[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index] [New Search]
On 3 Jun 2004 at 7:57, Ruiz, Raul wrote: > > From: Jim Adney [mailto:jadney@vwtype3.org] > > > > A good reproduction could be better than the OEM parts. > > Blasphemy!! ;-) Yeah, I know, but I've grown really annoyed at the overflow hose problem over the years. When I first started buying these they were about $1.70, and went up to about $44 just before VW ran out of them. A few months ago I came across a couple of them that I had stuck away somewhere and noticed that I had an old used one which was cracked as well as a brand new one. The first thing I noticed when comparing the two was that the old one was about 3/8" shorter than the new one. This made me suspect that the used one was one of the C versions from 72-3, since those were shorter by about that much. But both versions have the part # molded into them and I was surprised to find that the short one was clearly marked as the early A version. Since then I have come across another used A version which was also short by about the same amount, and I have a couple of NOS A versions (sorry, not for sale) that all appear to be the same, longer length. My conclusion is that contact with gasoline has affected these parts adversely and leached away some of the rubber constituents, making them shrink. Such shrinkage would naturally lead to cracking as the part could no longer reach it's attachment points. I suspect, but don't know for sure, that a better choice for a rubber compound would make this part last forever. This MAY have something to do with reformulated gasoline and the fact that VW probably never asked their supplier to update their rubber compound. It's also possible that this has more to do with the fact that these cars tend to spend a lot of time in storage these days, and thus the overflow hoses are allowed to dry out after the plasticisers are leached out of them. I looked into getting these parts reproduced, but the only place that responded said that the mold would cost about $2500, just for the mold. If ISP has done this, and gone with a modern rubber compound, this would be a really big service to us, and $20 is a very reasonable price to pay for it. -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org