Power steering pipes?

[MikkiJayne]

Yeah happy to. PM me the details

[spannerrash]

Thanks MJ, will do.

This is a bit of an oddity. I bought the "made up" pipe from our sponsors last week. I have no intention of fitting it to the car but bought it simply for research purposes.

What do you think, would it work?

I think I'll cut it open to see if there is anything inside but I seriously doubt it.

The banjo ends have simply been cut off the original pipe and welded in place.

I guess necessity really is the mother of invention. Just the situation I am trying to avoid.

[spannerrash]

I'm gonna send this picture to Neil, it may be useful to help him visualise what you may be talking about.

[MikkiJayne]

I just spoke to Neil and he is confident that they can replicate the original hoses almost exactly - the only missing bit being plating on the new steel pipe. That isn't really a problem though as it can be easily painted / protected.

I understand his rationale for wanting complete hoses to dismantle too - as suspected, getting precise dimensions and union orientation is important, as is removing the crimped junctions without damaging the unions which must be re-used.

As I mentioned, I have a complete set of intact hoses for precisely this event so I can get those sent off and we can see what they can make out of them

[spannerrash]

Thanks for that MJ

I was originally reluctant to disect the only set of hoses I have been able to find in almost 12 months of looking. In the end though I came to the conclusion that I would need to be able to allow any potential supplier to be able to see what is inside them.

Just to be clear for myself and anyone else following this thread. We need to supply our original hoses complete and the ends need to be reusable. Is that correct?

I think I have a lead on a second set. If I manage to get them and the set you are sending off come back OK I'll send a complete, un disassembled set.

I guess the next step will be to fit them to a car and see how they work out. If that's something you are willing to do MJ I am more than willing to pay for your labour time to test them. Then we'll know we definitely have a solution.

Let us know when you get them back please.

[MikkiJayne]

Originally Posted by spannerrash

Just to be clear for myself and anyone else following this thread. We need to supply our original hoses complete and the ends need to be reusable. Is that correct?

That is Neil's preference yes, although I daresay if we send him my complete hoses plus your dismantled ones he can then decide whether he can use your dismantled ones to make a second set.

I can certainly fit them to something and see what happens. General Vod will be back from courtesy car duties soon so I could try a set on him

[spannerrash]

I'll get in touch with Neil again and if he's happy to give it a go I'll send my set this Friday.

[The_Laird]

I’m sure that I’m not the only one following this thread with interest - great efforts guys! Once you have it sorted, Perhaps you might consider Buying up whatever A8 Parts have, getting them refurbished and then selling them on (with a part-refund on return of the old parts). I’d certainly want to have a set on the shelf for when the fateful day arrives!

[spannerrash]

Just a quick update.

I sent my dissected hoses to Neil yesterday and hopefully he will be able to do something with them. I did damage the ends though a little cutting them off so we will have to see what happens. I hope to have another set available soon which I will send to him complete.

I have also, as an experiment, sent him a pair of used automatic transmission cooler pipes to see if he can do anything with them. I think these are also getting difficult to get hold of.

I'll keep you all posted.

[MikkiJayne]

I haven't sent mine yet as they are slightly buried I'll try and get them off by the end of the week.

I've not seen any autobox cooler pipes fail yet. I've got a few spare sets although I have cut one set up for the manual swap.