[V8] upper radiator hose

[Buchholz, Steven]

... good idea on making the bead ... thanks Dave!  Now that I'm thinking
about it, I'll probably use a ring of copper wire soldered to the end of the
"T" to provide the rim to hold the hose in place.  

What I was planning to do was to sit down with my BiL [who works at a FLAPS,
which means Friendly, Local Auto Parts Store] and see if I couldn't identify
one or two standard hoses I could use to create the three soft hoses that
would go with the "T" to replace the factory part.  I fully expect one home
made replacement hose to be considerably cheaper than one factory
replacement ... and from then on if I need a hose I can get one from a
FLAPS.  Since I'm talking about three of these babies it is pretty much a no
brainer.  Methinks I'll put a bit higher priority to this one and see if I
can't get the part numbers for the hoses that would work with the self made
"T" to fashion the replacement ... 

I've got to say when I saw those funky crimped hose clamps and the [known to
become brittle over time] plastic "T" I decided that there was no way I'd
buy the factory part again ... no matter how inexpensive Audi made it.  

Steve B
San Jose, CA (USA)
> 
> Steve - I made the two (expensive) heater hoses out of copper 
> and to do the
> "swedge" (sp?), I just cut a thin strip of copper, wrapped it 
> around the end of
> the pipe and soldered it down. Then sand/file off any sharp 
> edges and you are
> done. Seemed to work OK but I decided to just get the real parts.
> I have also considered what you are planning for the top rad 
> hose - but where
> will you come up with the required hose connection from rad 
> to pipe, and pipe to
> head? If you have to buy two or three new hoses to cut up + 
> the copper parts +
> the time and beer to get it all done, you will be pretty 
> close to the cost of
> the real thing. Your homemade job may well be more robust though.