Hi Joy (and Matilda!) good to hear from you! :)
How have you been?

Thanks Chris for the link on fixing vents "the long way." That may
happen down the road- maybe if I strip Chopstick down for  blasting
and powdercoating. For the time being, I'll see how he does once I
get the accordion tubes back in- whether it is cooking me or not. I
don't have AC, so it can't harm that. I may just leave the tubes off
if it is unbearable and put them on in winter. Likewise, I'll make
some sort of magnetic cover for the intake that I can just pop on in
the fall and off in the spring. It is tempting to rig some sort of
swamp cooler in the intake- just a slop-proof trough for ice and
water with a drain tube down by the spare tire. Maybe if I find a
poor condition grill I can cut the middle and make it hinged so I can
reload the ice. Or I could just get an air conditioner..lol I like
the window mounted swamp coolers- there was a really boxy one on the
Samba a while ago- would have looked hideous on anything but a
Vanagon. The ones that sit on the floor/under dash are nice, but
rather have the extra space

On Aug 5, 2008, at 9:05 PM, Joy Hecht wrote:

> My A/C hasn't worked for years, but not being able to shut off the
> heat is a
> nuisance at times.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Joy
>
> and Matilda, now back in Newfoundland perhaps for a while...
>
> (and back on the list after a long time off)
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
> Behalf Of
> Chris S
> Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2008 9:57 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Why plug the dash air intake screen?
>
>
>
> RE:  blocked air fresh air intake.
>
>
>
> Once the foam seals break down inside of the air distribution box
> you can't
>
> shut off the flow of air.  If the Vanagon has A/C this greatly
> reduces its
>
> effectiveness. The cheap fix is to seal off the outside air intake
> instead
>
> of slightly longer method:  http://www.knology.net/~vw/vanagon/dash/
>
>
>
>
>
> Chris S.
>
>
>
> 2008/8/5 Oliver Mueller-Heubach <groundhogging@mac.com>
>
>
>
>> I noticed on the Craig's '80 parts Westy that someone crammed cloth
>
>> behind the screen inside the front grill. My own '80 Westy had,
>
>> similarly, the screen closed off with layers of black tape. Is this
>
>> something to do with non-functioning vents? Cold air in winter? Bees/
>
>> Insects getting in? The cloth in the parts van intake made me wonder
>
>> if pouring water into the vents onto this "sponge" would create a
>
>> rudimentary swamp cooler- but mold would be insane (then again, the
>
>> cloth was more dirty than moldy..).
>
>>
>
>> Also, I have one piece of card/chipboard heat-welded to the back of
>
>> my grill- the other, which there appears to have been, is gone. I
>
>> assume these are for directing air into the aforementioned intake.
>
>> 1-how much more airflow is there with both boards in place, and 2-
>
>> how have folks attached a new board when the plastic heat welds have
>
>> broken off?
>
>> Thanks!
>
>> ollie
>
>>
>
>> Oliver Mueller-Heubach
>
>> groundhogging@mac.com

Oliver Mueller-Heubach
groundhogging@mac.com