Date:         Thu, 18 Oct 2001 09:36:45 -0700
Reply-To:     Steve Hoge <steve_syncro@TECHIE.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Steve Hoge <steve_syncro@TECHIE.COM>
Subject:      Increasing fresh air intake ? (was: Near Death...)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Adam wrote:

>Take a look at the head-on offset impact test...
>
> www.oz.net/~sneakers/crash.htm
>
> It'll open your eyes.

Great pictures!  Actually, what opened my eyes on these (V-)anatomical
cross-sections was to finally see the convoluted path that the fresh air
takes before passing over the heater core, up through the vents, etc.  No
wonder it's barely a whisper by the time it exits the vents.

Has anybody had ANY success increasing the outside air flow through any
of the front dashboard vents?  Even at maximum the fan only gives so much
more oomph to the air coming in through the front grille and this big
greenhouse we drive around in heats up like a mo-fo, even when the
ambient temperature is perfectly pleasant.

I do get a noticeable increase in flow from the windshield vents by
cracking one or more of the side windows, of course, but it's a noisy
alternative.  Thinking along these lines I removed the old, crumbled-up
foam stuffed inside the plastic "venturi" vents that my '89 has behind
its back windows.  Didn't really make any difference I could perceive,
though, so I guess they weren't really clogging anything up.

Anybody found any other trick that works to get more air moving through
the bus?  (It's not Friday yet, so please no suggestions to remove the
windshield, etc.!)

-Steve