73 vs 80 birdcage bracing.

[Scott]

I pulled my interior out a while ago. One thing I noticed was the vacuum pot for the pass air vent didn't really bolt up anywhere.  Since the time to bolt everything back together is rapidly approaching, I figure I need to sort this.  My car is a 73 vert, but it has a complete 80's front end grafted on, complete with firewall fro the looks of it.  It also has aircon.  The issue comes from the bracing bar on the birdcage.   It was cut and bent to fit around the aircon box.





Now it appears the bracket that this cross bar bolts to is in the same location where the vac pot should bolt, and in fact does bolt on later model cars.





My questions are:

Is the cross brace necessary?  I'd guess yes.

Does the air vent need to open? Some reading indicates it only opens when the aircon is on max to help re-circulate air.  Otherwise it is a good source of unwanted heat in the footwell.

Can anyone help me with this one?

[bfit]

Tomorrow I'll check out one I have pulled apart
Bfit

[Scott]

I've had a flick through the '73 AIM and it matches what's shown in the first two pics, so it's a 73 birdcage.  I'm guessing when they grafted on the 80 front end, there was nowhere form the vac pot, so it was left dangling.

[sirfixalot]

78 - 79 had a small gusset spot welded in the top corner it is bigger on RH side than LH to clear the speedo housing has to be trimmed for R/hand drive for speedo to fit in

[Scott]

78 - 79 had a small gusset spot welded in the top corner it is bigger on RH side than LH to clear the speedo housing has to be trimmed for R/hand drive for speedo to fit in

Were the gussets used instead of the cross braces on the earlier models?  I'm still trying to find out how the aircon system works.

[sirfixalot]

The flap inside the kick panel works together with the flap in the plenum chamber which is inside the r/hand guard next to the R/hand wiper pivot. Never seen a brace similar to that one even on a convertible maybe it is unique to a  73

[sirfixalot]

In your top pic I think I can see the corner gusset which is what is normally on that side

[Scott]

I'll grab a pic of the AIM page and post it up, for future reference.

[bfit]

I checked out my 79 , it is no where near your photo but it's a coup
Bfit