Jeep Hard Top Vent

I bought a Jeep Hardtop a few years ago and it did not have vents, just the holes. While my year of Jeep (2006) has a built in vent in the rear door, I decided to fill them in when I got it. Well, that was a mistake. The air pressure when shutting the doors was so great that the doors wouldn't shut at times without the windows rolled down a bit. My solution was to either buy a set - which I found to be very expensive - or make a set. I decided to make a set.

Since I am not a drafting wiz, I like Tinkercad for my designs. Quick and easy. While it wasn't the exact length I wanted, I opted to keep one piece instead of creating two or three and plastic welding them together. So my design was limited to the size of the 3D printer. I used some basic measurements from the original opening, but kept it smaller in width to keep it looking nicer.

I printed the vent in orange only since that was what was in the printer at the time. I was going to respray the hardtop in the future, so I decided to paint it when it was on the Jeep.

I placed the vent against the hardtop and scribed a line around it.

I used my Dremel with an aggressive bit since I had to go through Bondo and metal mesh that I had used to fill up the hole originally. I cleaned it up and made sure it fit properly.

I needed something that would take the heat and the stress of potential movement from the back window. It needed to be paintable. So I opted for some sub-floor glue which has worked well for me in the past on projects like this. Before I put it in there, I opted to put some window screen behind it to keep any little bugs out - well at least bigger bugs.

I used flat black because that is what I had used on my hardtop previously. I would spray it, let it dry, and repeat.

While the vents are much smaller than the stock ones, the air output is enough where my doors are now shutting without having to roll down the window. Since I put the vents at a slant, I haven't seen any rain coming through the lower opening inside.

Final thoughts: I might, on a next revision, use some rubber from an old inner tube and create a baffle to keep the cold outside air out and only allow thi inside air to escape.