Yep- the van with the blouse and towel up its nose had the better
seal- on mine, the tape only covered the black plastic screen, not
the gaps at the ends.  So, you are planning to run a cable through to
somewhere on or under the dash?

On Aug 6, 2008, at 12:07 PM, neil N wrote:

> Yes. I tried some foam (residential type stuff). Seems like it should
> work. I planned on spraying some kind of expanding foam at each end of
> opening to cover what the flap wouldn't easily cover. They're an odd
> shape as I'm sure you noticed.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Neil.
>
> On Wed, Aug 6, 2008 at 8:52 AM, Oliver Mueller-Heubach
> <groundhogging@mac.com> wrote:
>> Neat plan- might try that. With some flexible rubber/foam around
>> the edge
>> and a spring, it should be sealable... Thanks for the pics
>> On Aug 6, 2008, at 11:14 AM, neil N wrote:
>>
>> Prior to redoing the seals on the heat exchange box on my '81, I
>> stuffed paper etc. in the fresh air ram. It helped reduce air flow
>> but
>> sealing the box up helped more.
>> A bit of an aside, I actually made a flap to control the amount of
>> air
>> coming in the fresh air ram. I modified my heat exchange box to
>> recirculate cabin air so I wanted to control how much fresh air was
>> added to the mix.  Plus, in theory, if no fresh air coming in, then
>> the fan wouldn't be spinning needlessly. I'm not sure if the fan
>> would
>> spin needlessly in the stock setup.
>> I haven't hooked up this flap yet, but FWIW, it is possible to attach
>> a flap with a piano hinge. Getting it to seal? Well that's another
>> matter. --- ;^)
>> Some vague pics:
>> http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/freshairflap
>> Neil.
>> On Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 2:14 PM, Oliver Mueller-Heubach
>> <groundhogging@mac.com> wrote:
>>
>> 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
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Neil Nicholson '81 JettaWesty "Jaco
>> http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-
>> gas-engines
>> http://web.mac.com/tubaneil
>> http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/
>>
>> Oliver Mueller-Heubach
>> groundhogging@mac.com
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Neil Nicholson '81 JettaWesty "Jaco
> http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-
> gas-engines
> http://web.mac.com/tubaneil
> http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/

Oliver Mueller-Heubach
groundhogging@mac.com