tryin' to stay quiet pretty much,
but since when do 83.5 to 85 Vanagons have stainless steel main coolant
pipes  ?  .

what they are, near as I can tell is ordinary steel, galvanized, then
painted black.
and a magnet sticks to them - just tested that.
( hush my mouth if I'm wrong, but boy are there ever a lot of incorrect
urban myths in the VW world !! )

there are numerous stainless steel alloy types - a lot of stainless steel is
non-magnetic.

I'm glad to see someone say stainless rusts though .........and it depends
on which kind of stainless........
but people think  stainless steel is 'magic titanium.'
it is not.
stainless has a lot of properties that make it not as good as steel in many
applications.
it's not as strong.
it welds nicely, but it doesn't cut with a torch so nicely, and it's very
hard to drill.
Stainless steel cracks too.  it's not 'some perfect metal.'
................and ............stainless steel coolant pipes are a very
good application of the material, and to be really correct, which should  be
saying what alloy of stainless we are talking about each time.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Doug Alcock" <doug.alcock@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 7:04 AM
Subject: Re: The DEEP, DARK secret of fiberglass exhaust wrap discovered

> Stainless steel does rust eventually --- a case in point is the stainless
> steel coolant pipes that run under the 83.5 to 85 vanagons. I'm sure you
> can
> guess how I know this.
>
> Cheers,
> Doug
>
>
> On 7/21/08, Chris S <szpejankowski@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Well, I bought some exhaust wrap, but not to wrap my exhaust, mind you.
>> I
>> needed to shield some not-so-hot parts from the hotter-than-H parts.
>> I've
>> read reports of exhaust headers rusting very quickly after application of
>> fiberglass exhaust wrap.  Why?  The stuff soaks up water like a sponge
>> and
>> holds it.  Yes, I just tested it.  So you can imagine what happens over
>> night when the dew point drops, no?  Yes.  The doom of all bare steel,
>> moisture, gets sucked up against the headers.
>>
>> It seems that sealing it against moisture would be the correct way to
>> apply
>> the stuff, which can be done by applying the appropriate and expensive
>> sealant.
>>
>> No problem for stainless steel headers, right?  Maybe not so, since the
>> wrap
>> causes the temperature of the headers go up, which may be too much of
>> heat
>> stress for the metal to handle.  And that might be another DEEP, DARK
>> secret
>> in itself.
>>
>> Chris S.
>>
>
>
>
> --
> http://www.dougalcock.com