What's this Hole for ??

[Bob Ashlock]

What is this 3-inch hole on the trunk floor adjacent the smuggler's box lid for on my 1976 912E ... I'm trying to figure out why this hole does not have a cover-plate. Because the car has a/c, this hole allows the evaporator blower to draw some of it's air from the trunk which doesn't make much sense to me.

[DaveMcKenz]

Fresh air blower goes there. It has a housing, control flaps and blower. There may be a smart way to seal it and run without it. I don't use mine very much.
Dave

[gamin]

Hi Bob. One of your satisfied customers here multiple times. Yes, fresh air blower and as said above seldom used. What year/model do you have there?

[Bob Ashlock]

I'm sorry guys, I wasn't very clear about the "hole" on my '76 912E.... here's the photo with an arrow showing the HOLE I'm referring to in the question:

Also, thanks for the accolades about my products! www.AshlockTech.com

[targa80]

This may not apply to your vehicle exactly because yours is an older model than mine and I do not know if you have factory A/C On my 80SC that hole has a plastic fitting called an air distributor (item 7) P/N 911 573 179 00.



There is also another plastic piece that connects to the underside of the hole (item 10) P/N 911 573 181 00



On my car the underside piece item 10 connects directly to the A/C evaporator unit and the top piece item 7 connects to the A/C vents via two hoses.

[Bob Ashlock]

OK, the above diagram explains things a bit. My car ('76) was outfitted at the dock or dealer with what they called 'factory air' at the time which really was a VPC add-on unit. They must have removed the other plumbing shown in the photo, or perhaps a plate covering that hole.

That being said, I decided to plug the 3" hole because it serves no purpose. All it's doing now is introducing hot trunk air into the intake side of the a/c evaporator. I want only the cabin air to be recycled through the evaporator. Adding warm trunk air in the mix is no good.

By the way, the discovery of this open hole was the result of troubleshooting/removal of a failed fresh-air blower unit. Apparently I am now in the club of many owners who have had failed blowers. Mine was frozen, which resulted in overheating and melting the brush holders, as well as overheating the series resistors which melted a quarter-size hole in the housing.

Thanks much for the help... Bob

[clexton1]

On my '76 930 with factory air, that hole had a plate with a hole in it for one of the A/C hoses to pass through. That hose went to the driver side fenderwell and out another hole.

Paul

[SWS911]

My '71 has that hole. In the old days there was an electric blower that sucked the air from the tunnel via the grated cover at the shifter bushing to aid in defrost and cabin circulation without opening the cowl vent. If it didn't have this blower there was a cardboard cover that fit the hole and was glued in place to seal it. Also the grated tunnel cover would be covered and there would be a rubber cover over the tunnel hole down in the smugglers box. I remember seeing someone on this forum reproduce pretty much exact concour replica of the cardboard cover. I only know this crap 'cause I'm old. Hope this helps.