The grill assembly is not well designed for air flow -- it leaks, diverts some air into the cabinet and most of what's left blows out of the round side vents.Following another list members post I pulled my front grill and replaced the foam gasket on the back of the grill and inserted two foam insulation tubes inside the grill assembly to block airflow to the round side vents.  In addition to stopping a lot of rattles this dramatically increased the air flow to the front and it still has a nice finished look.

Chuck
'85 Wolfsburg Westy - 'Roland the Road Buffalo'
(hotter)Texas

In a message dated Fri, 13 Jul 2001  4:59:23 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Automatic digest processor <LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> writes:

> Date:    Fri, 13 Jul 2001 15:16:52 -0400
> From:    Jeff Howard <schur@PRODIGY.NET>
> Subject: "Cool" observation about Westy a/c
>
> SO can this work????
>
> Both of the a/c condensation hoses on my '87
> Westy got blocked (algae?) and I had to drop
> a good part of the a/c to get at the hoses.
> Cleaned them out with some vinegar and water.
> I reassembled the a/c except for the rear baffle
> and the large plastic cowl with the adjustable
> vents in it in front that directs the airflow.
> Wanted to make sure system was now draining ok.
> What I noticed is that without these two parts
> the airflow is double or triple up to the
> front seats in the van. It's excellent. Now
> I wonder if it's ok to leave these parts off
> (or at least the front piece). It may be that
> the front cowl provides back pressure to the
> a/c fans to keep them from running too fast.
> I'm not very mechanical and was looking for
> other opinions. Anyone have any thoughts
> here?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Jeff H.
> '87 Westy
> (hot)North Carolina