Itinerant Air-Cooled

The previous owner of my Westy had installed a '74 muffler on it, and of course had "clearanced" the down-pipes feeding the heater boxes just in front of the muffler with a sledgehammer. Now I have the factory exhaust, and plenty of clearance for original downtubes.

I've tried to push them back into shape, but I don't have the tools or leverage to do a reasonable job.

Anyone got a pair of these to spare? Or even just the left side one? Now that I'm in California, the only ones I can find in the junkyards are fo CA-spec vans.

Thanks,
Lyle

Check out Avery's Air-Cooled out of Woodland Washington.800-458-5852. Lot's upon lot's of air-cooled parts and pieces.Great prices and fast shipping. So far; the items I bought from them have made me a happy customer.

do you have a picture showing the piece you need by chance? I might have something in my stash from my now gone 81 but im not totally clear on what you mean by downtube.

airkooledchris wrote:do you have a picture showing the piece you need by chance? I might have something in my stash from my now gone 81 but im not totally clear on what you mean by downtube.

No photo. Sorry, I couldn't think of a better name than downpipe, 'cause the fresh air from the fan gets pushed down these pipes/ducts into the heat exchangers. They live between the rear tin and the heater boxes themselves. The plastic ducts above the rear tin slip over the top part of these ducts.

Hope that's descriptive enough. I can take photos tomorrow.

Thanks

ill wait to see pics for sure, but I might have em. I certainly have the heater boxes themselves, so Ill be able to at least test connect them to be sure.

Here's a picture. It's the squashed rusty tube between the fan housing and the muffler.
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Contact Interstate Used Parts; they have what you need. You may need to help them identify the exact piece.

Here's the link: http://www.interstateusedparts.com/

Best,

Michael L

I got my box of aircooled vanagon bits down a moment ago and took a quick pic.

I think you want that item second from the left:





is the far left one just the one from the passenger side?

Thanks for doing that Chris. Looks like yours got the hammer treatment as well. Mine look about like that when I have them out. Yes, I think the far left one could very well be for the passenger side

Lyle

If your worried because yours is 'flat' in that middle section - it's like that from the factory.

I can get you a better picture of it if you want, but it's definitely a factory shape. If yours connects cleanly to the top of the heater box, it's fine the way it is.

I can show you this one connected to a heater box, as I have mine and they are in perfect shape.

Oh, it connects fine top and bottom, but I know it's been "clearanced" to fit the '74 muffler. There's no way it came from the factory with its current shape.

I'll be pulling the crossover off soon to install new gaskets. I'll take more pics then, and maybe take another stab at unsquashing that tube.

Thanks again.

Lanval wrote:Contact Interstate Used Parts; they have what you need. You may need to help them identify the exact piece.

Here's the link: http://www.interstateusedparts.com/

Best,

Michael L

Thank you, Michael. But wouldn't this SoCal business have mostly Cal-spec parts? The Federal and Cal-spec tubes on the driver's side are quite different. Ref. Bentley page 26.2 vs 26.4
Lyle

if every bus and van sold in CA stayed in CA and no FED models were ever brought across the border, then sure, but that is rarely the case.
most of the busses and vans I come across in the yards here in nor-cal are federal models.

anyway, if the tip of yours has been bashed and isn't useable, Ive got a good one. the section in the center of them is flat on purpose though.