Author Topic: Quarter vent air grills  (Read 837 times)

Offline Fastback2013

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Quarter vent air grills
« on: December 29, 2014, 07:20:56 AM »
I have a few questions about reinstalling my quarter vent air grills.
In the Osborn manual they state that the entire surface must be painted black (in the drawing they display it as a shaded area).
Is that always the case? Because in my car that surface is painted white (body color Wimbledon white)? -> see picture 1
What is the correct thing to do? Paint it black or painting in body color ?

Another question is about the penetration of water/rain coming from the outside :
when restoring the inside of my car I noticed a lot of surface rust at the inside, beneath the total grill assy.
I have dismantled the whole grille assy and there was nothing to prevent the water penetrating the inside...
I thought it would be a normal thing to do, when you place 2 metals on each other (outer grill assy on body of car) that you protect one each other with a sort of gasket?
In picture 2 you see the back of the outer grill assy and nothing is forseen...

What did you all do for your cars?
Thanks for the advice and answers.
Kind regards,
Jeroen
San Jose 7R02C1708xx
Fastback GTA
built on 01/12/1967

Offline 67gta289

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Re: Quarter vent air grills
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2014, 08:27:41 AM »
One important thing to keep in mind about the Osborn manuals:  These are a collection of reproduced original Ford individual drawings.  The drawings were subject to revision, over time, to denote changes in materials and/or processes.  Some drawings had multiple revisions over the 67-68 model years, while others were not revised at all.  Since these drawings were collected and reproduced well after 1968, it should be expected that they were the final (aka most current) revision available.  So if you are looking at something for a Jan 1967 built car, for example, and look at a Ford drawing revised in April 1968 you could be misled depending on the nature of all revisions after Jan 1967.

Also it is important to appreciate that there were various liberties taken at the assembly plants.  Those liberties probably could be summed up in two categories - ones that received approval by plant staff, and others that were done by the line workers.

These nuances make it challenging to restore a car correctly, which is precisely why a web site such as this exists.

If you search the posts you will find that I posed this question a few years ago, and there never was a final determination.  I suppose that after the discussion above the term "final determination" is probably not appropriate.   

What I can offer is that all of the original 67 fastbacks that I've seen are like yours - no blackout paint in this area.

As for water penetration - water was expected to intrude as far as the black fiberglass like box mounted on the inside of the vehicle.  The box should be sealed against the body, and water intrusion is drained via a hose down into the rocker. 
« Last Edit: December 29, 2014, 08:33:14 AM by 67gta289 »
John
67 289 GTA Dec 20 1966 San Jose
7R02C156xxx
MCA 74660

Offline Fastback2013

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Re: Quarter vent air grills
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2014, 03:45:25 PM »
Thanks John, for that nice peace of explanation!
So true !
Concerning the hose for draining the water into the rocker... I will spend more effort and time (than the guys/girls at the plant in 67) for mounting/fixing the hose correctly at the fiberglass box, because I know/saw that more water went inside the quarter panel as via the hose in the rocker  ;D
Thanks again for your effort.
Kind regards,
Jeroen

ps
I found your previous post, I should have done this first, sorry for the inconvenience.
San Jose 7R02C1708xx
Fastback GTA
built on 01/12/1967