I've seen far worse, holes rusted clear through even. 
If you don't readily have other choices for pipes, I'd clean these to bare
metal and paint them with the best stuff you can - POR is great of course.
   Might even just make them blue for color coding by system, and for
funnsies. 
The ones I've seen rust through at the low spots, and closer to the engine
as you say. 
Scott 
turbovans

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
neil N
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 3:17 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Coolant pipe pics. Opinions needed!

Hi all.
If anyone has time, I'd appreciated an opinion on these coolant pipes I
pulled from my 1985 Vanagon to use in my 1981:

http://musomuso.googlepages.com/coolantpipes

These pics show the worst rust at rear. Front is minimal surface rust.

Any opinions on how long they might last or if they're even worth saving?

If they're worth saving, I might even go crazy and order some POR-15 to play
with!

Thanks!

Neil.

--
Neil Nicholson. 1981 Air Cooled Westfalia -
"Jaco"  (Bustorius) http://web.mac.com/tubaneil

Engine swap beginings: http://musomuso.googlepages.com/home