Date: Sun, 3 Oct 2010 12:41:40 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Always Look Under a Bus!
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Hi Mike,
if you are advocating crimp type fuel hose clamps as a better set up for 'put it together and 'just leave it alone' deal" ........sure makes fine sense.
yeah...if the goal is to not work on it much, to not be inspecting things now and then, to not be doing some little service or upgrade a couple weekends a month , and so on ...
if the idea is 'to not work on it ever' as much as possible ....
crimp type hose clamps might be better for that type of vanagon owner. Like a more 'hands off' type of owner.
If on the other hand ...
there is another world in automotive machines that is different than the 'normal world' ...where you don't work on, or even much inspect a car or van ...except to fix it when it breaks, or do regular services ......
that other world is one where there is frequent upgrades, inspections, tweaking, fine tuning ..
like a race car .......
on vehicles like that , they're worked on a lot ...
either in prep for the next race....and more commonly, trying this tweak or that tweak ...
some new system or adjustment etc.
and I suppose it depends on how one regards working on ones car or van.
For some people it's fun, it's a hobby , it's what they do to enjoy their van or car.
Other people just want it to work.
For some people .............having to work on their car or van is a bother, a task to be avoided ..
just a chore to save money , etc. ..
for those people ..yes, new fuel hoses with crimp hose clamps, the goal being the can stay on the van untouched for years and years.
Personally .......I think it's fun to be directly and personally involved in ones van's integrity, smoothness of operation ....and ...really, there are so many things unserviced and unlubed on vans it's just silly ..
and unlubed and unserviced things wear, and lubed and serviced they barely wear.
so depends on the type of owner and what their goals are say.
To me ....working on a van or car is not a bad thing, not a necessary evil...
it's a fun nurturing thing to do.
there.....that nails it right there..
for those who think working on their vanagon is an necessary evil, to be avoided if possible..
then yes, perhaps they might prefer crimp style hose clamps.
Those who might check their fuel pressure, or fiddle with injectors that don't have very good spray patterns and that sort of thing ....they might squeak by with a form of screw-type fuel injection hose clamp ..
and what is *Wrong* with Mercedes anyway ...using stainless steel band clamps with a screw on the side anyway !! ?
I don't particularly like one time use , then throw it away, type things in general, so that's a factor for me.
and I know darn well someone could undo a screw clamp on the side of the road to fix something, and put that clamp back on and get going again ..
and that might be a reason to have reusable fuel hose clamps.
Those who just get their van towed to a shop don't need re-usable hose clamps.
you watch .....in time, landfills will get dug up and all that stuff recycled..
the way it's going .....humans cannot continue to pack landfills willy-nilly with every wallmart and McDonald's package or wrapper forever. So no thanks on disposable hose clamps for me.
and a crimp type hose clamp is not likely to prevent a fire more than a good type screw one.
AND ...isn't this funny !
THE SPOT THAT LEAKS on vanagons that causes many fires ..
uses a crimp type hose clamp, installed at the factory ....!
and a bit hard to get at or see ...
and crimp type hose clamps don't hold the same pressure on the hose after the hose gets old and hard...
so sorry ........they have their purpose I suppose, but I can't really see that they are better.
----- Original Message -----
From: Mike South
To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans
Cc: vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com
Sent: Sunday, October 03, 2010 11:37 AM
Subject: Re: Always Look Under a Bus!
On Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 2:17 PM, Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:
the lesson of course is to check fuel hose clamps once in a while for
tightness.
Although it would be ideal for us all to spend as much time checking on and working on and looking at and lubing up our vans as you do (going by your own reports which I have no reason to doubt--and which describe a standard I would like to achieve myself one day)...
personally, I do not like the crimp type clamps.
I want everything to be real easy to work on ....and 'work-on-able' ..
for troubleshooting ..
I want to be able to undo fuel hoses, check whatnot, but it back together
etc. without have a 'one-time' hose clamp that has to be cut off, then
tossed in land fill or metal recycling.
...consider that most of us don't, and most van owners won't. It would take a LOT of hose clamps in a landfill to match the waste of one van burning by the road.
Just as a matter of practicality, my admittedly very uneducated guess is that the less-experienced would probably be well advised to consider the other kind.
mike
