George,
      I am insulted and astonish at your opening line!!!  I live in the
burgh....
and there are several here who drive Vanagons.  You don't get out
much do you?  Last weekend there was a VW show here, and several
Vanagons were there.   Where were you?
                                                Eric

George Goff wrote:

>LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM wrote:
>
>
>
>>Date:    Wed, 1 Oct 2003 01:19:37 +0000
>>From:    Mary Barbara <marybiba@HOTMAIL.COM>
>>Subject: exhaust
>>Has anyone used a ceramic coated or powder coated exhaust system? . . .
>>
>>
>I've just rusted out
>
>
>>mine (lasted 4 years) and am looking for options.
>>Mary
>>
>
>Mary, dear lady, try peanut oil.  When you stop laughing, you can read the
>whys and wherefores of my odd recommendation.
>
>In my burg, there is only one other brilliant soul who is astute enough to
>drive a Vanagon.  We'll call him The Tube Guru because that is his professional
>handle.  In all things he is the most fastidious person I have ever met and he
>shames me by running a pristine '84 daily on our salt soaked highways of
>western PA.  Preventative maintenance is an obsession for him and his van shows
>the result of his efforts.  As a kid, he rust-proofed cars, so he is ever
>diligent with all aspects of keeping a car rust-free, no mean feat where we live.
>
>Tube recently had an exhaust system installed (before it broke anywhere, of
>course) and while coveting the stainless steel tailpipe I had fabricated, he
>expressed his dismay with how quickly the exhaust system starts to rust.  I
>related my experience with various painted exhaust systems on bikes and explained
>the best thing I had found was to coat them with hydraulic oil.  That trick
>came from a sprint car owner I knew and probably the only reason he used
>hydraulic oil was because he had a bucket of it sitting around.  The exhaust pipes
>have to be oiled as they cool, not when they are hot and it has to be applied
>several times.
>
>This discussion eventually led to a thought I had about using peanut oil on
>exhaust headers.  I use peanut oil in a cast iron Dutch oven for deep frying
>and long ago I had noticed the impervious coating which eventually formed on all
>surfaces of the pot that did not see the cooking flame directly.  Since I am
>too undisciplined to endure such a regimen, the idea always resided in the
>future, but, Tube glommed on to it.  I gave him a gallon of spent peanut oil
>which he has experimentally applied to his tailpipe and J-pipe.  The preliminary
>results are promising enough for him to start coating the rest of the system.
>
>A dark charcoal gray coating has formed on the treated parts and as wet as it
>has been, there is still no rusting.  We'll really see what comes of this all
>when spring arrives.
>
>One precaution: Tube applies the oil with a brush and, knowing him, I'm
>certain he is quite neat about it.  The oil could wreak havoc with the OXS if it
>finds it way into a leaky exhaust joint.
>
>George
>
>
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>