I spliced in a section of new one (expensive!) rather than replace the
whole thing on my 87, 'cause the bolts at the water pump are solidly
corroded and I didn't want the excitement of drilling them out (yes, this
is only a temporary solution, 'cause sooner or later the rest of the pipe
will corrode).   I connected the sections with generic radiator hose but
clamped a long piece of aluminum flashing at the bottom of the hose
(actually just put it under the hose clamps) to shield the rubber from the
exhaust.    This made me feel much better about the proximity to the
exhaust, and the rubber hasn't melted so far.  If I were more industrious,
I would have made some standoffs for the shield so it wouldn't touch the
rubber (e.g. half sections of metal rings thicker than the hose and clamped
outboard of the hose).   But I didn't.

Dave
87 Wolfsburg
90 Wesfalia

At 04:23 PM 6/11/98 -0500, Carl Hansen wrote:
>Hi, just a few quick questions for my brother-in-law.  He's got an '86
>Westy Weekender with 150k miles on her.  Lives in the U.P of Michagan.  (No
>e-mail, dark ages up there, you know.  Actually, he works for the Forest
>Service and their network and server situation is dismal.)
>
>**  Metal pipe from water pump to thermostat on the left side engine bay.
>
>This pipe is rusty, has been welded before by my dad, now getting too rusty
>to continue with.  Has anyone had any experience replacing this??  i.e.,
>has anyone cut off the rusty parts, and spliced in radiator hose??  It does
>run 6 inches up from the exhaust pipe from #3 so can be expected to be in a
>hot area.
>
>Or is this a dealer only replacement part and therefore expensive?
>
>**  Dave sez it's running up around 3/4 of the water temp guage.  He
>remembers it running at 1/2 of guage, closer to the overtemp light.  (He
>had a bad sender for a while, disconnected wire, and has now replaced the
>sensor.)
>
>Considering this vehicle now has 150k miles on it, any thoughts as to
>common things to check for higher than normal H2O temperature??
>
>Thanks
>
>Ch
>'89 SyncroBeast
>Prior Lake  MinneSnowta
>Land of Sky Blue Waters
>