Stainless Steel Coolant Pipes

[Terry Kay]

I'm not sure what the Turbo Diesel swap requires--you had to adapted the stock Synco pipes to the diesel engine--right?

Then the pipes have to be the same.

VW didn't offer that option, so the stock Syncro pipes must be in the Van.
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T.K.

[Terry Kay]

<<I just got a set of stainless steel coolant pipes from Bus Depot. They are TP 304L stainless steel and the wall is 0.0635" thick They have the beaded ends>>

Now let me set the record straight here, regarding wall thickness & rolled beaded ends.

There is not a bead roller manufactred IN THE WORLD that will roll anything heavier than 0.0335 wall pipe.

It's somthing that just isn't made.

How do I know this?

I have been on the phone with every equipment manufacture on the planet trying to locate this sort of tool, and it ain't gonna happen--every one of the mfg's told me straight out--"No such Thing"
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T.K.

[Terry Kay]

<<The pips being sold by go west, Bus Depot and Volks Cafe are all coming from the same manufacture in Germany.>>

Not any more.

I'll let the vendor make the announcement when they get their load of exact fit, heavy wall stainless coolant pipes, with high pressure, high temp for the splice, silicone hose & stainless clamps.

And the gap at the splice isn't even worth mentioning--there isn't more than a 16th of an inch in the middle.
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T.K.

[tschroeder0]

JEEZUZ F'in Christmas...

I just read this whole post. if I didn't have enuf reasons to love all you vanagon crazies, I sure do now!!!
and after waiting for the last 3 weeks for my stupid order from BD, I'm fed up with them myself, I could have driven there and picked it up in less time. Todd.

[Crankey]

you could flair and invert flair a heavier wall ss tube no prob. just a little fire, cone and inverted cone die.

a weld bead around the end of a heavier tube would be faster and easier to do though.

I'd like to think 0.0335 wall ss tube would last quite a while though really.

[mysticalclimber]

Well I measured the pipes from bus depot when I got them and they were 0.0635" thick and they have the beaded ends. If this is impossible then I'm starting to believe in miracles. Also, unless it was an accident that bus depot included all of the clamps with my order than they are included.

[Terry Kay]

<<you could flair and invert flair a heavier wall ss tube no prob. just a little fire, cone and inverted cone die.

a weld bead around the end of a heavier tube would be faster and easier to do though.>>

I've got the beaded ends all dialed in.
It takes a bunch of time, but they are on the ends of the pipes, without the flaring , or welded beads.
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T.K.

[SuperSamba]

This thread has been cleaned up.
Please stay on topic.
If you have questions about a product, contact the vendor directly.
Please do not slander vendors.

[Grizzly_black]

[need2boat]

[Terry Kay]

<<Do you have pipes for Syncro Turbo Diesel, or are they the same as the regular Syncro pipes?>>

Grizz,

What year is the TD Vanagon?

I'll do some digging to find out what exactly the pipes cofiguration should be.

I know that the early 1.6 diesel pipes have different bends prior to the firewall--

I just need to know if in fact if there is a difference for a later year TD--maybe there might be a diamerter difference.

Let me know, and I'll do some research on this.
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T.K.

[captainpartytime]

I just replaced my rusted out metal coolant lines in my '82 diesel with marine exhaust hose. I used smooth walled wire reinforced 1-1/4" hose (about 22 feet). The good thing about marine exhaust hose is that it costs about $170 bucks and its flexible. I also purchased some hose couplers from stealth conversions for about $30 bucks.
Here is the marine exhaust hose
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Marine-Hardwall-Exh...enameZWD1V

Here are the couplers
http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/Parts_TPI-TBI_HoseSplice.html
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-Kerry

1982 turbo diesel Westfalia

[Terry Kay]

While the marine tubing is a good inexpensive way to go there are two things wrong with this concept.

First, the hole in the cross member is way to small to occomodate the heavy wall hose plus the heater hose at the same time---it's a pretty tight squeeze to get everything in that hole all at one time.

Second, the marine hose offer's nothing in the way of auxillary coolng benifits.
If nothing else it insulates the coolant to and from the radiator,where the naked stainless tubing will aid in the cooling job.

Nothing wrong with he marine hose idea, it's just a tighter squeeze to and from the engine, and doesn't help to cool anything down any more than the radiator can handle on it's own.
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T.K.

[captainpartytime]

Yeah, the insulating issue was the only thing I questioned as well. However, I just installed a new radiator and water pump so I'm hoping the new radiator can take up the slack. The cross member does have to be opened up a bit but the Bentley gives a pretty good description when retrofitting the diesel pipes to plastic pipes. I figured I would mention this as a cheap alternative to the stainless steel coolant pipes...while I save up for the real deal!
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-Kerry

1982 turbo diesel Westfalia

[Grizzly_black]

Thanks!

It is an '87 Syncro. The coolant hoses are identical to the ones that come with a Tiico conversion.

Grizz

[Terry Kay]

Then what your needing is a set of standard Syncro pipes.

All the adaptation for the TD is on the engine end--after the coolant distribution block in front of the firewall.

The pipes have nothing different about them other than being Syncro pipes.
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T.K.

[mads-kaa]

[90Doka_Guy]

I finally got around to installing TK's SS coolant pipes. The pipes match the stock plastic pipes very well and fit and finish is great. Definitely recommend these pipes. It was a very messy job for me though. Nothing like a Sunday morning coolant shower.

I wanted to report how well the rivet repair held up. I repaired the one pipe end in '07 and about 100,000 miles ago. Seems to have held up fine, no noticeable cracks or anything. I remember not being able to pound that end all the way in at the time. The pipe that was repaired was a previously replaced new pipe in '03 due to the same failure. These stock plastic pipes just plain suck. Definitely recommend replacing them with SS pipes instead of riveting them though. 3 of the 4 ends were ticking time bombs.

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-'87 Westy
-'90 Tintop
-'90 DOKA

['71bro]

I recently purchased a 1984 7 passanger transport and in process of fixing up. And my biggest concern is fixing the coolant lines. It has the stainless steel i assume, they are rusted out practically at the ends. So my question is, whats the best route to take in replacing them? Do i switch to the plastic? Also im switching the 1.9L for a 2.1L so would it still link up the same?

Here's a view from underneath, passenger side facing front. Left corner you can see the beginning of the rust on the coolant lines.

[Microbusdeluxe]

Someone smarter than me might chime in, but I think you have the old plain steel coolant pipes, which were notorious for rusting which led to VW using the plastic pipes (somewhere around mid 1985). So to answer your question, get some stainless steel pipes and relax for another 35 years.
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'69 Squareback RIP
'65 21 window deluxe sold before the price spike, damn it.
'70 rhd bay now a taxi in South Sudan
'81 Westy sold
'89 hightop Westy Joker syncro 16" now with Bostig!