Dave’s Holiday 55

Like most of the rest of the country, Kansas has had its share of temperatures over 100 degrees and the right side fresh air vent on my ‘55 Super 88 would not open. (Like that would really help anyway.) Upon investigation I found that the cable that moves the arm on the diverter was kinked due to a misaligned cable bracket. I removed the lower part of the heater box and straightened the bracket. I think it will work now. After I had the heater box open, I noticed the circular orifice at the bottom of the heater housing. It appears to be the remnants of a hose. The hose clamp is still attached. What was that hose? Where did the other end of it attach? Ideas?

Fun71

Maybe a drain?

Dave’s Holiday 55

Maybe. I’m beginning to wonder if it was attached to a right fresh air inlet somewhere in the front fender or maybe behind the grill.

Supernice88

That looks like a worn out grommet.

Tedd Thompson

If it is the 3 inch hose it goes to the defroster air box on the left-hand side, I think the original was a wire wrapped paper vent hose that by now would be rotten or completely missing.... Tedd

Dave’s Holiday 55

Tedd,
I think you’re right about the missing hose. I found an inlet on the bottom of the defroster box (1-1/2 inch wide) that would correspond to the outlet on the heater box that I hadn’t noticed before. My question now is how in the world is it routed between the two boxes. Over the top has carb linkage and distributor in the way and the whole engine seems to be in the way going low. Does it descend down from the heater box behind the tranny dipstick, go over the tranny housing, under the steering column, and then up to the defroster box? Or something else?

Tedd Thompson

Everything is routed from the inside, under the dash and comes out the top of the right-hand heater box, crosses over the heater controls, some wires and plugs into the defroster air box. Really one of those lay on your back upside down type jobs. Take a light with you and I used gorilla tape rather than a clamp as I ran out of hand space to use a clamp and a screwdriver. Your efforts may differ...Tedd

Dave’s Holiday 55

Tedd,
Thanks for the response. I had already replaced the under dash heater/defroster hoses and cleaned up some excess wiring. I did all that while I had the radio out to be repaired. The connections I’m talking about are in the engine compartment. There is the outlet on the bottom of the heater box up against the firewall (picture above). There is a corresponding inlet (or outlet, maybe) on the driver’s side on the bottom of that box (defroster box??). The outlet is just to the right of the hose in the picture below. There are no holes through the firewall to route anything inside the car from either box. So, it seems, to me that those two ports should be connected. They both have remnants of hose still attached. The passenger side one still has a hose clamp on it. But the way things “seem” to me are hardly ever right.

Dave’s Holiday 55

Here’s a better picture of the fan box on the ‘55. The round hole on the bottom is the one I’m asking about.

DFitz

Ted, Dave,

I think he's talking about the cowl vent tubes.

Dave, these are what used to be rubber tubes attached on the bottom. They rotted off pretty quickly.

Fusick has them listed in the current catalog #640, page 37: 565496Cowl Vent Drains1954-56 all37.50 pr.

I have not bothered to replace them as they will rot and fall off again quickly.

Dave

Dave’s Holiday 55

Thank you for solving the mystery. So if I understand it correctly, they are drain holes for water that runs down through the openings at the bottom of the windshield. The hoses force the water to drain out closer to the bottom of the car instead of splashing on the engine. I wonder how many among us ever let their “baby” go out in the rain? Next time I wash the car I’m going to run water through that area just to see what happens. Well, on to the next mystery. I’m sure I’ll have another issue soon. Oh, the joy of owning a sixty-eight year old car.

DFitz

Bingo, I think you got it!

I'm waiting for the next weird thing to break.....