well here is a good one!  while living in joplin, mo. i used my 80 vanagon as
a daily driver and to do a weekend paper route for some extra cash.  the
house we rented had a garage but the van was always parked out in the
driveway when at home.  i had been experiencing some smoke while doing the
paper route.  figured it was just some oil, over several weekends it got
worse.  driving the paper route was slow and several places where the car
just sat and i left it running.  ran slow over town for about 2 1/2 hours.  i
just figured it was running hot since i wasn't moving much and it was
aircooled.

well one day while sitting in the house i looked out at the van and saw a
bird fly out of the vent that takes air down to the air filter.  went out and
looked down inside and would you believe there was a nest!  i went inside the
engine compartment and started pulling straw out of line feeding air to the
filter and when i was finished i had a pile about 2 ft. x 1 ft. and about 6
in. deep and four little bird eggs.

in summary my engine was overheating and the bird eggs must have been like
they were in an incubator.  what i kept wondering later is where the bird
must have thought  its nest went everyday when i was off to work.

andy
80 vanagon L
85 westy