A/C vs Non AC kick panel vent door

[Joshua Keith]

I ordered a kick panel vent from USA1 Industries and what was sent appears to be the vent door for the non-a/c version. I also ordered the kick panel gasket and it came with a peel-off adhesive that was placed on the incorrect side. USA1 industries went 0 for 2 on this one. :/ Am I mistaken and the door is universal? LMC truck has the same exact part # for their ac and non ac trucks as well. Took 2 weeks to get here...hoping for some good news. Haven’t been able to find an aftermarket a/c version yet.

Here’s the vent left is the original, right is the new

https://imgur.com/gallery/gW9RYXM

 

[Goldie Driver]

Guess I am confused- as far as I knew, factory a/c trucks don't have those floor vents.

Goldie does not - factory a/c.

?

Britt

 

[Joshua Keith]

Guess I am confused- as far as I knew, factory a/c trucks don't have those floor vents.

Goldie does not - factory a/c.

?

Britt

Mine is an 85 so they must’ve put it in later on. There is only one and it’s on the passenger side. There’s a vent door opened by vacuum when the a/c is put on max air I believe. Beautiful truck btw! There is a post I found on hotrod.com but they didn’t explain how they converted the door over or how they connected the modulator to the door. :/

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/revamping-a-1985-c10-silverado-interior-with-lmc-truck/amp/

 

[Goldie Driver]

Here's a pic of my passenger side- ignore the mess ...

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[Joshua Keith]

Yeah, yours definitely has one too. It’s behind that round pc of trim.

 

[Craig 85]

@Goldie Driver you do have this door. It's behind the half circle dome in the right kick panel.

@Joshua Keith I bought the same items from LMC and had the exact issues. I was able to figure out the gasket, it was actually correct but it took 5-6 tries to get it right. The doors are totally different though. The non- A/C door has the flange on a horizontal plain and has the bar built in. As you can see from the picture, A/C doors have a hi-lo set up.

I tried to make the non-A/C door work by removing the bar that ties the flanges together, but I didn't like the working angles, so I cleaned up and re-used my OEM one (rubber was still good). The issue I had was the return spring was interfering with the arm above it. I was pressed for time getting my truck back together, but it wouldn't be too hard to make it work.

A/C Door

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[Goldie Driver]

Yeah, yours definitely has one too. It’s behind that round pc of trim.

Well, learned something new.

Never had that side off before!

 

[Joshua Keith]

@Goldie Driver you do have this door. It's behind the half circle dome in the right kick panel.

@Joshua Keith I bought the same items from LMC and had the exact issues. I was able to figure out the gasket, it was actually correct but it took 5-6 tries to get it right. The doors are totally different though. The non- A/C door has the flange on a horizontal plain and has the bar built in. As you can see from the picture, A/C doors have a hi-lo set up.

I tried to make the non-A/C door work by removing the bar that ties the flanges together, but I didn't like the working angles, so I cleaned up and re-used my OEM one (rubber was still good). The issue I had was the return spring was interfering with the arm above it. I was pressed for time getting my truck back together, but it wouldn't be too hard to make it work.

A/C Door

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Man, I tried both! I boiled the old oem door and tried to straighten out the rubber edges( they were curled and dried up) but the new seal sealed up that hole so well. I had cab leak issues and wanted to prevent any water coming back into the cab. I’m currently redoing the flooring. You’re not going to believe this, but I’m using a zip tie right now to connect the modulator arm to the door and it’s working...hate it, but Its working

 

[Craig 85]

I had an issue with water leakage at the bottom of the old gasket for the plastic kick panel. Due to being parked for 10+ years in the hot California sun before I got it, the gasket had totally dried out and was weeping water into the cab. The new gasket resolved this problem.

 

[Turbo4whl]

Try reversing the spring end for end.

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[Craig 85]

Try reversing the spring end for end.

I had actually tried that. The problem is the two tabs you see here on the A/C version the tabs are in different planes. When you use the other style door, they are parallel and cause the spring bind. I'm sure a smaller diameter spring with the same tension would work.

 

[Joshua Keith]

Yeah, I could see how there would be a bind issue, but somehow this is working. I think it’s because the zip tie is able to bend when it hits the spring. Trying to figure out a better way to do this tho.

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[Craig 85]

I had removed the bar that ties the tabs together and used that one instead of the OEM rod you replaced with the zip tie. I had also reversed the direction of that screw on the pivot arm. If what you have works, I think I'd leave the zip tie. No reason to over engineer it. The only time this door gets opened is when you have the A/C on max.

 

[Joshua Keith]

Thanks for the advice! Don’t even have a/c yet lol Main goal was just to prevent leakage. A/c install happening in the spring

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[Snoots]

Use a coat hanger.