I was looking inside the car today and noticed there was no panel covering the blower motor under the passenger side glove box. I looked through the online OEM parts catalogue but could not locate it. Has anyone seen this part? Maybe it was included in the Canadian version? Example of the part on a different car. Apparently other manufacturers also don't include it as stock. Subaru OEM AC Fan Blower Sound Fix Pack - 2015+ WRX / 2015+ STI
I checked with one of the online dealer parts department and they were unable to see the part in their diagrams. So it will remain an X-File for now.
I’m interested, hope you find something. I cringe every time a passenger gets their feet up too high and I worry they might break something there.
I'll definitely keep an eye out. Absolute worst case scenario a simple DIY cover could be crafted. If I were to do it I'd probably go by the local pick-and-pull junk yard, find a nice sized plastic interior panel and cut it to shape. Then probably just zip tie one or two spots to keep it secure.
Today I went to the junkyard and found the lower dash panel out of I think a 96-01 Camry. There were a few and I forgot to look at each body style but I'm pretty sure it had the slim headlights. I'm going back when they have a 02-06 Camry because the shape looks better. The part was only $2. I have it fitted now with the single zip tie and it is secure. No buzzing or other strange noises. Fitment is actually pretty good towards the firewall and doesn't block the lower air duct. All I did was remove the 3 factory plastic clips, make a hole for the zip tie and file down two sections of the plastic a bit. I added a section of generic thinsulate type material as well. **the optional cut is actually on the wrong side in the image There is a rather large cavity besides the blower motor. You can see the jute type firewall padding. I put a piece of generic thinsulate material in here too. The engine is right behind it and wouldn't be surprised if it could act as a noise chamber. Here's an interesting article about the 3m thinsulate http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/520291O/thinsulatetm-acoustic-insulation-for-the-automotive-industry.pdf Case study Thinsulate™ was selected by a leading vehicle manufacturer looking to improve the sound absorption in its engine space. The original material delivered satisfactory performance across a wide frequency range. However, when the material was replaced by a similar size piece of Thinsulate™, the absorption co-effi cient improved by as much as four times. Rather than over-engineer the solution, the Thinsulate™ material was reduced in size by 44% which still delivered an improvement in sound absorption over the original material but also reduced both weight and cost for the manufacturer.
