Fellow lurkers may recall I was planning to replace a coolant hose to
address a fairly large leak where the hose attached to one of the pipes
which run all the way forward to the radiator.

The hose arrived and I began disassembly.  The first four inches of one of
the pipes was rusted through in several spots.  It appears to have started
on the outside and worked in.  What a mess!

I cut off the first four inches and found some straight 1 1/4" radiator hose
and a 3" x 1 1/4 galvanized pipe nipple.  I intend to join the factory hose
to the straight hose using the pipe nipple and two hose clamps.  I will
apply liberal amounts of anti sieze to ward off corrosion.  I intend to run
the 1 1/4 straight radiator hose onto the cut off end of the installed pipe
about 3 inches and attach with two hose clamps.  The extra hose clamp and
excessive overlap is intended to compensate for the fact that the cut off
pipe does not have the ridge on it to keep the hose from sliding off.  I
will use liberal amounts of anti seize to seal and prevent corrosion.  The
installed pipes look good otherwise.  The corrosion started under a
stainless steel hose clamp around both pipes coincident with the spot where
the coolant lines exit the engine compartment through a hole in the
flashing.  I may have to enlarge the hole in the flashing since the hose is
larger diameter than the pipe.

Any suggestions to keep the rest of my pipe from rusting through?  Is there
a plastic alternative to the galvanized pipe nipple?  How about using a
brass nipple?

Lance LeBaron
Windham CT
82 Rabbit diesel
84 Vanagon

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