First off, I take back anything I ever said about the air-cooled Type IV
engine being more difficult to work on while installed in the van.
Obviously I had never experienced changing all of the cooling system
hoses on a WBX! This has given new meaning to the concept of "designed
to work, not to be worked on". (one more argument in favor of an I-4
someday, I guess)

I'm in the process of replacing my '87' Westfailure's water pump,
radiator, all hoses, sensors etc. Doing this as preventative maintenance
and to address the fact that I keep blowing old coolant hoses. As I
progress, I've noted the following, which may be obvious to anyone else
who has done this job, and news to those who haven't:

1) These engines are not the easiest to work on in terms of getting to
all the hose spring clamps. Some of them are buried in among the
ancillary equipment, or installed at angles not conducive to the use of
pliers. I'm contemplating converting some or all of the "spring" type
clamps to standard hose clamps so I can use a screw driver to tighten
them. I don't see a problem with doing this.

But, before I do, is there a special tool I can buy for these clamps?
This would be something like pliers with a locking mechanism or screw
drive so that it isn't necessary to squeeze them while simultaneously
trying to fit the hose onto the pipe, etc.

The spring clamps look like something for which the VW dealer's
mechanics would use a special tool to install/remove in tight locations.
Converting to standard hose clamps would solve the problem for me, but
I'm just wondering what other people know about this.

2) Have other people removed their ancillary equipment and/or exhaust
pieces to replace some of the more "difficult" hoses, or left them in
place? I've managed to get my water pump off by first removing all fan
belts. This also allowed me to change the hose on the steel pipe that
runs behind/beneath the crank pulley.

3) Should the oil cooler (M/T) be removed in order to change the rubber
hoses going to and from it, or should it be left in place? I notice that
there is almost no way to get pliers into the space to release the
spring clamps on the hoses. I guess I can just cut the hoses and wrestle
with the cooler connections in place, but, others who've done this job
may have insight.

I can see how this is the type of job you want to do ONCE and do right!

Thanks in advance!