I'll repeat;

"Over in SubaruVanagon Land there was a very interesting discussion on the
electrical properties of various metals, the upshot of which was that copper
would degrade the aluminum of the engine through electrolysis, whereas
galvanised steel electrical conduit (1-1/4 " dia) would be fairly neutral.
There was at least one owner who had replaced both of the long tubes with
the stuff. "

Copper's pulls  electrons from the water-contact parts of your engine,
making the head seals leak sooner.

You can find several learned dissertations in the Archives at the
subaruvanagon yahoo group site.

Jake

On 6/29/06, don spence <dkspence@telus.net> wrote:
>
> So.. why not Copper?   Available, cheap, sorta bendable, fittings
> available. easy to cut to length.
>
> Inquiring minds.....
>
>
> On 28-Jun-06, at 9:01 PM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
>
> >
> > Date:    Wed, 28 Jun 2006 18:29:41 -0700
> > From:    Alistair Bell <albell@UVIC.CA>
> > Subject: Re: Coolant pipes replacement
> >
> > Actually silver is a better heat conductor than gold, but suffers
> > from oxidation problems :)
> >
> > I do want some silver core pots and pans, or straight silver to make
> > caramel.
> >
> > But settling for copper and stainless. Which begs the question why
> > not copper pipes running up front? Corrosion wouldn't be too bad
> > inside and if thick walled enough the outside should last just as
> > long as the nice old gutters on buildings (unless one runs the van
> > through H2SO4 habitually). Of course we isolate stray electric
> > currents with silicon or rubber tubing at each end.
> >
> > Alistair
> >
>

--
Jake
1984 Vanagon GL
1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
www.crescentbeachguitar.com