I bet someone's already figured this out, but I figured I'd post in
case a couple of you might not have... I've got a '93 F-150, actually
pretty good shape overall although both bumpers need attention. But
inside, those crappy vent assemblies made it look very ghetto, because
of course like all Fords "of a certain age" all the vanes in any given
assembly point every which way. Well I figured I'd see if I could fix
them myself rather than pay the $25 apiece for new ones from LMC.
turns out all of the vanes were busted in the same place - a little
molded plastic pin that fits into a sliding piece to keep all the
vanes pointed in the same direction. You can remove the vanes simply
by bending them slightly in the middle. So I pulled 'em all out, used
an unbusted one as a template, and inserted a piece of wire in the
busted ones. I just drilled a hole in the end where the little
plastic nib was broken off - I think I used a #52 or #51 drill bit, I
forget, and a pin vise - and inserted a piece of 14AWG copper wire.
Then I snipped the piece of copper off just a little longer than it
needed to be and finished with a flat bastard file. Reassembled et
voila, un-ghettofied vent assemblies, all for the cost of some scrap
wire that I was going to throw out anyway.
I'd keep them lubed up well with silicone or other non-greasy lube,
because I can't remember the last time I saw a truck that didn't have
at least one broken vane...
nate
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