i just replaced one of my long coolant pipes with wet exhaust hose.  i
tried to run it in a single piece from the front to the back, but the
longest length i could get was 10'.  i had bought 30' of 1 3/8" hose
which was TOO SMALL in diameter to fit over the flange on the radiator
stub and on the plastic distribution T.  so i got 10' of 1 1/2"
shieldsflex II (series 250) wet exhaust hose from my local west marine
and it works fine.  i used the original stub hose on the radiator end
(the one that goes on the flange that sticks straight back out of the
radiator, and is bent a couple of times before attaching to the long
hose), but then cut the shieldsflex an inch too short! and had to use
most of the trimmed piece to make a spacer section.  to connect the
spacer to the long hose, and the long hose to the front stub hose, i
used dremel-trimmed pieces of the original plastic pipe and two
stainless steel clams on either side of the join...used about three-inch
pieces of the long coolant pipe.

bled it out and so far, so good.  gonna keep an eye on it for a while,
and do some freeway driving to make sure it's all ok.

shieldsflex II costs about $7/foot.

good luck!
bill kasper
'87 syncro westfalia
santa cruz, ca

On Sunday, April 21, 2002, at 01:19 , Bob Whitby wrote:

> Very soon I am going to stop looking for problems on my newly acquired
> 87 Westy because damned if I don't keep finding them...
>
> Long plastic coolant pipes this time. While doing the "stick a garden
> hose in the pipe" flush procedure I noticed that the end of one of the
> pipes jutted out 3/4 inch, and the end of the other didn't. Checked the
> other two and they too all jutted out 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch. Now I
> don't suppose this is exactly how they are supposed to look, right? Of
> course not.
>
> On the plus side I have averted a major separation of pipe and hose
> while traveling in the middle of God knows where this summer. On the
> minus side I now have to replace these things. The usual questions:
>
> 1) How difficult is this?
> 2) Is there a really cheap, fantastically reliable alternative that
> absolutely anyone who is everyone with a Vanagon has already done?
>
> Soaked,
> Bob W.
> 87 Westy
>