Re: [T3] hoses from fan housing

[stans4@ix.netcom.com (Stan Schaefer)]

I have to second Jim's comments on the quality of the aftermarket
replacement parts.  My '71 had a header system in it when I bought it,
it had a canvas and spiral wire hose to each heater box, no way for
holding them on, they were just shoved down over the heater box
opening.  Needless to say, they blew around in the breeze and really
did no good.  I used the stock elbows with some sections of very large
rubber tubing and hose clamps to attach said elbows onto the fan
housing, then managed to find some steel 90 degree bends to make up
the gap between that and the heater boxes.  I used the same for the
elbow to bend connections, then cobbled up some connections for the
heater box from some clamps and exhaust couplers.  It doesn't look
factory made but it's stood up over 10 years of some very rough roads.
I haven't seen anything that's really substantial to replace the stock
heater box connection that comes with any set of headers I've seen or
had.  Berg supposedly ships welded-in-place heater box tubes on their
headers, but I've only seen T1s, not TIIIs.  If you don't use the
stock elbows, you lose the cool-air input to the body thermostats for
the heater duct work and also the pressure air connection to the
charcoal canister.  This is important in those areas that check for
working smog equipment.  No air into the charcoal canister, no pass.
They get out the mirrors and check for stuff here(CO).  They did in
CA, too.

On Thu, 10 Dec 1998 12:29:00 -0700, you wrote:

>I have a question regarding my '73 Squareback, and I'm not sure that
>anyone else is experiencing the same problems that I am.  The problem
>first happened last summer when I was on a 10,000 mile road trip from
>Arizona to Boston then to Portland Oregon, when an elbow from the stock
>exhaust system that goes from the right side of the fan housing to the
>upper heat exchanger (180 degree elbow) blew itself off completely.  I
>bought another one somewhere in Indi˥ thought it must have been
>loose or something.  Anyway, I bought a new exhaust system last summer
>when I got back to Portland, and that was the end of those elbows, now
>there are two pieces of flexible hoses that go strait from the fan
>housing to the heat exchangers.  Well, I just got back from a 1,300 mile
>trip to Colorado, and on the same side the elbow blew off, the hose had
>broken, it didn't slip off, the thing was ripped violently into several
>chunks.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  (I thought about maybe a
>clogged heat exchanger, but the heaters work fine, thank god, it's real
>cold here in AZ this time of year!).
>
>Thanks all.
>-Elliott Martin
>
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