so i bought the vents that have the side adjuster wheel that allows you to close and open the vents. which would be beneficial to me since i have a flip out touch screen head unit. i'd like to turn off the vents in the middle so that the air is pushed out the sidevents.

but these vents i got from a member on here are just sligtly too wide for my 07 radio bezel...

do i need to get out the dremel and shave the sides of the vent openings (which would probably end up looking ugly) or do i need a bezel from an explorer or older ranger that had these wider center vents stock... ?

 

hmm i always thought they would fit right in. i got a set with a spare 07 bezel that ill mess with tonight if nobody else knows.

 

the problem is, the vents on the older set are the same size as the ones on my 07. then add the adjusters on the side. its about a centimeter or so wider on each side of the opening.

 

well that sucks. I was eventually going to do this just never got around to it. Ill pull out my spares tonight to see what i can dream up.

 

lemme know what you find out~ i mean if i was careful enough i could probably use a dremel and make it wider, but i'd have to find a way to clean up the edges.

 

what if you took a section out of the middle of the vents themselves and then glued them back together, so you didnt have to mess with the vent opening.

 

Do you have a hand router?

Could you precisely cut it with one, on the other hand I know you can rent mini ones from Home depot. that would make a pretty clean cut, also making it a tad smaller then make the vents fit just perfectly, as in they take some force to get in.

 

well ty I looked at what I got and I see what ya mean. a few options I see. 1 being u could widen the vent opening but I agree that would look like ****. u could also graft in a section from an explore bezel so u keep the airbag sensor in the bezel. this is prolly what I would try t make it still look like an newer bezel. last option would bto get an explorer bezel or an older ranger one but u lose the airbag sensor in the bezel. if you want to try blending in an explorer bezel I got a junk explorer one id send ya for price of shipping.

 

hmm all that seems like wayyy too much work lol. does the bezel have a spot for two of the 12v outlets?

 

unfortunately no its the single 12v with fog light switch and rear wiper. but its for a 2wd. and its rough.

 

I'm not sure how Ford decided which radio bezels got the block off plates in the A/C and which ones didn't. I bought a Carbon Fiber radio bezel out of a Mazda pick up and was missing the A/C vents. I went home and grabbed a spare Ranger bezel I had and proceeded to swap the vents only to find out they were different. The Mazda was setup for block off plates the Ranger was not. I ended up grabbing a set of vents out an Explorer as I believe they all have block off plates in them.

 

can we see some pictures of what you are working with?

 

i'll try n get some up a bit later

 

theyre out of an explorer or a mountaineer, the bezel is wider

 

the bezel itself isnt wider. just the opening for the vents

 

Without seeing any pics, the only thing I can recommend to try is to shave off a little off the adjusters perhaps?

 

The adjusters would have to go away completely for them to fit. I might see if there's any way I can rig the close off vents inside my stock vents. And find a way to open and close them..

 

There you go! So get us a pic of the vent shut off so we can actually offer some intelligent advice...

 

is this what you are talking about?
1999_ford_explorer_4037-E-1.jpg?t=1260247661

 

i am only speaking of the center vents in the radio bezel

 

Why not just use the bezel they came out of?

 

07 and newer are a little bit of a different set up. We have our airbag light in our bezels. but you could use the bezel they came out of.

 

i'd rather not. I have mine painted up so nicely right now. and i like my dual 12v outlets on the bezel. and the airbag light too. and i'd have no use for a rear wiper switch or a fog light switch on the bezel. lol

 

Cut the vents in half and take out how mch material you need to make it fit. Clean up the edges real nice so it doesn't look like it's been cut and glue them back together from behind with epoxy. Then paint them black again

 

thats what its lookin like ty.... not looking too easy