Good morning to you all!

Well I'm brand new here and just recently picked up my 81 Z28. It's blue t-tips with 350 and is a matching numbers car, apprased for 14K!! I just love her, I've never owed one before but been around them my entire life. It seems once its your car you tend to notices potential problems better lol..

What I'm wondering about...

Air induction flats.. How can I test to see if they work while the car if off? I seen them work by the pervious owner. I'm assuming just turn the key and put the petal to the floor?

Next after driving it for about an hour and half last night that my h
Feet and knees where becoming extremely hot from hot air that was being pushed from the front engine...

I'm not a newbie with cars, but for forums understanding lets say I am because ive never owned one before..
If anyone can give me a hand I'd appreciate it

Happy fathers day to you all!

 

Welcome to the forum.As far as the flaps,i'm not sure how to check them,there is a solenoid that operates them,you may be able to run a hot wire to it and that may actuate it but i'm not sure,i would wait for another answer on that one,as they do not sell that actuator,so if it fries it,you would be out of luck..As for the heat,yes that is probably the worst part about these cars.Not only does it comefrom the firewall but from the floors also.They sell stuff such as dynamat,etc.,that you put under the carpet,on the firewall,etc. that is a heat barrier,and most of them will cut down on rattles and other noise also.

 

The flaps are merely controlled by a switch on the accelerator pedal, once the pedal reaches a certain point, it sends an electrical current to the hood solenoid and opens the flaps... The wires should be orange in color if I recall correctly, but yes, if you just run a jump wire from a 12 volt source (or the battery if need be) to the wire coming off of the solenoid, it should actuate the flaps... As shown in the picture below, the orange wire coming out from under the hood with the black connector, this is where you run the 12 volt jump wire, but I wouldn't keep the power to it for long as you don't want to fry the solenoid... As for the heat, are you referring to heat coming thru the floor boards or actually out of the lower vents?...

 

You don't need a jumper or any rewiring to test it. Just turn the key to the "on" position and put the pedal to the floor. That will open the flap if all is OK. If it doesn't then you'll need to put a test light across the leads and see if the light comes on in the same situation. If it does your solenoid is bad, but wiring and switch are OK. If not, then switch or wiring is the issue.
The heat might be from the fan that doesn't ever shut off if you have an AC equipped car. If you do, then the low speed fan always runs, and turning AC on will provide cool air out the vents. If it's coming out the fresh air vents, then it's likely engine heat, as it is common that the fresh air temp is elevated from engine heat.

 

Welcome