Samco Coolant Hoses - Test Fitting

[S2central.net]

This is a tale of mostly good news, some not so good and lots of skinned knuckles.

I'll do a full write up later with photos and stuff but heres the summary of the test fitting on Samco coolant kits that I performed yesterday on my car - an MY94 RHD Coupe.

All of the hoses in the main kit fit beautifully except one - the oddball one from bottom of expansion tank to bottom of radiator. It was Sal who sourced the donor hoses for me, so hopefully he'll remember what they came off. Pretty sure I have a note of part numbers somewhere before I sent them to Samco. The hose on my car is VERY different from the one Samco supplied - and I checked back with photos of originals - it does match what I sent them.

The tricky hose near the inlet manifold has been made superbly to my instruction with lots of clearance provided.

By far and away the worst two hoses to change - and I knew they would be - are the two from rear of engine thru the bulkhead into the cabin heater. You have to remove the strut brace, throttle body hose, pressure pipe and some PCV plumbing to get *just* enough access. Anyone with much larger hands than me will struggle to do that job.

Time elapsed from start to finish was 4.5 hours including cleaning coolant off the floor, taking some photographs, gouging my hands and swearing a lot. Three hours of that time are attributed to the heater hoses.

Only two hoses I didn't fit on my car are the trivially simple link hoses for the thermostat and turbo cooling. I replaced these on my car already and wasn't in the mood to go removing the PAS pump yesterday. I have original items which I visually checked against the Samco ones - they are fine.

So - what I now need to do is as follows :

1. Order the missing hose for Samco to fabricate against
2. Discover if the 'wrong' hose is good for LHD S2's or other 80 Variants
3. Explain the complexity to Samco so they know what is going on
4. Hold off on a large batch of coolant hoses until this is resolved

To point 4 - I'd like to see if any willing 3B or LHD owners would be willing to purchase a set of hoses now so we can investigate further... As long as you know one hose might be wrong and you'll need to drain the system again to complete the job later...

Photos and more info to follow...

Paul

[Keeper of The Kitten]

My 3B was hauled off the road when one of the rear hoses started leaking, is meant to be having engine and gearbox swap (but the guy doing it for me hurt his back so that has caused a b-i-g delay - might have to move the car and get someone else to help).

A fresh set of coolant hoses would probably be a good idea, to go with the new boost hoses I requested when the thread cropped up a few weeks ago (anyone know what's happening to those?)

__MDC__

[S2central.net]

I'll follow up with a PM on these.

It would be great if you can confirm fitment on the 3B. I'd rather spend a little time getting this right now instead of getting three dozen kits made to then find a problem.

PMs going out tonight/tomorrow to everyone confirmed on the latest Samco Turbo hose batch.

Cheers,

Paul

[S2central.net]

My 3B was hauled off the road when one of the rear hoses started leaking, is meant to be having engine and gearbox swap (but the guy doing it for me hurt his back so that has caused a b-i-g delay - might have to move the car and get someone else to help).

A fresh set of coolant hoses would probably be a good idea, to go with the new boost hoses I requested when the thread cropped up a few weeks ago (anyone know what's happening to those?)

__MDC__

Just realised that lead time might ****** you here - but I have original items you can borrow to temporarily replace the hoses at rear of engine. Space is going to be even tighter in a 3B cos of the confounded battery tray...


Paul

[BRY]

My 3B was hauled off the road when one of the rear hoses started leaking, is meant to be having engine and gearbox swap (but the guy doing it for me hurt his back so that has caused a b-i-g delay - might have to move the car and get someone else to help).

A fresh set of coolant hoses would probably be a good idea, to go with the new boost hoses I requested when the thread cropped up a few weeks ago (anyone know what's happening to those?)

__MDC__

Check the original post!
There was not enough interest for the SFS boost hoses so it didn't happen.
The SFS coolant hoses are still available.
HTH.

[S2central.net]

Right I've solved the mystery (working from home today). The root cause of the problem is amazingly simple but it took longer to discover than you might think... The red mist has cleared now.

Essentially I sent Samco the same hose twice on separate occasions... so the hose that doesn't fit where I expect is perfectly good elsewhere. D'oh

Reason for this is I had six hoses from Sals donor car (a RHD RS2 he confirmed today). Visually checking all the hoses I could see against my car I sent those off to be manufactured... Knowing full well I needed to get heater matrix and link hoses made at a later date. I bought the remaining original items and sent them to Samco for cloning. Unknown to me, until now - they already had one of the heater matrix hoses. Twas the one without the bleed screw so thats how it wasn't spotted.

