Date:   Fri, 18 May 2012 16:09:46 +0000
Reply-To:       Jamie Fitterer <fittdog8848@HOTMAIL.COM>

Hey Everyone, I recently made an impulse buy as I thought it would be nice to have some added ventialtion for when Camping in my 84 Westfalia. I bought two rear panel windows that contain the air vent at the rear of the windows. I have a few questions maybe some of you can answer; Are there any known negative affects? Water issues? Replacement filter type media on the exterior vent? Any special instructions for window guys putting them in? Thanks Everyone,
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Hi Jamie,

Mostly antidotal information drawn from this list and the Samba.

The vents can/do leak but not reported much... from my pov.
No filters installed. Simple one-way vent with a soft rubber/seal/flap.

A juggling act to install. Window Glass, Vent and Seal; all three presented together for install....
Duct tape is the installers friend here. Tape the parts together while installing into the Van.

A thin rubber one-way vent-seal, inside the vent, wears out over time. Keeps air from entering from the rear while driving the Van down the road (a negative or vacuum air condition). The seal becomes distorted and not sealed 100%. Leaks either way.

If rear vents are installed in a pre-1988 Van: tape-closed the front door vent-doors. (at the lower rear part of both front doors... the blue slider-things)

A couple of reports of ambient wind "whistling" past the rear vent is heard while sleeping in the lower bunk while parked.

Lucas from GoWesty wrote an informative piece on these vents...
 
Link: <http://www.gowesty.com/library_article.php?id=311>  (half way down the page)

FWIW.. The Transporters manufactured Republic of South Africa (RSA) did a complete rework of the rear vent system. Says something about the VAG system that was installed in the '88 and forward Vans in Germany.
What this says appears subjective... Lucas, I read, as ambivalent about the addition of the rear vents.
The pedagogy of the RSA re-work...? Jamie has the skill to interpret.... (Math Teacher?)
 
A review of the last of the RSA Vans is floating around the internet. I cannot recall if this review mentions these vents....

good hunting

Pz
on a rock of the West Coast
'87 Vanagon