My stock heat exchanger hoses were both severed at the hole where they go through the engine bay floor. I replaced the flimsy aluminum hoses with beefier VW black paper covered hose. But I still see tension where it goes through the floor. How do you protect against friction here? Is there a gasket of some sort you use?
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Wonder if the heater hose connectors ($6) would bring it up above the tin and also allow the rubber sealing gaskets to be added. Your hands are in one picture blocking them.
I also replaced the aluminum hoses with the stronger german cardboard ones. I bought rubber gaskets for the tin from a vw dealer at an air cooled meet in NJ. I think the name of the dealer is Smiths in PA.
Joel
I use Wolfgang's method, with a minor difference being that I have the tubing above and below the junctions. One benefit of that is the ability to remove the upper part and move it out of the way. I have a separate blower motor so the upper tubes (those in the engine compartment) are kinda long. It comes in handy sometimes.
WOLFGANG posted:Your hands are in one picture blocking them.
That's my eldest son (8). Had to call in reinforcements. 
How about I get one of these: Heater Hose to Body Seal?
I think that one is for the other end of the heater boxes - where the heat exchanger exits to the car body. If proper size for other hose to pass thru - it would prevent the cutting. The red gasket in photo to right -
Surprised there isn't an aftermarket part to replace that original extra connecting can on the OEM muffler. Here's one someone with a welder did up.
There just simply isn't enough room to do it right, at least not on my 2332 w A1 sidewinder. The flex hose has to be squashed a bit to get past the header pipes. And of course it lays directly on the pipe when done. Very non-optimal solution. And so far have not found a truly durable material. Bought some thicker Al flex pipes at Carlisle and will give them a go sometime.
I'm just over 9k miles. Is that about when they break? $6-12 isn't much to worry about every 9k. But I'm sort of surprised they last 100mi the way they rub everywhere.
Ryan, four years and 20,000 miles with no damage to the heater hoses where they pass through the tins. My hoses look like this EMPI stuff (aluminum with black plastic coating):
I do have one of these grommets (missing on the other side), but these seem to be more for keeping hot exhaust gas out rather than protecting the hose:
BUT, here's the thing - there's no binding where the hoses pass through the tin. They're free to move, with the hole in the tin about 1/8" larger than the OD of the hose. And the hoses are long enough that they're not pulled taught against the tin. That seems to be what's kept them from wearing.
Here are links to the hose and the grommets.
I find the heat very useful, as much in the summer as winter. Waking up in a vineyard at dawn, it can get pretty chilly out.
Sacto Mitch posted:I find the heat very useful, as much in the summer as winter. Waking up in a vineyard at dawn, it can get pretty chilly out.
haha. you have no idea.
I just stopped by Bugformance to see if they had a grommet or sleeve or body seal or something. They're closed early for Bugorama in Costa Mesa. I'll figure it out. Maybe it's just the 95° heat, but my engine is running warmer today than the 1000 miles I put on it last weekend. And that's after replacing the cracked hoses.
Thankfully I put in a Nuckles Vent.
It's noticeably warmer today, here in Sacto, than it was last weekend. I've found, over about 70 degrees, engine temps are pretty sensitive to changes in outside air temps.
A good external oil cooler, mounted in the wheel well, gives more reserve cooling capacity than the cooler that VS mounts up over the transaxle. My current engine would run pretty hot with the VS cooler in outside temps over 90 degrees. But not after we mounted a Setrab cooler in the wheel well.
Even so, I don't like driving much in valley heat over about 85 degrees. I start to overheat before the engine does.
And, at any rate, I don't think cracks in the heater hoses will have much effect on engine temps.
I have the grommets as well. They hold the couplers in place.
As for y'all havin' some heat, c'mon guys, it's a dry heat ;-). Spend July/August in Charleston's humidity. It's pretty much the same as New Orleans. Your sweat won't evaporate, so you're constantly drippy. Pretty soon you start to rust, mildew, or both. Folks in some areas envy y'all in the winter. I do it in the summer. Funny thing is, my car has NEVER (knock wood) displayed any indication that it was overheating. I'll keep my fingers crossed.
My own theory is that drivers are more affected by humidity than their cars are.
I spent the first half of my life in east coast humidity before wussing out and moving west. Here, in the land of milk and honey, 100 degrees feels about like 85 degrees felt to me in the old country.
But, I can't think of any thermodynamic reason why an air-cooled engine would feel any difference between 85 soggy, east coast degrees and 85 dry, California degrees.
So, I'm theorizing that Californians might tend to drive their cars in hotter temps than their east coast brethren and thus appear to encounter more overheating issues.
I like this theory so much that I don't really want to know if it has any basis in scientific fact.
Ryan in NorCal posted:Sacto Mitch posted:I find the heat very useful, as much in the summer as winter. Waking up in a vineyard at dawn, it can get pretty chilly out.
haha. you have no idea.
I just stopped by Bugformance to see if they had a grommet or sleeve or body seal or something. They're closed early for Bugorama in Costa Mesa. I'll figure it out. Maybe it's just the 95° heat, but my engine is running warmer today than the 1000 miles I put on it last weekend. And that's after replacing the cracked hoses.
Thankfully I put in a Nuckles Vent.
Nuckles vent? Got a pic?
Al, there ya go...patent pending...
I bet the west overheating is due to hilly country - At least in SW East Coast - not many hills to speak of.
95* and Nuckles Vent up. Engine couldn't be cooler.
Heat???? in Seattle it feels like november today... rain, rain, and more rain!
you lucky dogs!
Niiiiice, Terry!
Hard to believe I did that 10 years ago. Where does the time go?
Well done, Terry. Thanks.
I used the Wolfgang couplers with the black hose in the engine compartment and the aluminum hose below the coupler.
I used the Wolfgang couplers with the black hose in the engine compartment and the aluminum hose below the coupler.
The black hose I used is fabric with a spring inside.
Terry Nuckels posted:@ALB here's the louvered vent I did:
A lot of air flow lost here.
WOLFGANG posted:I bet the west overheating is due to hilly country - At least in SW East Coast - not many hills to speak of.
Maybe, but I still think there's something to my original theory:
Woof. That's hot.
