Heater/cooling system pipes corroding

[JPERL]

How do I keep the van on the road when the heater /cooling system pipes are no longer available. Has anyone retrofitted with straight heater hose? is this possible? Anybody got ideas on this?

[timsrv]

So far mine have held up except for one pipe on my 86. The corrosion & holes were on the last inch or so of the nipple so I slid a new heater hose beyond the bad spot & put the clamp at the very end of the new hose. If it starts leaking again I'll probably harvest a pipe off one of my parts vans. Probably not a bad idea for you to start scouting the salvage yards and pick-up a few spares. Worse case scenario would be to replace them with all heater hose. They make plastic tees that can be used wherever required. Another (but much more expensive) option would be to take your old rusty tubes down to a fabrication shop. They can use them as patterns to fabricate new assemblies. Tim

[JPERL]

thanks Tim If it were possible to bypass both the front and rear heaters would then be possible to eliminate metal tubes? I never use the heater here in southern cal. sitting on the engine provides enough warmth

[timsrv]

Sure, there are 2 ports on the engine that take 5/8" ID heater hose (inlet & outlet). Either cap them or just take a section of hose and loop it from one port to the other. Of course the defrost won't blow hot anymore...........I suspect it rains sometimes and the windows fog up occasionally. Cold air might stave it off, but will take forever to clear it once it's there. I guess you can always carry a towel with you. Lol, reminds me of an old VW I used to have . Tim