Martin,

Why don't you try ordering your hoses from a dealer in South Africa.
The South African Rand is  worth allot les than the Canadian dollar.
The hoses and the bottle aren't that heavy so you could get them sent air-mail.
Ordering stuff from the US is very expensive proposition these days.
If you have contacts in Germany you may be able to get you the parts at a good bit cheaper.
I have bought parts from Germany before.
There is a big difference in the price of the part here in Canada and the same part in Germany!

Cheers
Glen Cook
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Martin Jagersand
  To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
  Sent: Friday, December 06, 2002 7:35 PM
  Subject: Cooling systems/hoses/tanks for I4 conversions?!?

  Hi,

  In my 1.9TD conversion I choose to stick with the '82 1.6D coolant
  hoses and tanks. Now, these are both expensive and rare. I wonder
  what other people with conversions have done?

  For instance: The standard Diesel expansion tank 068 121 405B has
  a pop in mount in front of the battery. VW stopped making these.
  Busdepot WWW site says (not sure if current) 3-4weeks to delivery and $95.
  Neither the wait nor the price is attractive.

  There are some (e.g. Golf) expansion tanks that look similar enough,
  and perhaps could be cleanly mounted in the stock location.
  Anyone tried this?

  For the hoses, (dreaded octopus breaking in the middle of nowhere...)
  maybe it's trickier to find direct replacements. At a show I saw one
  guy who had made a "manifold" replacing the "octopus" part where
  the various hoses join. With this he could use pieces of standard
  hose to connect to to the engine. Repairs become easy.

  Comments/thoughts?

  Best,
  Martin