For some reason I'm just seeing this now.  Yes, I attached the license
plate to the extreme right (passenger) side of the lower grille.  It's
solid there, so I don't think I'm interfering with any airflow.

I did that because I didn't want to drill holes in my new front chrome
bumper.

I cut a license-plate sized piece of 3/4 inch plywood and painted it black,
attached that to the grill then used short wood screws to attach the plate
to the ply.

Our van is for sale, BTW:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2192565

The plate is now farther to the left (when looking at the front of the van)
than in the ad's pix.  I just had it on via zip ties then and it might have
encroached on the opening a bit.  When I re-mounted, I didn't want to block
any airflow so I placed it as described above.

Mark

On Sun, Oct 15, 2017 at 9:20 PM, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com>
wrote:

> Did you write "attach license plate to lower grill"? Why would one want to
> do that? The lower grill is there for air flow, ram air flow through the AC
> condenser and radiator. There are even baffles and guides so the air goes
> through and not around the cooling pack. The radiator fan is there for back
> up cooling for low speed operation and to assist the AC condenser at lower
> speeds. The later vans even use condenser pressure to control the fan speed
> so it stay in low speed when ram air is enough to do the job and speed up
> when needed.
>
> Dennis
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
> Of Mark Hersh
> Sent: Sunday, October 15, 2017 10:14 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Radiator fan issue - where's the ground?
>
> Thanks folks, it was the ground.  I used a meter and that helped me, and
> running 12 V direct to the fan made it go around and around as it should.
>
> Once I get a better way to attach the front license plate to the lower
> grille, I'll get it all back together.  The van looks like is is missing
> its teeth without that lower grille.
>
> mh
>
>
> <snip>
>