>  And yes defensibly get rid of the plastic part.  Can't imagine why they
> put
> that part on there.

My guess is that it was  part  of some assembly line streamlining
"modularity". Without the fitting,  they'd have either had to have a long
piece of fuel line dangling off the body into the engine compartment while
they fitted the engine, or a long piece dangling off the engine they'd have
to fish under the body to attach to the fuel pump line after fitting the
engine. The firewall fitting allowed a neat connection point for the fuel
line. In typical VW fashion though, it turned into a terrible liability.

--
John Bange
'90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger"