Your originals could be still very good, despite of being rusty.  Unless
they lost a lot of metal to rust.  I would paint them with POR 15 twice and
they would hold up fro many years.
Zoltan

----- Original Message -----
From: "AD Felder" <dieseldoofus@YAHOO.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, March 30, 2009 7:39 PM
Subject: Coolant Pipes

Before my '82 diesel Westy is truly road-ready, it appears I need to replace
my age-ing front-to-rear coolant pipes, as the tiny drips are getting
bigger, and the pipes look like they were dredged up from the Titanic. The
originals are apparently available for about $250 and a short wait time (few
days) thru the dealer, or, there are several good sources for the stainless
steel variety starting at a little over $300. Is it worth it to spring for
the stainless, I mean the originals only lasted 26 years? I suppose 26 years
from now the OEM's will be NLA.