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.
![Image](http://www.donimages.com/guac/images/auxairelbowold.jpg)
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:
So I thought, what the heck? Time to head to Ace Hardware. Where I found: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.
![Image](http://www.donimages.com/guac/images/auxairelbownew-01.jpg)
![Image](http://www.donimages.com/guac/images/auxairelbownew-02.jpg)
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.
![Image](http://www.donimages.com/guac/images/auxairelbownew-03.jpg)
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.
![Image](http://www.donimages.com/guac/images/auxairelbownew-04.jpg)
![Image](http://www.donimages.com/guac/images/auxairelbownew-05.jpg)
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.
![Image](http://www.donimages.com/guac/images/auxairelbownew-06.jpg)