P1110428.JPG;The outside diameter of the old paper/cardboard tubing is a little over 2 inches|||P1110700.JPG;|||P1110702.JPG;this stuff was very easy to work with|||P1110704.JPG;with my A/C controls removed you can see the fiberglass vent |||P1110705.JPG;notice that crappy screw that holds the vent tubing in the fiberglass vent channel|||P1110706.JPG;looking up, there is an extra metal reinforcement on the vent |||P1110707.JPG;I ended up drilling a hole through the metal support so I could get a screw driver up to the screw|||P1110708.JPG;my old ripped and poorly repaired vent line|||P1110709.JPG;the only part I need to keep is the plastic part|||P1110710.JPG;the vent cover removed from the dash|||P1110711.JPG;now you can clearly see where the screw came up into the vent tube|||P1110712.JPG;I pulled the old tubing out in a long strip|||P1110713.JPG;installing the new tubing was much easier once I removed the instrument cluster|||P1110715.JPG;visible is the AC vent tubing. The defroster tubing will go in front of it|||P1110716.JPG;|||P1110720.JPG;You can barely see the blower output hole that the defroster line normally covers over|||P1110721.JPG;the new tube run into the fiberglass cavity for the defroster|||P1110722.JPG;the new defroster tubing visible behind the instrument cluster|||P1110723.JPG;new tubing with original plastic manifold (i guess thats what its called)|||P1110724.JPG;everything reattached. The defroster vent works again!|||AlbumDescription;<p>The left side defroster has never worked since the day I bought the car. I figured out early on that the paper hose to that vent was ripped. I tried to repair it with duct tape but just made it worse. So I just lived with it and for years I relied solely on the right defroster vent to defrost as much of the window as possible, which was unsurprisingly only about 50%. Thankfully the vents can be twisted around so I was able to defrost the drivers side of the window.</p>
<p>I posted a question to the vsaab mailing list and found out that the defroster tubing is readily available. Any 2 inch hose would work. I ordered the Dorman 96002 708-083 hose, which is 2" in diameter and 72" long. The diameter was perfect. Obviously 72" is much longer than needed. I think you could replace both defroster vents hoses with just this one kit.</p>
<p>The problem with replacing this line is disconnecting the old line from behind the dash by the vent hole. On my 1974 Sonett, the tube was screwed in place. I could only see the screw because I had recently removed my factory air conditioning controls and thus had a huge rectangular hole in my dash right in front of the left defroster vent. Using that hole, I could see the screw. I couldn't get a screw driver on it however. I believe it is IMPOSSIBLE to remove that screw with the dash installed.</p>
<p>I ended up drilling a hole in the metal dash support that runs across underneath the dash. I put the hole right by the headlight control rod. The result was that I could get a screw driver up through that new hole and unscrew the phillips screw that was holding the vent tube in place. When I installed the new vent line, I left the screw out. I don't think its necessary since its a pretty tight fit just getting the tubing through a hole in the fiberglass.</p>|||