> k1cajun@PIPELINE.COM writes:
>
> << Anyway, what I noticed is that at the rear inside bottoms of the
>  front doors, where the 89 has what seems to be dummy louver vents,
>  the 87 has what seems to be functional vents - they have a little
>  sliding handle.  The 89 has these ducts holes that go from front of
>  door to back and then a hole in the door frame - I never knew why
>  they were there, but assumed they were something to duct fresh air to
>  engine compartment for combustion along with the ducts at the upper
>  rear.  But it seems as though the 87 also ducts the same air to the
>  cabin at driver and passenger's hips ??  I looked in the 87 owners
>  manual and couldn't find any mention of these louvers.  Any ideas ?
>  Search in archives just comes up with vent windows.
>   >>
>

JordanVw@AOL.COM wrote:

> the vents at the rear of the back windows on th '88-'91 vanagons are for
> fresh interior air. they replaced the earlier '80-'87 style in the front
> doors. has nothing to do w/ engine cooling air.
> chris

So, you're saying the rear window louvers send air through those front
doors' ducts to reach the fresh air vents ?

As for the engine air, I was talking about combustion air for the intake,
not cooling since the 87 and 89 are both wasserboxers.