1936 Terraplanne Draft Vent under the rear seat question

ken1962

G'day All,

On Sunday, noticed some deep red streaks (blood?) flicking up the rear boot (especially around the exhaust and inside along the rear bumper) after parking it to display for a local Car Show & Shine at a local grassed parkland. Thought I'd hit a bird or small rat or something - but really thought no more about it other than puzzlement BTW: The Car won the trophy for "Best car under 1950" after a quick wipe down thou (my 1st trophy Yippy  ;-)  On the way back I stopped and filled the tank to the brim which is rare as it normally gets filled only on the day of a drive. On Monday, upon opening the garage I had the strong smell of petrol and a large puddle under the car. The tank had a facture around the outlet pipe bracket attached to the tank holding the pipe leading to the pump/engine. I've only had the car for a year and always had at odd times a strong petrol smell and the fuel economy was crappy at odd times for no oblivious reason - now I know when the tank was over 2/3rds full I was losing litres and litres running down the tank flicking and spraying left and right across the tank bottom as the bracket flexed or didn't flex as the tank heated or flexed with traffic, road bumps, then closed tight etc  A true ticking fire bomb.

Anyway yesterday dad (who is a retired car mechanic) helped me drop and repair the tank. I'd also removed the rear seat to get access thru the draft vent hole directly above the diff. It was blocked with a piece of wood. My question is - Should I replace the piece of wood or should I make up a vent and get it working again? Does it make a difference to the cabin air flow? Any suggestions? I don't want to replace the seat and then drive with someone in the back, open close windows whilst driving etc etc and then remove the seat and replace with a piece of wood if its common knowledge what the draft vent did or didn't achieve - you get my drift :-)

Kind regards Ken

Jon B

Originally there was a cloth filter over the hole, I believe.  Supposedly when you opened one of the vents the air moved smoothy through the car.  How well it worked....I know not.  But if it would work, you might never have to worry about the "odd petrol smell" entering the car again, since fresh air would enter from the front and exhaust the interior odors.

Park_W

As Jon says, it's a vent, originally covered with heavy cloth that's held in place with an oval-shaped springy wire.  It was actually an inlet vent --- when the "wind wings" were open a bit, a partial vacuum was created in the car, and fresh air was drawn in through that underseat vent.  How well it actually worked is anybody's guess.  If you don't care to make it look original, just close it up any way that seems practical.

Jay_G

I have the same thing on my 37.  The old cloth covering was in sad shape after 75 years so I made a new one.  Fairly straight forward.  I do think it helps with the fresh air.  That said I have not had a gas leak so I cant tell you if would you would get the fumes.  I can say I have never had any exhaust fumes come from this vent.  Well not that I am aware of.

 

Jay

ken1962

Thanks for the prompt replies guys. Have decided to replace the board blocking the vent and recreate a new cloth vent using some air-conditioning foam.