Mike,

You know I hate to be a doomsdayer, but I seem to recall some discussion
last year about: "copper pipes shouldn't be used in the water-cooled
Vanagon".

Something about unwanted electrolytic reaction, copper sulfate circulating,
head corrosion increasing, sudden overpopulation of feral cats, the hole in
the ozone increasing, crops failing, the core of the earth heating up, and
finally, the demise of mankind as we know it. Sounded bad.

Perhaps one of the meticulous water cooled people could respond, and
refresh my memory; seems like I may have some of the details wrong.

G. Matthew Bulley
Bulley-Hewlett & Associates
www.bulley-hewlett.com
Cary, NC USA
888.468.4880 tollfree

-----Original Message-----
From:   Mike Catlin [SMTP:mjcatlin@PACBELL.NET]
Sent:   Wednesday, April 28, 1999 1:04 AM
To:     vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject:        Re: copper coolant hoses?

Noto-Gaudette wrote:

> my mechanic (a VW specialist w/whom I have no experience) is suggesting a
> combination of hoses and copper pipes, which he says are "used on
> trucks." ... Your thoughts?

This is about what I did when my pipes rusted through.  It works fine and
will be easy to replace next time, without dropping the fuel tank.  I used
1.25'' heater hose to replace the pipes, with a piece of copper tubing to
connect to the engine outlet hose.  This size heater hose is unusual, but I
had no trouble finding it.  Apparently this is a common size on trucks and
tractors.  Better than the copper tubing would be 1.25" heater hose
couplings, but they were out of stock when I made my purchase.

Mike <mjcatlin@pacbell.net>
Davis, Calif.
'82 Vanagon diesel