I have just been poking around in the same places of our '88.  Re: water in
passenger side rear- do you have A/C?  Been running it lately?  Me too.  The
water in ours was from the evaporator drain hose(s) being plugged.  The tray
that catches the water overflows.  Behind both of the grills that you
mentioned, sort of hidden, are black rubber drain hoses.  Both of mine were
blocked.  I snaked them with a peice of wire.
re: the engine air intake- behind the same right rear grill is the "snorkel"
that feeds the airbox.  It's intake faces rear (presumably to keep out water
and bugs but maybe to squelch intake noise) If you fool with this to feed
air to it, that might work.  A scoop on the outside is just going to send
more air through the engine compartment.  Re: the grill on the other side
(applies to right side too), these ventilate and cool the engine compartment
in an attempt to keep engine heat from seeping into the interior. When you
park your van, crouch down and look up at these grills.  You will see waves
of heat escaping from the engine room!

Gary
----- Original Message -----
From: Brian Cirulnick <techrat@vm.com>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, August 04, 2000 7:08 PM
Subject: Scoop for breather?

> Couple of thoughts today while I'm staring at the gray sky from my
> cubicle...
>
> #1) Has anybody thought about fabricating a "scoop" around the passenger
> side breather, which leads right to the airbox? This would force quite a
bit
> of air in there, especially at highway speeds, and perhaps give a bit of a
> boost?
>
> #2) Now, if you thought that's stupid, now I'm going to ask what the other
> side's breather is for? I don't see it going into the airbox, so, does the
> engine use this? Or is this just a heat exhaust, or is it just for
balanced
> decorative looks?
>
> #3) and now the warning. As it has been raining for last few weeks here in
> the Northeast, I've been doing interior work instead of exterior work.
> Pulling off the interior panel on the passenger side at the very back (in
> the "luggage" area, above the engine), there was WATER just sitting in
there
> trapped between the interior and exterior. Apparently, rain was coming in
> through the breather, and then leaking out into the area between the
panels.
> I guess there's a cracked seam or something. So, I'd say everyone should
> have a look, because that's one place rust can start forming without you
> ever seeing it until it's too late.
>
> TTYL - have a great weekend!
> Brian Cirulnick
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