gauze would be could..

[elbon50]

pipe gauze would be could..

Yes, something like that to let water through but stop the bits getting in Bobby

Will have another look at mine to see how it could be fastened acros the opening

Peter

[elbon50]

Pic shows one of the grilles that cover the vent openings

Holes as big as those let in grit, bits of trees, etc, which can then blow out in your face

No thought of allergy problems when that was designed !

Peter,

[mrfil13]

Peter any idea where abouts behind the front wing is it supposed to drain from?

My car is parked under a tree, gets alsorts into the vents. I took off the plastic bit under the drivers side arch yesterday and pulled out a massive pile of leaves, cleared it all up and put a ton of waxoyl type stuff in there (its the black stuff)

[elbon50]

Seems to be impossible to see the drain hole without removing the front wing Mrfil

Its somewhere quite high up & about 6 inches from the back of the wing

You do right to get rid of as much muck as possible from between the upper & lower scuttle panels & try to rustproof that area

Mine must have been holding water (probably wet mud) for many years

It rotted through an interior panel near where it should drain, until the water getting into the vents on a wet day drained into the passenger side footwell instead of outside the car !!

Now that I've sealed the rotten area, the water drains under the wing as it should. So the drain wasn't actually blocked as I first thought

If you pour some water into the vents, you will be able to see it draining out at each side of the car

Peter