Some interesting experiences involving the cardboard like air deflectors
to the right, left and bottom of the Vanagon's radiator.  Mine have been
in pretty ratty condition for some time and when I prepped the van for a
complete paint job a few months ago I removed what was left of these air
deflectors and went about looking for replacements.  Dealer only items at
a very high cost (for cardboard like material), tried the local scrap
yards with no luck and thought about making new ones from aluminum,
fiberboard, plastic etc.  FINALLY decided on fiberboard/masonite.  The
bottom piece is easy as it's flat but the side pieces are tricky.  Luckily
my original ones still were in good enough shape to get a pattern off of.
I traced around the outline of the old ones scribing directly on the
finished side of the masonite.  Then cut it out using a jig saw.  To get
the fold I scribbed the line with a knife making a cut just about a 1/16"
deep and folded the masonite over the edge of my steel workbench.  Wow, it
worked !  I reused the small tabs from the originals to keep the folds
folded then painted the pieces with Tremclad rust paint then with black
rocker guard.  Seemed to work just fine.  AND the cooling is now much
better !  While these pieces were off I had noticed the temperature guage
going a bit higher than usual but thought it was just because of the
heat wave we'd been having.  BUT, after the new air deflectors were
installed I have noticed a significant drop on the temperature guage !  So
these air deflestors are important to the overall function of the
Vanagon's cooling system.  Better check yours right now !  One more
project to add to the list !

Cheers

Frank

--
              *  Frank Condelli  *  Almonte, Ontario, Canada  *
                      *  ad793@Freenet.carleton.ca  *
                   '87 VW Westy, '69 MGB & Lionel Trains
                http://members.aol.com/RAlanen/index.html