I'm preparing to change out my engine and want to replace all the coolant
hoses in the engine compartment (some of them are as soft as a kitchen
sponge). The one that most urgently needs replacing is the one that runs
from the plastic pipe, over the final drive, and  into the thermostat
housing. Now, there are two versions of this hose. The manual transmission
version is just a straight-forward hose. The AT version has a smaller hose
(for the AT cooler) grafted onto it and costs THREE TIMES what the MT one
does. Am I asking for trouble thinking that I could splice an appropriately
sized brass or plastic tee fitting into a MT hose and save myself 80-odd
bucks?

John Bange
'90 Vanagon "Geldsauger"