1965-1966 vacuum trunk release install

FredNY66

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Opening this thread to show the install of a vacuum trunk release from a 1965 New Yorker on a 1966 New Yorker. And the findings and subtle differences between the 1965 setup and the 1966 one. As this is "work in progress", I'll update the thread as I install the components.

First, get a complete setup. Thanks go to a gentleman who removed carefully all the parts including the hoses. You may have recognized azblackhemi, and which 1965 New Yorker the setup comes from.

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I've decided to install the setup from the back of the car toward the front. So, one hose needs to travel from the front of the deck lid to the rear of it, through structure. I used a draw-in wire, from top to bottom when the lid is open.

The hose will exit near the left hinge.

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Then, simply attach the hose at the end of the draw-in wire, and remove it, the hose will then get inserted. Easy, and then one can install the grommet. So far so good.

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Now, near the lock, two things. First, the standard lock cannot be reused. Indeed, it's missing a small hole where part of the release mechanism gets inserted. Be sure you get the lock and the release mechanism. The picture below shows the standard lock.

Then, the first difference. Whereas in 1965 the hose goes through a 2nd grommet that is identical to the first one (as in the previous picture), in 1966, there is no round hole. And indeed, in the parts manual, the 1965's shows 2 identical part numbers, whereas the 1966's shows 2 different part numbers. Given the shape of the hole in the sheet metal, it must have been a rounded rectangle. As I guess that this 2nd grommet is just unobtainium, I'll leave it without it.

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Next step that I just started, but no pic yet: jump into the trunk, and start routing the hoses from the hinge down to the left door sills... Rear seat has been removed as well as the rear left door sill, and part of the left trunk cardboards. Stay tuned!
 
I added this option to my ‘67 Imp and I use it often, it’s well worth the effort.:thumbsup:
 
Next step: route the hose between the lid hinge and the bottom of the back seat, following the existing cables and the retainers. Those trunks are so huge that it was no problem to get into it and work under the rear deck. As I don't have the rear defogger, I'm wondering whether I would try to find one and install it.

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And this evening: routing the hose through the sills. First, remove the sills. Second, remove the panel under the dash, on the left of the parking brake pedal (not sure how to call that piece of plastic trim). Third, remove the cover panel of the half B-pillar (my car is a hardtop). Reason for that: when trying to insert the draw-in wire, it wouldn't go straight and always wanted to go up as soon as there was an opportunity. Then simply attach the hose to the draw-in, pull the draw-in, and that's it.

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As the kit provided by azblackhemi was complete and carefully withdrawn from the damaged '65 New Yorker, one will have a little connector at the hinge level, and one just next to the parking brake pedal. The hose through the sills is one piece only. Quite handy, so if one has to replace a section of the hose, one knows where to disconnect to replace the damaged section.

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And the BIG surprise of the day, the UNEXPECTED finding [drum beats please]. When removing the air ducts of the heating system, guess what fell on me.... It started with calendar pages, from 1982. Then a round piece like a plastic coin fell too. It was so unexpected that I didn't realize at first what it was.

But let's start with the calendar: isn't this ultra-thin miniature laptop so cool? Calendar starts in April, ends in September. I suppose some of the pages were expelled by the defroster (they were in the left defroster air duct).

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And now ladies and gentlemen... Better than in a dream... The small round plastic piece that looked like a toy coin, that fell from the duct... is in fact the cap of the photocell of the Sentinel system on the dash. If I hadn't had the non-sense idea to buy a remote vacuum release for my trunk, I would never have removed the air ducts, and the cap would have stayed there for many years if not decades.

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Not easy to take pictures from the back of the dash. I routed the hose the same way as the main feed of wires: go up and above the speedmeter cluster, then go down, go horizontally behind the central ash tray and coin tray, then reach the glovebox. I have installed the vacuum hose that goes from the engine compartment to the glovebox where the release switch will be.

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Great information and pictures, Fred.

Question - are you sure that the vacuum hose doesn't run up the passenger side to the glove box? Once it exits the trunk lid on the driver side through that grommet, doesn't it clip to the bottom of the dutchman's panel and go across under the rear windscreen over to the passenger side, down to and over the passenger rear wheel well, in the sill and up to the glove box that way? Perhaps @azblackhemi can confirm the routing.

It just seems counter productive and servicing-difficult to run it across the inside of the dash like that... I know there are retaining tabs on the passenger side too which would serve the same purpose.

Let me know what you know, as I'll be installing one of these in my car.

Cheers!
 
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