Date:         Mon, 1 Apr 1996 18:31:52 -0500 
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         vwbus@TCPBBS.COM
Subject:      Rusty Coolant and PS pipes on '85

Well I just bought the '85 FS Cheap in Pittsburg, and indeed
it was cheap.  It also has $6000 in receits from '90 to present,
biggest being new heads, and new power steeing rack.  This
thing had been an utter money pit to PO for whom I am very sorry
but is frankly a 72k basically rust free van for which he asked
only $500 which I gave.  Now what had been scaring him was
the need for all new front, rear, and connector exhaust pipes
(he was quoted $600, I'm getting all with hardware from Parts
Place for $335) and the condition of the main coolant and PS pipes,
Especially the coolant pipes which look real bad.  I'm pretty sure later
ones had plastic pipes, and I seem to recall some discussion about
these before but can't get to the archives now so if anyone has
replaced these please drop me some mail and suggestions.
Parts Place want $80 each used, haven't got back the new VW
price yet (local dealer closed, go figure).  I'm also thinking about
thick wall aluminum electrical conduit, of which I have quite a bit
bent with a standard pipe bender, or maybe flexible copper if
available that big, or solid copper with a bunch of fittings if not.
Now the PS pipes running beside the coolant are just as bad, as
they were VW gold cad plated, the single worst coating known
to man in the rust belt IMHO.  Here I'm thinking local mine (coal)
hydraulic shop which is usually a quite reasonable cost solution
but I'm wondering if the metric fittings are commonly available as
these guys typically work only with Aeroquip AN stuff, still they
repair Kubota and other foreign stuff so maybe.  Anyway if anyone
can shed some light as to a way to proceed on either of these
please do, the coolant lines are simply terrifying to look at, the PS
I figure if still holding pressure can't be totally bad and I might
merely
clean and paint with zinc.

BTW, It's great to enter the Wasserboxer world again,
frankly I had forgot that these things were light years ahead
of my beloved bays, even with their multitude of problems,
and considering they were still reasonable in price up to '88
or so it is a shame they didn't get a bigger motor and creature
comforts worked out a bit earlier.

John
vwbus@tcpbbs.com