I started my vanagon weekend early by driving downstate a ways on
Friday to see Unca Joel (tip of the hat, always great to see ya!) and
pick up a heater core for my diesel westy and pick up a blue 1991 GL
for my daughter and son-in-law to haul the kids around. I got in
friday night and cracked open the air distribution case to get a head
start on what I knew would be a long weekend of pulling the dash,
refurbing the air box and reinstalling all the stuff and then bleeding
the system. For those who care to know, the heater core and motor are
shared by all years, the heater boxes are not. Some things were easier
than on my 90, and some were more difficult. I put the 90 blower motor
in the 83 box for good measure and lubed it. I rebuilt my 1990 airbox
with that thin under-flooring foam that you get at home depot, but
this time I tried using craft foam that is more exactly like the
original foam (which you can still get by the way, they have a roll of
it at my local VW shop,. but they weren't open on saturday) and I am
so far very happy with the result. It seals very well.

If you've even done a late model heater removal and wondered why you
have to pull the grill to get to those two screws from the outside,
you will know why if you do an early model. You haven't lived until
you've tried all day to get that lower left bolt back in from inside
the car.

After that project was bled and put away, I washed the new-to-me 91
and checked all the fluids. Then I converted it to R134A and the air
started blowing cold and Idelivered it to its new family, who were
happy to have all that space for three kids and a dog.

Jim