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Date:         Fri, 6 Aug 2004 09:30:41 -0700
Reply-To:     Malcolm Stebbins <mwstebbins@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Malcolm Stebbins <mwstebbins@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Front Heater Flap Foam
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

My van's front heater fan was squeaking so I took the dash apart and the heater box apart. While looking around in there, I noticed that some of the foam on the heater flaps was disintegrating. So I searched through the archives to find that:

Thin computer mouse pads work well; Home Depot: Aluminum Backed Adhesive Foam or Truck Cap Foam Tape. I also tried the local Canadian Tire, Kent Home Hardware and the local Craft Shop and I could NOT find the exact foam in the exact thickness. I also could not find the Home Depot: Aluminum Backed Adhesive Foam. I did not try any flooring stores but they may have some under-lay that would work.

So... I settled on the HomeDepot Truck Cap Foam Tape. It is 5mm (3/16th in.) thick by 32mm (1.25 in.) wide and 9.145 meters of the stuff, enough to do 20 vans. This tape is sticky on one side and the packages states: "Stays flexible in low temperatures, strongly adhesive and waterproof" Sounded like the "right stuff" to me.

This 'foam tape' is a bit denser than the VERY flexible original open-cell foam in the van, but I'm going to give it a try. Not all of the foam in the heater box is bad and I'm not going to replace ALL of the foam just the 2 flaps with the 'bad' foam. I may regret it, but my van's a 1991 so not as old as most vans.

I have photos at http://photos.yahoo.com/mwstebbins under "Heater Flaps" (if you're board, look at all the photos).

The old foam comes out by just pressing the plastic inserts out of the metal flap. I cut the new foam to fit, stuck it on, used a drill bit (by hand) to drill out the foam where the plastic retainer clip needs to go. The foam was too thick for the plastic retainer clip to stay in, so I dug/cut away the foam from under where the plastic retainer clip goes and then inserted the clip.

Time will tell if the foam is soft enough to seal the air out. My 2 cents worth (m2cw) Malcolm

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