1.1 upper rad hose - What? Where? Why, frankly?

Hello dear Golfers, I've a problem.
Short story long, after my Golf capped off a lovely winter drive with a faint trail of movie-esque white smoke from the top of the radiator, careful inspection led to the decision that the upper rad hose, having too many cracks for my personal liking, was to be replaced - along with its lower cousin while I was at it.
So I found radiator hoses for a 1.1L Golf on classic-vw.co.uk, had them bought by a friend in Britain who then mailed them to me (since they won't ship to my country >:c), and got to work - took off the old ones, flushed out incommunicable amounts of brown, took the new ones out the wrapper and oh no.

[EDIT: in this picture, confusingly, the upper radiator hoses are the bottom pair, and the lower radiator hoses are the top pair -and in both pairs, the upper one is the older one and the lower one the newer- such that the old upper hose is the top one of the bottom pair]
In case it needs saying, the new upper radiator hose is, as my neck of the woods would put it, "a different shape".
Both hoses are a smaller diameter than the ones I took out, but after some encouragement, I found the lower one will fit without feeling like it pinches much at all, so now I just need the right upper hose.
Thing is, I searched far and wide and found nothing that looked like what I needed. I even asked a part store for help, but all the part numbers their search came up with are:

• 171 121 051 L which is the lower hose I got (what I got specifically was a Topran 102 567)
• 171 121 101 N which is the improper upper hose I got (what I got specifically was a Topran 102 570)
• 171 121 101 C which seems to both be a lower hose and be for a different car (as in mine the hoses are on the radiator's right)
• 171 121 101 M which seems to just be the same as 171 121 101 C

So I turn to you: what is the right upper rad hose for my Golf? Where can I find it? And, frankly, why were there (at least according to Wikipedia) three 1.093cc 50hp carbureted water-cooled 4 speed petrol engines for '81 in the first place?

I mean, I know the Formel E had higher compression, but that just begs asking why my lower compression engine stuck around at all - and still, why the hell was there a third one?

Thanks for reading, anyhow.

If you are wondering, when I replaced my 81 diesel hoses and latter my 90 Cabbies, the diameter of the hoses id was correct along with the general shapes, but they had to be cut to the proper length to prevent Kinking.  

The upper hose looks to be correct but length is too long, whereas the lower hose set appears to be a different bend.  

Looking at the ETKA for 81 golfs I see:


The number 1 hose is
VAG 171 121 051 L

Looking it up it is avail at werk34.de  take a look at it
https://www.werk34.de/en/'detail/index/sArticle/18167'



Looks to be correct, but I don't have a lot f first hand info on the 1.1L  Strictly a 1.5 Diesel and 2H guy.

Briano1234 said

If you are wondering, when I replaced my 81 diesel hoses and latter my 90 Cabbies, the diameter of the hoses id was correct along with the general shapes, but they had to be cut to the proper length to prevent Kinking.

The hose I did install had both ends pushed as far as was possible, and while it did seem to me like it was enough for me to maintain the title of kinkiest thing inside my Golf I'll be sure to double check whether shortening the ends could enable it to fit a little nicer. Thanks for the heads up!

Briano1234 said

The upper hose looks to be correct but length is too long, whereas the lower hose set appears to be a different bend.

Just for the sake of clarity, as I've now edited the post to clarify, when you say "upper hose" you mean upper in picture, not in mounting, as the top pair of hoses in the picture are lower hoses.

Briano1234 said

Looking at the ETKA for 81 golfs I see:


The number 1 hose is
VAG 171 121 051 L

While the hose I am looking for is number 13 (for which that ETKA will only provide the dead end part numbers in my original post), 171 121 051 L indeed is the part number of the lower hose for my car, which I can know for double sure because it's the hose I bought and successfully fitted… which makes what your search came up with all the stranger.

Briano1234 said

Looking it up it is avail at werk34.de  take a look at it
https://www.werk34.de/en/'detail/index/sArticle/18167'



Looks to be correct, but I don't have a lot f first hand info on the 1.1L  Strictly a 1.5 Diesel and 2H guy.

This not only doesn't look to me like the hose I am looking for (see the upwards bend on the left end as opposed to the downwards bend in mine, and the lack of that final "S" section), but it doesn't even look like VAG 171 121 051 L (and as mentioned, I would know!).
Having looked at the page, I think I know what's happened: while indeed this is a different hose (121 171 051 G) for different engines (1.5s to 1.8s it seems), it is the only result when searching for 171 121 051 L.
So in short, that's sadly not it. However, I'm grateful for the effort (and sorry this reply is so late. I swear I'd hit send on it days ago already!).

sorry bout that.

The upper hose 15 is 171 121 101 N 




it is avail at werk34



looking at vwheritage it appears to be the same hose that you have.


 

I realize I never posted my solution, and the day I become one of those jerks that posts their problem but not their solution you are warmly requested to scold me. With a shovel.

I ended up purchasing a flexible coolant hose. I just determined a length of approximately 33cm and a section of approximately 33mm (knowing that the former could be longer since I could just cut the ends, and the latter could be smaller since a section a couple mm smaller would just be a tighter squeeze) and purchased the cheapest one I found whose sizes were within acceptable margins. I think that ended up being the Lema 6039.00, a 37,5cm long tube (thus cutting was indeed required) with a 31.5mm diameter (thus it was indeed a tight squeeze), but I'd also found the Gates VFII55 to be a suitable tube, it just couldn't be delivered to my specific address as cheaply.

I installed it like any other cooling hose (taking care to cut the ends enough that they wouldn't touch the radiator body or the block) and in the months I've been running it I never had upper radiator hose-related issues. Is it pretty? Lord no, but I've never seen that engine bay be pretty and no radiator hose was going to make it so anyway.

Thank you for the kindly update, no matter how late.