Itinerant Air-Cooled

I tried to do a search on this site using the word "flap" but nothing came up, probably because I don't know the true name for the damn thing. The Samba proved equally uninformative.

OK, you remove the air intake screen on the front of the bus, just above the VW emblem. You're faced with the two flaps, one on either side, that you actuate using the blue knobs on your dashboard. These flaps are held to the body by clips that allow it to open and close. These clips are oriented at the top of the flap. They are made of plastic.

On my bus, two have already gone to Valhalla. A third is lying there on the field waiting for the Valkyries to take it away. The fourth looks OK, but it's as old as the others so I expect it will fail sooner than later.

Ordinarily, I'd crack open my various catalogs and look for the part, but I don't even know what it's called. Searches for "air intake flap clip" have been unproductive.

I rather suspect that this part is "no longer available" at least from the major suppliers, but it occurs to me that some clever person might be able to duplicated it with a 3D printer.

Has anybody else run into this situation?

UPDATE: Mystery solved!

Belay that last post. I spent a few minutes with Justin Campbell, the proprietor of Kombi Haus in Sacramento, and together we tracked down the part. It's called a FRESH AIR FLAP HINGE, VW Part #211259159, and it's available from Wolfsburg West. (They make the part.) They cost $2.27 a pop. And Wolfsburg West has all the other parts for the fresh air flap gizmo, so they're the place to look.

This episode illustrates two things. First, it's in the spirit of IAC, in which people post not only problems but solutions, so that it can be a resource for people who have similar problems and are looking for solutions, too.

Second, it underscores the importance of people like Justin, who are in the business of keeping air-cooled VWs on the road, but who take the time to help customers even when they don't make a dime from it. Justin also gave me not one, but two used windshield wiper motors when the one on my bus didn't work on high speed anymore. I bought one of them for $50, as "insurance" (on the theory that if you have a spare part in stock, the original one won't go bad). (As it turned out, the problem with mine turned out to be a bad connection, but I ended up buying wiper blades for my "fleet" of three cars just to give him some business instead of buying them cheaper from my FLAPS.)

And, of course, we'd have to include Colin, Robbie, and all the other people who have imparted their knowledge without hope of direct recompense. We owe them a debt that cannot be repaid, and deserve our gratitude.

I will post the part number and description in the Parts Known To Be Good ... geeze, Merry Christmas already.

Thank you, Colin. And merry Christmas to you all.
And I'm posting another query in the electrical section... a mystery that perhaps you all can help solve.