I did this for my gas conversion.  Brazed copper pipe together to make the
various tees and such.  The diesel hoses where about shot and I didn't want
to buy several hundred $$ worth of hose.  Works great so far, have about
18K on it.  To take care of flexing issues I attached the fittings to the
block with short lengths of hose.

Dave K.

<Hi Maynard, I was glad to hear you made it home in great shape!

<I have a general question about all the cooling hoses on the
<diesels. Has anyone ever welded or brazed all (or some) the angles
<and "T"s out of steel/copper/stainless, leaving mostly straight
<hose sections that could be sourced almost anywhere? I realize
<that the engine needs to "move" in relation to the coolant pipes
<and expansion tanks (or they could maybe be mounted on the motor
<itself?). Aside from the difficulty of the actual fabrication,
<what would be good reasons to NOT try this?