Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 15:21:59 EDT
Reply-To: VW85Westy@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Peter Krogh <VW85Westy@AOL.COM>
Subject: Disaster, and My cooling system
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Hello list,
Thanks to all you foreigners for your notes of condolence regarding the
recent tragedy. We are all mystified.
On Tuesday morning, I was in Downtown Washington scouting a picture at
sunrise. After this most gloriously beautiful morning, I went to get
breakfast at a local deli. The first airliner had just hit the WTC, and I
stood there watching the TV in disbelief. When the second one hit, the
moment became even more surreal. As I finished my breakfast, I realized that
DC would be next and I was overcome with the terrifying need to get back home
to Maryland, and I sped out of town as fast as I thought prudent. Halfway
home the plane hit the Pentagon, and I wondered how many more were aimed at
us.
Of course we have been glued to the news for days now, and it became even
weirder when I saw a friend of mine on CNN
(http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/trade.center/multimedia.html#reaction3
right under "reaction" on the left).
Dr. Mark Heath had rushed downtown to help, carrying his video camera. The
footage above is incredible, if you have not seen it, take a look. Heath had
been raised with a VW bus, and has been riding in mine for 16 years. He has
a picture of Zippy on his site from our trip to his farm over the summer
http://www.heathworld.com/2001/2001-07-13Deposit/index_10.htm
You can see another view of this extraordinary guy on my site at
http://www.peterkrogh.com/Pages/verywideseries/very.wide.series2.html
Anyway, I'm rambling.
As to my cooling system, I had posted this Monday night and got no responses,
understandably so. The first package has arrived from Bus Depot, so I'd like
to get going on this project. I still need the following information from my
earlier post, reprinted below. Thanks in advance for any help you all can
provide.
Peter
Hello List,
I am still fighting a cooling system/possible exhaust gas problem with my
rebuild, and have decided to replace most of the cooling system parts before
further diagnoses. A few Questions:
1. I only found one place listing heater hoses, and that was really
expensive. I went to FLAPS and they said that thier manufacturer's guide
listed 5/8 unreinforced hose as the thing to use, at $.98/ft. Is this okay
to use? Should this be reinforced hose?
2. I would like to replace the metal pipes that run from the engine
compartment to the spare tire area, but Bus Depot says they are unavailable.
Anybody else selling these (I will call Ken Wilford tomorrow, but looking for
other sources as he charges $300 for the set). Can I use Plastic? Can I
fabricate from something else?
3. Do I need to drop the gas tank to replace these pipes? Is this a
reasonable Jackstand job? Is there a kit to R&R the fuel breather hoses
while I have the tank down (if I have the tank down)?
4. Can I get the Radiator out reasonably easy? Bently is very taciturn on
just what is involved (Zippy does have A/C).
5. I have new coolant (3 months, 5,000 miles) and I was going to re-use it.
I was assuming that I would undo a hose somewhere and put it into plastic ju
gs until I have the hoses/radiator replaced. Any concerns here? (aside from
keeping the kids from drinking it) Which hose would be preferred for drainage?
I'm sure I'll have more questions, but any answers to the above will get me
closer to a completed job.
Peter & Zippy
