Aux Air Regulator Elbow Replacement

"Upgrading" the Aux Air Regulator Elbow

January 24, 2007

Ahh... The first article of the year! Hooray!

Last August while in California, I discovered a vacuum leak in the Auxiliary Air Regulator elbow. This is a right angle elbow that connects the AAR to the S-Boot on the intake. I picked up a new one from VeeDub in Huntington Beach. Coupla bucks and I was back in business.

Fast forward to January. A mere 5 months later.

5 months and the elbow is hardened and split. Nothing like Genuine VW parts, eh?

I refuse to fund the manufacturing of shit parts. Just ain`t gonna happen. So I started looking for other solutions.

First I tried to find another 90 degree rubber elbow, either 13mm or 1/2" inner diameter. I know there`s something out there, but the counter monkeys at the FLAPS around here are useless. Can`t be arsed to look for a part that might actually HELP someone. Then someone on the Type 2 List made a suggestion:

Don, why not get a piece of good rubber hose that will fit over the "outlet"
pipe, then in the other end put a short straight piece of copper tubing,
solder a 90 bend on it, solder another copper short on the other end of the
elbow, and another short good rubber piece as long as you want it, on to
that.

So I thought, what the heck? Time to head to Ace Hardware. Where I found:

A buck and a half got me a copper 90 degree elbow. The OD was a bit more than 1/2", so it`s kinda large but will work. The next size down was way too small.

Comparing the two I found that the copper elbow is a bit smaller than the rubber one. This is good because the location it goes in is VERY tight even for the stock elbow. And I`m going to need a length of rubber hose to go between this elbow and the nipple on the AAR.

But it looked like it would still be too long. Out comes the Dremel (I love that thing!) I cut off a quarter inch or so, leaving just enough of the raised area to act as a lip creating a tight seal. Then I ground the edge mostly smooth to avoid any sharp edges that could cut the hose.

This rig fit nicely. And what`s awesome is I can use any 1/2" hose to replace the rubber, which makes life easier for the future.