TC <trclark@SHAW.CA> wrote:
> So I yanked the fuel tank yesterday to re-seal & check for rust
> yay no perorations just surface waiting for my POR-15 to arrive ...
> But I see on the vent lines this 1 use hose clamps
So I have another question here about these vent lines
Why do they have 6" of 5mm rubber hose from the vent tank
that goes to this small 6" diameter plastic hose that then crimps
to 5mm rubber hose at the y plastic t-connector
That seems like a shit load of crimps waiting for trouble
is it not a better to just run a longer length of new 5mm rubber
hose from the vent tank to the plastic Y connector & toss aways
the small diameter plastic hose ..

You can do that, but there a re a couple of reasons that VW did things this way. One of them is weight. You have a length of unsupported hose that will be bouncing and vibrating around, stressing the fittings by a certain amount. With this wee little plastic hose, the weight is less, and the hose itself is stiffer. This means less stress on the fittings. There is also production / builld issues to contend with - much of a car is assembled as sub-assemblies, and then the bigger pieces put together. Depending on how the assemblies are broken down, there may be places that you will find connectors where they aren't exactly needed. The issue of extra connections (read POSSIBILITY OF LEAK) versus ease of assembly ususaly comes down on the ease of assembly side.

For those of us out here in the real world, most of these concerns don't matter for squat. If you like to keep things as stock as possible, use the little pieces of hose to connect the hard plastic lines - if you are not that concerned, do it however you wish, just watch for chafing, pinching, and bouncing issues.

Evan Mac Donald

1984 Wolfburg
1985 GL 7 Pass.
1991 Carat Weekender