Fwiw,

I replaced the stock steel metal pipes in a 82 diesel vanagon once.

The engine was already out.

But beyond that I had to remove the gas tank and the right axle, and it's
not that the is the only difficulty- It's even hard to get the pipes to get
past the front cross member. 

Point is, you're right, it's not easy ! 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Joseph Fortino
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 1:03 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: '85 GL manual - Draining old coolant

 

man all this talk about vans and work, might just pull mine out
hibernation.. weekend in PNW going to be sweet.
put the coolent suit on.. LOL, oh i need to reg my van.

free tibet
Joe

-----Original Message----- 
From: craig cowan 
Sent: Apr 9, 2008 11:42 AM 
To: Joseph Fortino 
Cc: vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com 
Subject: Re: '85 GL manual - Draining old coolant 

In order to fully replace the steel pipes, i believe you have to have the
gas tank out, and the car jacked up REALLY high. I participated in the
pulling of coolant pipes from an '85 parts van, and it was pretty tricky. It
had me pretty convinced that there was no way i'd be replacing mine that
way. I just cannot fathom how you would INSTALL the pipes (Ya obviously the
opposite of how you took them out). With the transmission and engine in
place, i could see it being tricky. 

So....
I cut my pipes off with a sabre saw at different points, purchased some
marine grade soft hose sections, took the "donor pipes" and cut them in
their respective locations, and coupled it all together with a handful of
stainless steel hose clamps. This should last me a few years, as the forward
sections of my pipes have not a speck of rust on them. When it fails again,
it's time for the stainless steel 2 piece pipes. It seems to me that the
right pipe fails significantly faster than the left pipe. My right pipe was
ready to burst (it did burst in removal), and of the 2 parts vans used to
donate pipes, only 1 "good" right pipe was available. All the left pipes
i've seen so far though, haven't been nearly as bad. 

Therefore, the pipe sections i used to repair my rear sections, both came
from "LEFT" pipes. It seems to fit fine, and i am somewhat perplexed
therefore as to why they would bend the rear sections in a polarized
fashion, right and left being different. 

"There's always a gallon left in there......somewhere....."

-Craig
'85GL
Maybe running this weekend?

On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 11:03 AM, Joseph Fortino <fortino1@earthlink.net>
wrote:

Yes that works, also maybe jack the front of the van up a bit, park on a
slope helps.
its a mess get ready. ;)

Joe

-----Original Message-----
>From: Mike Collum <collum@VERIZON.NET>
>Sent: Apr 9, 2008 7:38 AM
>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Subject: Re: '85 GL manual - Draining old coolant
>
>Jeff Lincoln wrote:
> > what is the best way to get all of the old coolant out
>
>Remove the pushrod tin.  Right between the pushrod tubes, on each head,
>are drain plugs.  While you have the tin off you "Might" consider using
>a hole saw to make access holes right below those plugs so you don't
>have to remove the tin in the future.
>
>With the radiator hoses removed, the radiator should drain.  You can
>make sure by cracking the bleeder bolt (if stock) or removing it if it
>doesn't have the groove up the side of the threads.
>
>Flushing and back flushing the system helps to rid the old coolant, too.
>
>Mike

Have a nice Day :)

 

Have a nice Day :)