Cockpit Air Vents

[Robert Eilers]

My air vents need to be rebuilt - they both leak air and refuse to stay pushed in. However, I can't seem to find a good description or pictorial of how to dismantle the air vents. Is there a schematic available some where outlining how to dismantle the air vent?

[blueldr]

To remove the air vents, rotate them while pulling out.

[N1478D]

George posted a real nice article on how to restore the vents. One of the items was replacing the felt to eliminate the air leaks. I didn't do a search, and the post might have been on the old site, it sure was a good one. I followed it step by step doing my vents. Worked GREAT!

[doug8082a]

I think Joe is right, the thread was on the old site. However, it was also printed in the 170 News - Second Quarter 2005, Page 5. If you are an association member, you can download it for free from the Members Only page of the website.

[Robert Eilers]

Thanks for the feed back - I will down load the C170 article.

[Romeo Tango]

You can restore & refurbish the original equipment (I have two for sale...) but you can also go upmarket. Soros makes a great replacement set of vents that you can set anywhere from "nil" to "tornado". My original Cessna vents were off and on. And sometimes they came out at 200 fps like a rifle shot if I was not careful.

[iowa]

thanks for the reference doug
i'll have to do this!!
dave

[3958v]

The original vents are really easy to refurbish. Just get some felt from a dress shop and glue it to the female part with contact cement. You might wrap the male part with saran wrap and isert it into the female part until the cement sets. That is all I did to mine and they work great several years latter. Bill K

[Robert Eilers]

Following the description provided in the 2005 170 News is relatively easy. I was able to rebuild one vent today and will finish up next week. I believe the suggestion to form the felt inside the cup is a good one. I found mine only had a small strip of felt glued around the inside of the cup. I found removing mine was a little more difficult than I expected. It will be interesting to see how difficult it is to reinstall them.

[GAHorn]

Reinstalling them with new felt can be tight. Work slowly, and after you get it started, wiggle it slowly into the tube. The mouth of the tube is swaged slightly smaller than the inside-diameter of the tube itself,... so it's important not to thin the felt too much. (After the glue was dry, I used a wire wheel to reduce the felt's thickness until it could just barely be forced into the tube.
That project was actually accomplished by me in 1999 or 2000, and my tubes are still tight, and no leaks when closed. I like keeping the original look and it being functionally correct. (It's a personal preference thing...I think the Soros look silly.... but they're a good product.)

[Dave Clark]

Soros might be a good product but I didn't like them when I tried them in a previous plane. They don't pass as much air as the originals and if you turn them to the right (wrong) place they come out.

[3958v]

I dont know about the latter model planes but on the ragwing the female part is attached to the wing with two screws. If you remove this piece you can insert the the vent from the other side using the bullet shape of the vent to push the felt out assuring a nice tight fit which will not leak air. After the glue has set then trim the felt to shape. The originals when done right really do a great job. Bill K