Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 21:18:23 EDT
Reply-To: KENWILFY@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: KENWILFY@AOL.COM
Subject: Clampity, clamps, wonderful clamps!!!!(important)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Well I have been on a magical clamp journey today and I am sure you folks
would love to hear about it. The main things are:
1. I have found a good source for the clamps at a good price.
I did a rough count of the clamps today. There are 16 clamps in the engine
compartment (if you use those collars on the short hoses again, if you dont
then there are 20 clamps needed). I can sell the stainless ABA Swedish made
clamps for $1.50 each. I could also sell ABA clamps made of Alu-zinc (some
mystical substance) for $.50 each. You folks all told me that you wanted the
Stainless but I figured I would give you an option. These clamps have the
rolled edges so they won't cut the fuel lines and they are not a worm drive
clamp so no clamp slots with hose poking out. The hose, as I have said
before, is $7 a meter and it takes about 3 meters to change out the high
pressure 7mm line of the van. This line is German and I think it is even
Continental which is OEM.
2. The other thing is that while counting hose clamps on my customer's '85
Vanagon I just touched one of the clamps with the end of my pen and the steel
clamp broke! I was planning on advising this customer to have me replace
thier hoses and hose clamps anyway but this just drives the point home. It
was rusty and it just disintegrated under my touch.
3. Now I am starting to get fuel line and clamp paranoid so I decide to check
out my beloved '91 Carat Vanagon. This is the newest Vanagon you can get,
surely it is OK right? Wrong! I touched one of those lovely blue spring
clamps from the dealer and it moved and fuel squirted out of the hose right
were one of the hoses attach to the fuel pressure regulator! The stock
spring clamp had been "fooled" with in the past by some mechanic and was
stretched so it no longer was clamping the hose at all. Very scary to me. I
felt the bottom of the line at the junction and it was all gummy with old gas
where it had seeped out over a long period of time and just gelled. Then I
ran my fingers under all of the other spots where the hose clamps were.
There were three more gummy spots so I have three more seeps.
People, this van is a well taken care of van. Before I got it, all the work
was done by the dealer. Check your clamps, tomorrow! Don't put it off. I
thought I would find no problems on my van and I found several. Guess what
older vans must be like.
I will be replacing the fuel line on my Carat next week and the How-to will
be posted probably by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest.
Don't mean to scare people but I was scared myself. Please check it out!!!
Ken Wilford
Van-Again
John 3:16
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