Windscreen Vents

[jims-terrano]

Has anyone got a photo or able to take a photo of the windscreen vent please. It's the long grill with what looks like a screw or something under a plastic panel. The older trucks have the alarm led in one of these panels.
Im trying to run some cables up to the top of the dashboard and wondered if there is a way up through the vent.

Cheers

 

[Monaro Pete]

Where will the cables end up Jim?
What's the cables for?

 

[jims-terrano]

Just want to mount something on top of the dash in the centre.

 

[Monaro Pete]

You could come up the corner of the screen & took the wire between the glass & dashboard.
I've brought a wire all the way the side of the screen behind the trim & then I removed the sun visor to trail it behind the roof trim.

 

[jims-terrano]

Ueah there is that option but was hoping to hide the wires a bit better but theres also a couple of connections which won't tuck down too. Hohum back to the drawing board.

Cheers

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

I struggled with this, so in the end, I brought my USB cable out right in the top middle of the dash, in the hump bit, between the two front dash vents, and back about 3 inches from the panel that goes down to the vents and radio etc..

I used a push in plastic blind blanking grommet like this....

That allowed the hole in the dash to be big enough for the USB plug to pass through, and then I used that to create a small hole with a slit cut from the edge to the hole for the cable to pass through.

Not perfect, but it was the neatest way I could come up with, and in my case, the arm for the tablet mount that is suckered onto the windscreen then passes right over it, so basically makes it nearly invisible.

 

[jims-terrano]

That looks interesting Clive. How did you make the hole

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

That looks interesting Clive. How did you make the hole

Ahhhh... now that was a bit on the Heath Robinson style...

First, I bent a pointed bit of 4mm rod 90deg, heated it with a blow torch until the pointed end was glowing red hot, and then melted a hole where I wanted it... I did have the centre of the dash out at the time to get the positioning right...

Then I used a step cutter with a pair of pliers to turn it when it got too hard to do by hand, to open it up to the size I wanted... I have a box of assorted blind grommets, so not sure what size it was in the end, probably about 12 or 14 mm I guess.

Not a very good picture, it's raining so just grabbed a quick shot looking down on it.

 

[jims-terrano]

Haha well done Clive, wondered how you got a drill in there:thumbs

Bet it stunk terrible :doh

Where do you get those plastic grommets from?

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

Haha well done Clive, wondered how you got a drill in there:thumbs

Bet it stunk terrible :doh

Where do you get those plastic grommets from?

Not too bad, that's why I just did the starter hole, and then opened it out with the step drill though. I find using red hot metal seems to smell less than when you just use soldering iron temperatures.

Try an Ebay search for "Blind Plastic Grommet", that brings up a few... I got mine as a Kit of various sizes from RS components a good few years ago... (Wow I feel old some days!!)