Rats Nest

[challenger_affair]

Somewhere along the line some vermin found their way into the fresh air vents of my 70 RT.  Bitter irony  .  The previous owner had it sitting out with one of the cowl grills missing so I'm guessing thats the culprit...  It looks like the passenger side has more debris than the other but i'm thinking they're both going to be pretty ugly. 

I wish I could just snake a vacuum cleaner through the cowl and remove all the debris.  Has anyone tried that with a shop vac?  Or have any clever suggestions?

[LAA66]

 A shop vac should work, maybe add some compressed air along with it on the back side. Use a mask though.

 Set out De-con for prevention. It's in my truck, tractor, and boat. It works if monitored. Just don't forget about it and run out as they Will be back.

[Barracudadan]

I had the same problem my mice seemed to prefer the drivers side vent area. I sucked it out with a shop vac you can also try one of those lint lizards "an as seen on tv product" to get in deeper. Or get some flexible tubing and ductape it to your shopvac hose and save a couple bucks on the lint lizard thing. I plan on eventually removing the heater and vent housings and clean everything!
Last bit of advice I would not use de-con or any type of poison for a couple reasons.

1 If you or your neighbors have any pets that could get access to the poison it will kill them.

2 If the mice do get to the poison they could crawl in your car and die then you have to wait for the smell to try and find them! 

I use plain old fashion snap traps with a little peanut butter on them for bait, yeah it`s gross when you find them but they don`t die in my car. I only need to do this when the weather starts getting cold and mice are starting to look for places to nest.

 

[challenger_affair]

Thanks for the suggestions.  I'm not so much worried about getting anymore at this point as this happened at another location, but this will definitely make me pay close attention.  I'll need to replace the missing cowl grill at a minimum. 

I really like the idea of adding a smaller hose to the shop vac and gave it a try tonight.  It worked pretty well but its hard to control once it gets back under there so I'm going to have to keep working on it.  What would happen if I directed a hose back there being careful not to splash any over the vent lip? 

Also, I don't know what the plumbing is like back there, what are the chances the critters got further into the ventilation system entering at the cowl?  Do the fresh air vents connect to anything else back there? 

Thanks again. 

[Barracudadan]

Not sure I quite understand what you mean by being careful not to splash over the vent lip? But I don`t think there is anything down there you could damage with a hose. Try straightening out a metal coat hanger and taping it to the tube it may give you a little more control getting in all the nooks and crannies.

I think i`ll take my own advice and try the this too since all I ever did was just shove my shopvac hose in there. I`m sure I got more crud down there! 

[Super Blue 72]

I had the same deal with my car, was in a barn for a couple years and the previous owner moved the car out side here and there.  I actually got a fair amount of seat insulation out of the cowl area.  Unfortunately when it rained the stuffing held in the moisture and there is a cowl leak now that I have to track down.  I used a shop vac and just cleaned as best I could.  Compressed air is a good idea as LAA66 mentioned or the lint lizard as Barracudadan mentioned.

[challenger_affair]

These are the kinds of projects that drive me nuts...  Something so small causing so much effort     And when you're done all you have is the same thing you had before. 

Anyway, with the hose I meant trying to actually direct some water back there in the cowl, hopefully without getting any down into the vents.  On my car there's a vertical extension from the vent into the cowl that presumably is there to keep any water out...  I just thought maybe I would try to flush out any remaining debris but I'm not sure if there are actually any drains back there. 

I think I've done about all I can with the shop vac and plastic tubing.  I found a size that fit perfectly into my shop vac tubing so there was minimal vacuum loss.  The trick is working with the natural coiling of the tubing to get it to wrap around air vent.  Great idea, thanks!  Unfortunately I don't have access to compressed air.

Next it appears I will have to take apart the fan/heater housing since the passenger side vent appears to connect with that...  I'm assuming the critters got into it as well.  And I did notice it looked like they had brought in some insulation debris, from where I don't know. 

