Date:         Wed, 17 Mar 2004 11:34:43 -0800
Reply-To:     James V <tornadored@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         James V <tornadored@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject:      Re: Front Heater Box Overhaul / Damper Gasketing
Comments: To: THX0001@aol.com
In-Reply-To:  <f6.37d9676c.2d8462e5@aol.com>
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Thanks, all, for the suggestions.  This project has been slow for me, as I
can only squeeze in an hour or so at a time after work. Again, I've been
trying to locate a suitable foam to replace the seals on the vent flaps.

I rechecked the HD stuff, and while it looks like the camper top seals might
be wide enough after all, this foam is more dense/firm than the existing
foam.  Another suggestion was headliner material... I checked this out, and
so far it's the closest.

I'm probably being overly anal about this, but I'd really like to find
something that will seal properly and last long (don't wanna do this for
another 200k mi).

So, does anyone know specifically what type of foam this is?  McMaster-Car
has a huge supply of all sorts... But I'm not certain what I need.

http://www.mcmaster.com/param/asp/psearch.asp?fam=foam&desc=Foam

> Low density, open cell foam with a firmness of 1 and density of less than 0.5
> is needed.  Also it should be ozone resistant; latex foam would be a poor
> choice for this purpose.

This is a good start.  I found some that had similar characteristics, but it
wasn't quite "soft" and conforming enough.  What specific material should
the foam be made of?

Also, how do I remove the upper vents flaps (controls windshield defroster).
It looks like I either remove one of the plastic ends from the metal rod,
and slide it out... Or maybe there's enough flex that the rod could be
worked out of it's ends?

Thanks again,

James V
90 Carat