Andrew, show me one manufacturer that uses aluminum for their long coolant
pipes.
Not a very durable material for the application, unless it's a petty rugged
alloy of aluminum.

just for research's sake, it would be interesting to find out what Porshce
uses in their rear engine, front radiator cars.

I know  ! ...carbon fiber.
now there is a durable light wieght material.

I don't even think stainless steel is that right of a material in many
applications,
but in coolant pipes, where you basically get down to one of these general
material types :
metal,
plastic,
or rubber hose,
of the metals....I'd say stainless steel is the best one for that
application that's reasoanlby cost effective.
( galvanized steel is not bad either )

Some have used copper ..and I belieive there is a reaction aspect there
that's not so favorable. It even 'seems' that there'd be a tendency for
reaction with copper.
My hunch is that with stainless it's not really much of an issue.
There are different types of stainless steel too of course.

and given that you can just order up some already built vanagon stainless
steel coolant pipes...
seems like a no-brainer to me.  I recommned the two-section variety.

Scott
www.turbovans.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Andrew Grebneff" <goose1047@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 2:21 AM
Subject: Re: stainless steel coolant pipes

> Apparently stainless will result in electrolytic reactions when there is
> aluminum in the circuit.
>
> I have been advised to use aluminum pipe.
>
> --
> Regards
> Andrew Grebneff
> Dunedin
> New Zealand
> Fossil preparator
> Mollusc, Toyota & VW van fan
> How do you pronounce JEEP in Spanish?