Good tips Dennis.  My water pump is sleeping and I don't want to wake
it, but that does seem like the easy way to get at this thing.  I
took off the oil filter the nut and cut the hoses and pulled out the
cooler.  I think I'm gong to go with the technique of replacing the 2
small hoses and metal pipe that run to the thermostat housing with
one long 5/8" hose.  The other hose going to the water pump I will
have to keep the metal pipe and get the special hose I guess.  I can
see why that hose next to the exhaust header would fail.  It looks
like about 1.5 inches clearance there.  Must get incredibly hot.  I
replaced the oil cooler o-ring a year or 2 ago, I wonder if I should
do it again...

Edward

At 11:45 PM 5/9/2011, Dennis Haynes wrote:
>I like to do this job with water pump replacement. Loosening the oil cooler
>really helps. Replace that O-ring between the cooler and case while there.
>With the big WP feed pipe out there is plenty of room. Note the two elbow
>hoses are different. Originally they used a crimp clamp on the pipe and the
>spring clamps on the cooler.
>
>Dennis
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
>Edward Maglott
>Sent: Monday, May 09, 2011 9:58 PM
>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Subject: replacing hoses on oil cooler
>
>         Looks like that will be my next task on my 2.1 w/ AT and AC.  Seems
>like I remember people saying to cut the hoses and remove the oil cooler to
>do it?  Any other critical tips?  Is it worth (or
>necessary) dismounting the AC compressor to get some access from the top?
>
>Thanks,
>Edward