85-92 trans am hood........how do the vents come out? Thanks

Darin

 

Do a search for "hood vents for sale" and see where the latches are at.

 

The front vents have some screw nut thingies that go on plastic studs at the front (nose of the car) and then lift up and towards the nose of the car. The back vents have spring clips on the edge closest to the fenders. You have to kind of stick a screw driver or similar up into the holes and disengage the clips which will allow the vent to come up and out towards the fenders.

 

Got em!

 

Had some pics for you , but if you got em….good. I'll put the pics on anyway just in case someone else looking might benefit. The first thing you need to do is make sure they are not painted on, they will break if you remove the hardware properly but fail to cut any paint holding them in place from the top side. These pics are in black but they show the nut studs and the clip recesses. Once the fasteners are off, just pull the vent free of the built in clip on the side opposite the fastener.

 

Thanks fellas! Yeah what sucks is 2 of the front holes aren't big enough to get a 16mm socket in there to get the damn speed nuts off. I gotta drill the holes out a little bigger or something

 

Try a thinner walled socket. My 1/4" drive socket fit right in there.

 

I'll have to find one. My 1/4" set only goes to 14mm so I tried to get a 3/8 drive 16mm in there and it's not happening lol

 

Do you have a 1/4" drive SAE one that is "close enough" ? Not a lot of torque on these things.

 

I will have to check....I think so

 

You can use long needle nose pliers also

 

Ha! Funny you say that. I got a call from my Dad this morning (the car is in his garage) and he said "Hey I got those hood vents out.....I stuck a needle nose pliers in there and spun those nuts right out." lol

 

I just took mine out to paint the hood. Front ones gave me grief, why 2 holes have to be smaller is beyond me but you only have to loosen the inner speed nuts enough to pull the vent out. The hood is slotted.

 

How did you get them exactly? Did you end up drilling the inner holes larger?

If that was your solution, is there a way to get them out without modifying the hood? The inner holes on mine are ~18.5 mm. I've never seen or heard of a 16 mm socket, even thin walled that had less than a 19 mm diameter.

 

Have you tried 1/4 drive sockets ? My 1/4 sockets fit right up in there perfectly.

You can also probably get them out with some long nosed pliers, thats how dagwood's dad got them out and what Steve86TA suggested.

 

Thanks. I was doing some forum searching and came across the needle nose pliers suggestion. I will try that next.

Also, what brand 1/4 socket do you have that is 16mm with less than a 18.5 mm diameter? I have never seen such an animal.

 

Both my Stanley and Pittsburgh sockets fit in there. I don't think I even used metric sockets but SAE that was close enough. Been a while since I took them off. I do know I took them out with the Stanley and reinstalled with the Pittsburgh because my Stanley set was being borrowed by my dad when I put the vents back in.


*EDIT* Just went and checked mine, they are two different sizes. The big one is 1/2" and the smaller is 7/16". I have not idea if those are the original speed nuts but that is what is on my car.

 

I think the factory used something akin to an allen key with a hole in it that fit on the inside of the speed nut, rather then the outside. I actually have the tool from Snap On for the speed nuts for the door panels

 

Got it. Those aren't factory sizes which is why you can get them to work. I was able to use small needle nose pliers and get them moving. Thanks.