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On 31 Dec 2005 at 0:21, J. Jonik wrote: > A man parked next to us (71 Sqbk) tonight said that > some models earlier had side rear air vents with all > the slots angled backwards. He said this produced a > vaccuum rather than cooling air to engine. VW angled the louvers differently in different years. I'm not exactly sure of the pattern, but I THINK they were "forwards" from the beginning, then backwards for 2-3 years around 68-9, and then forwards again. It's not a myth that they did this; it IS a myth that the "backwards" louvers made for poor cooling. I suspect that VW reversed the louvers in an attempt to help keep snow and leaves out of the cooling system, but reversed themselves after it became clear that the pubic wasn't accepting it. The "vacuum" concept is just owner misunderstanding. In that same era, there were some overheating problems with a few cars, and I'm guessing that some of those owners made a fuss, claiming that the louvers were backwards and that's why their engines overheated. VW responded to this criticism by making conversion panels that could be installed over the old fenders. For all I know, the engine failure rate in this "backwards" era might not have been any worse than at any other time. I believe the louvers in my '68 were "backwards" and that car never had any cooling system problems. The misunderstanding occurs because most people assume that the airflow along the surface is easily predictable and regular, but the reality is seldom so simple. The air velocity right on the body is actually much slower than the car's velocity and is often in odd directions. It would be interesting to outfit one of our cars with a bunch of yarn tell-tales and take photos of it at various speeds. -- ******************************* Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, Wisconsin, USA ******************************* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~