Anyway - mcandmar has kindly offered to send me ABY hoses that he has - including the elusive one that Samco haven't made yet.

So all that remains for me to say is a massive apology for a few more weeks delay on this one. I see no point in making up excuses on this one - I simply missed it cos I never had all of the original hoses in one place at the same time.

I have informed Samco of the confusion a few moments ago so that everything is kept in control.

This is why I haven't been chasing for money yet - I want to get it absolutely right such is the popularity on these hoses.

PS - They do look and fit fantastically. I was especially impressed by the inclusion of a bleed screw on the heater matrix hose. Nice touch.

Paul

[charlie]

Good work Paul,
Keep us informed. My engine bay looks abit out of balance as the
Boost side and vacuum pipes are all done.

I saw the complete job on Robo's car but he has the Non-samco kit.

[S2central.net]

Thanks to Ben (s2avant) I now have the missing hose from Audi and it has been sent to Samco for tooling. I also got the different numbered part for LHD 3B engined cars to compare them - it is extremely similar. It appears like it just runs closer to the bodywork for some reason so I'm very confident that the ABY/RHD-3B hose will work just fine.

I'm getting two samples of the hose made - one to fit on my car, one for an LHD 3B tester.

Cheers,

Paul

[S2central.net]

I'm delighted to report that I fitted the final water hose from Samco to my car yesterday. It fits a treat. Photos and a full 'how to' will follow in due course.

I actually had the hose for nearly three weeks - yesterday was the 1st day since then I had a chance to get under the car for an hour.

So basically I can now accept orders for the coolant hoses from Samco. I have a list of all those who expressed interest in the past - it is a LONG list.

To keep everyone right I'll do these in batches of 10 or 12 kits on the basis of received payments.

Your patience is appreciated - I think its worth the wait. The look and fit fantastic...

Please send me a PM with your preferred choice of payment, your colour choice, full name and address (to prevent delays later) and I'll get back to you.

I know one or two folk have already prepaid for these so I shall be sending PM's confirming that later this week....



Paul

[S2central.net]

Oh and I still have one of these hoses for a LHD 3B owner to try. Based on visual comparison with the ABY (and RHD 3B) hose I see no reason why there would be any problems but I have one for any willing person wanting to confirm this.


Paul

[MidnightBlueS2]

Hi Paul !

Great news that orders can be placed !

But last check before I do, was the fitting successfull on a LHD ABY ? ( if, of course, you had the opportunity to check on a LHD ABY )
And what's the final, definitive price list for either kits, please ?

Take care, and thanx in advance for your responses !

David

[S2central.net]

LHD ABY has exactly same water hoses as RHD ABY - I checked on the family album. No worries there...

Prices haven't changed (despite the previous boob and an extra hose being required).

Kit 1 has all the major water hoses (QTY=6) connecting the engine to both radiators, the expansion tank and after-run pump. Price is £125 plus P&P.

Kit 2 has the minor water hoses (QTY=4) connecting the block to the heater matrix (including a bleed screw) and the two nasty link pipes near the thermostat housin. Price is £50 plus P&P.

All standard Samco colours available at no extra cost - Black, Blue, Red, Green, Yellow or Ben's patent pending Purple (aka Barbie pink).

I shall inquire about the inclusion of hose clips direct from Samco as there has been some questions about that. I have a note of all clip sizes which will be posted with the 'how to' in due course...

Cheers,

Paul

[s2_bo]

Thanks for keeping us up to date Paul.
Much appreciated.

Bo

[B16 UGG]

As my S2 is in bits I am in no hurry so you could leave my order to near the last ones but I definitley want a full set

[S2central.net]

As my S2 is in bits I am in no hurry so you could leave my order to near the last ones but I definitley want a full set

I've written the 1st draft of the growing series of 'S2 How To..' articles on changing over the water hoses. I have added some pictures and a trick or two from cold wet experience of this job. I hope to post it soon. I've done this one as a PDF to make it really easy for anyone to print out.

Doubt I'll be online much to go chasing people for funds - and given the time of year - I dare say that won't upset anyone. I plan to place the 1st batch order with Samco for water hoses in January so watch this space - as usual !

Paul