Once all this is done, priortiy 1 will be to replace the missing drivers side cowl grill!  If anyone has an extra let me know.   

[Barracudadan]

Now I understand what you are trying to do. I would avoid water if anything gets wet up there and you can`t remove it it may mildew, stink and stay wet over time and rot out the metal. Under my cowl there is a bad spot and if water gets in there it drips onto my carpet you could pour a small glass of water down there and see if it drips onto your carpet to test first before you try spraying water in there.

Air would be the way to go.

If your car is on the road try this take an old valve stem slip a piece of tubing over it ductape it on and go to a car wash or gas station that has  air for a tire fill-up and now you have a way to blast air in there. It may be a pit of a pain to hold the valve stem onto the air hose chuck but hey it`s worth a shot.

Or buy a portable air tank and a small hose and air gun for around $25-$30 bucks and then you can blast a little air.

[kielbasa]

I ran into this with my AAR a few months ago......

FIRST remove heater box (as it will be most likely full of seat foam, dead mice, mouse kupa and pee-pee), then drop both fresh air vent assemblies (driver and passenger) (passenger side is part of the heater box), remove the plastic outside air inlet screens beneath the windshield, then duct tape garden hose to shop vac and suck out as much as you can from the top of the fresh air plenum (beneath the winshield)...
then vacuum from the underside of where the vents blow into the cabin, then blast with compressed air  from every direction and repeat process several times until you think you have it removed. I then took a bleach/water solution and drowned everything, blew out with compressed air/heat gun about 4 times and most of the stink is gone.
also reach up into the vent openings (under the dash) and get ready to pull loads of mouse house stuff where the vacuum didn't quite reach.
finally drown the entire fresh air plenum (under winshield) and the cavity behind the door hinges with fluid film or some type of rust preventative.
Now you can move onto the heater box restoration, etc.....
this job took me SEVERAL hours/days, and it wasn't easy. i hate what mice do to these cars!!!!!!
i actually had to grind off .050" in the bottom of the heater box assembly, as the urine soaked into the fiberglass! Not Happy! I ended up taking WAY more apart than I initially was thinking as once the mice got in there, they found heaven (nooks, crannies, pockets where nobody will ever find them).

[challenger_affair]

Thanks for the great suggestions!  I'll have to look into getting some compressed air...  For now I need to clear enough time to really dig into that heater box and see just how bad this is...  Are there any seals that I should prepare to replace after taking out the air vent assemblies and heater box?  Or can they go back together ok without it? 

[slsc98]

Don't know if this is of use to anyone; however; as last step of winterization / longterm parking, we took to putting those "glue" mouse traps on the outside and inside of each tire (figured those 4 / 8 points of contact with terra firma were the "choke points" for how little critters could even get onto or in any part of vehicle). Wife thought I was nuts but, so far, 2 mice and counting . . .

[Super Blue 72]

Once all this is done, priortiy 1 will be to replace the missing drivers side cowl grill!  If anyone has an extra let me know.

Don't have one but I would just get a piece of screen and tape it over the opening so critters can't get back in as a temporary measure. 

[challenger_affair]

Thanks for the additional suggestions!  I wound up taping a piece of cardboard over the opening and recently found a used replacement cowl grill at a local show for a very reasonable price     This was satisfying because replacements at yearone and classic industries are not cheap! 

Over the winter I used a combination of mothcakes at each wheel, dryer sheets inside, and various traps and repellent elsewhere in the garage.  All that said, the original infestation didn't happen while the car was in my posession so I don't know whether any of the measures I took helped or not.  But doing what I could to keep it from happening again helped me sleep a little better...

[burdar]

Rain water drains right into the area under the cowl. There's no harm in using a hose to flush it out. There are huge drains on the ends and the one in the middle. The vents have stacks on them to keep water out of the interior. Pull the DS air vent off as well as the heater box. You can put your hands up inside to make sure you have all the crap cleaned out.