My Maverick has factory A/C. I was just wondering if any of you guys have a fix for the loose dash vents that won't stay in position. The two cylindrical ones on each end of the dash just wobble around & won't stay in position. One of them has two felt pieces that are falling out that appear to have been placed between the housing & the vent. I've found that it is impossible to reinstall & glue these felt pieces back into position so the vent will have tension on it to stay in position. Any suggestions?
Felt Fix: I've bought stick on felt at a craft store (Like Hobby Lobby or Michaels) and it works just like the original felt. (Maybe better).
Two question Dave. Did you attach the felt on the vent or the housing? If so, how were you able to get the felt into position as neither area is exposed enough to gain access? It appears that there are two strips of felt on each side of each vent from the factory & they are glued to the housing portion of the assembly.
I stuck the felt on the vent part. To get to the sides of the vent, I unclipped* the vent from the housing and put it on the vent, and then reinstalled the vent. I may have just put felt on one side of the vent because what I got was a little thicker. *If you look close inside the vents at the swivel points, they can be sprung inward so the pins are released from the housing. Then they come right out. (Careful, though--it's old brittle plastic)!
Thanks Doug. I didn't realize that the vent could be removed from the housing. I'll check that out this weekend.
You must be talking about the two center vents, because there is not a pivot on the outer(dash ends) two cylindrical vents. I got into this last weekend & found out that there is a metal retaining ring that is swedged in to the housing that keeps the vents retained inside the housing. Since I had an NOS one on the shelf, I figured I could risk trying to remove this ring & hopefully not break the plastic housing. Using a screw driver & a small ball peen hammer, I slowly worked this ring out of the housing & the vent fell out. I reglued the felt in place & slowly & gently tapped this ring back into place. The vent works like new!
I'm sorry, for some reason I just assumed '73 or later. (Those built into the lower dash on the outside of the later models are swivel just like the center vents). You even said "Cylindrical" and I missed that. I guess I would have called them Spherical. Thanks for being experimental! I've all learned from your project.
