Fresh Air Vent

[davery]

I looked around the website and couldn't seem to find an answer. I have an 85, which has the fresh air vents on the upper center console. When I look at pics from car older than 83 I don't see those vents. Did these cars have fresh air vents? If so, where are the vents and how was it controlled?

[DieselSpider]

My owners manual from 78 shows it was under the dash in the passenger footwell and controlled by a lever however I have never actually seen it. I will search more thoroughly some day but feel it may have been deleted by a previous owner.

[davery]

My owners manual from 78 shows it was under the dash in the passenger footwell and controlled by a lever however I have never actually seen it. I will search more thoroughly some day but feel it may have been deleted by a previous owner.

Thanks for the response! Do you know if the lever was separate from the heat/defrost levers on the center console? If so, where was/is it located? I am just wondering. I have an 85 and my fresh air vents are in the center dash. It appears the only way to stop the fresh air is to close the actual vent.

[rridge]

Like many Spider design details, fresh air vents varied in function and location over time. The 83-85 cars with vents in the center of the dash have an additional inlet from the plenum cut through the firewall above the flapper door for the heater inlet. There is a plastic duct that connects this opening directly to the vent assemblies themselves. There is no connection between those center vents and any other ducting or air flow controls in the car including a/c. They are strictly a standalone feature that offsets the loss of the moveable vent windows due to changes in the mirror location.

Richard

[davery]

Like many Spider design details, fresh air vents varied in function and location over time. The 83-85 cars with vents in the center of the dash have an additional inlet from the plenum cut through the firewall above the flapper door for the heater inlet. There is a plastic duct that connects this opening directly to the vent assemblies themselves. There is no connection between those center vents and any other ducting or air flow controls in the car including a/c. They are strictly a standalone feature that offsets the loss of the moveable vent windows due to changes in the mirror location.

Richard

Thanks for the info. Did the pre-83 cars have the fresh air ducts integrated into the heater ducts?

[rridge]

Through the '82s fresh air entered a flap in the bottom of the plenum that was controlled by one of the three console levers. When the flap was open, air passed directly from the plenum down through the heater core and then flowed out the vents in the footwell on the sides of the center console or were directed upward to the two circular vents on the top of the dash that provided defrosting. Earlier models, perhaps up to 1978 had additional fresh air ducts that dropped from the corners of the plenum down into the outer corners of the footwells.

Richard

[vandor]

> Did the pre-83 cars have the fresh air ducts integrated into the heater ducts?

Not like the 83.85 Spiders. The 83-85 has the same fresh air/heater system as earlier Spiders, PLUS the two fresh air vents in the middle.

The early type fresh air ducts on each side under the dash were discontinued mid-1978.

[davery]

> Did the pre-83 cars have the fresh air ducts integrated into the heater ducts?

Not like the 83.85 Spiders. The 83-85 has the same fresh air/heater system as earlier Spiders, PLUS the two fresh air vents in the middle.

The early type fresh air ducts on each side under the dash were discontinued mid-1978.

So you are saying the 85 spider has fresh air vents that are controlled by the center dash controls? My middle lever is jammed and does not work. I know the lever closest to the driver is the temperature co trol and the lever furthest away is the defrost lever. Am I to assume the middle lever is to open the ducts to fresh air? If fresh air is delivered through the floor vents in the center console, is the intake in the cowl as the upper vents? If so, then the middle lever must be a shut off. If that is true, then I wonder why they didn't just connect the upper vents to this also?

[rridge]

The '85 spider console levers from left to right are fresh air inlet to heater core, hot water to heater core, and air direction on heater core outlet. Push the lever closest to the driver forward towards the dash and fresh air through the heater core is cut off. Push the lever closest to the passenger forward and the flow through the heater core should go to the footwell vents on each side of the console. Push the center lever forward and coolant flow to the core should be shut off.

The flow through the square vents in the center of the dash are controlled only by the two small levers at the top of each vent. You can find more info in the ’85 owner’s manual. Brad Artique has posted a copy on his website: http://www.artigue.com/fiatcontent/1985/85om.pdf

Richard

[DieselSpider]

Up to 77 if I understand correctly they had this gem on the passenger side just hanging under the dash:

[davery]

Up to 77 if I understand correctly they had this gem on the passenger side just hanging under the dash:

Interesting. I assume this was connected to the cowl fresh air intake.

[davery]

The '85 spider console levers from left to right are fresh air inlet to heater core, hot water to heater core, and air direction on heater core outlet. Push the lever closest to the driver forward towards the dash and fresh air through the heater core is cut off. Push the lever closest to the passenger forward and the flow through the heater core should go to the footwell vents on each side of the console. Push the center lever forward and coolant flow to the core should be shut off.

The flow through the square vents in the center of the dash are controlled only by the two small levers at the top of each vent. You can find more info in the ’85 owner’s manual. Brad Artique has posted a copy on his website: http://www.artigue.com/fiatcontent/1985/85om.pdf

Richard

I never drive my car when it's below 50 degrees, so I have never really taken time to understand the heating controls. It looks like the lever closest to the pass is the "air distribution control" , which I assume directs the air to the footwell vent or defrost. The middle lever is the "air temperature control" . So when this is on "cold" does the air come from the fresh air intake in the cowl? The lever closest to the driver is the "air volume control". I'm not sure what that does. Maybe this directs air from the cowl. On my car the middle lever does not work and is stuck midway. The fan stopped working ten years ago after a few months of squealing. It seems like a good time to figure all this out and fix what is broken.

[baltobernie]

Up to 77 if I understand correctly they had this gem on the passenger side just hanging under the dash:

Both sides. Separate round intakes for each. Very nice, too. Help dissipate transmission heat in footwell.

[DieselSpider]

Up to 77 if I understand correctly they had this gem on the passenger side just hanging under the dash:

Both sides. Separate round intakes for each. Very nice, too. Help dissipate transmission heat in footwell.

The footwell vent that the old cars still had in the 1960's whether cable operated or not is something that I miss. I can still remember the first time we purchased a car that did not have them and to us it was just a ploy to get more folks to purchase air conditioning.

[scampbel98]

can't tell by the thread, does someone have the fresh air vents for sale?