Dennis, et al ; I didn't completely block the intake - just shielded it from excessive water/snow ingestion. �I had to drive through an absolute wall of snow for about 40 miles up the NYS throughway and another 9 or 10 of surface streets after the exit. it was the original `85 blower motor. it had been subjected to a LOT of moisture through the years. �before and since then, I agree with the ram air effect at highway speeds. a good volume of fresh air still gets in at the sides of that duct (mouse entry point). �that tiny radiator (heater core) emits very adequate heat. toasty all over - fast with �the front door vents open for recirculation. speed 1 for keeping front windows clear at city speed during snow fall. speed 2 for defrost occasionally. speed 3 for quick cool assist after parking in summer sun rarely. the replacement motor has a small bottle cap (with a blob of lithium grease in it) epoxied over the axle end. it's amazingly quiet ! �the
 overhead air mover (a/c fan) is very much not so quiet. the rear floor blower is between the other 2 sound wise. � � � � � I should have taken a pic of how full of snow the D pillars were. it really was quite the storm. �the grilles just funneled it in when it fell from the pine tree over my parking spot. after about 5 - 10 minutes of rough, labored idling, the Van came back to what's normal for it. � � � � � �mike

________________________________
 From: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM 
Sent: Friday, November 8, 2013 9:29 PM
Subject: Re: fresh air intake(s)
 

As with most cars the front heater uses all outside air. If you really
blocked it off you shouldn't get any heat at all. The heater fan most likely
really died from the vehicle being dormant for years or the fan being run at
high speed for no good reason or it was just plain old. Running and used
properly the vanagon has plenty of heat. As for blower life avoid the
temptation to needlessly run it at high speed. Maximum defrost occurs at fan
speed 2 as indicated on that legend by the controls. In fact once the van is
moving at any speed you can turn the blower off and the ram air will give
you all the heat and air you need. There are bypass flaps so in this mode
much of the air bypasses the blower. You can hear the flaps if you suddenly
put the fan from off to high speed. I have yet to see snow effect the engine
operation by suffocating it. Snow does effect the engine in other ways most
notably preventing the O2 sensor from working. What a brilliant design
sticking a part that needs to stay hot behind the rear wheels. Although once
the road salt finds a way to short it out temperature doesn't matter
anymore.� 

Stay warm!
Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
MICHAEL H
Sent: Friday, November 8, 2013 11:08 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: fresh air intake(s)

presently, it's snowing in upstate NY. it's officially cold. last year I
used a piece of corrugated plastic to replace the screen behind the front
grille to keep the blower motor from inhaling the half of a blizzard and
seizing like the previous one.�
� � � � � � � � �mike