1996 Rodeo heatercore plastic pipes broke

[rredmudd]

The two hoses from the engine to the heater core plumbing at the firewall came off. The plastic piping the hoses attached to became brittle and weak from engine vibration. I tried threading 1/4" pipe threads then installing pipe nipple to which I attached heater hoses from engine-workked for a while then failed. There is very little room to work with between firewall and the engine. Did anybody else have similiar problem? I'm curious to see how plastic piping goes to heater core.

[sdpassport]

I am reviving this thread as I broke off the plastic pipes leading to the heater core when I was taking off the valve covers.
I am not excited about removing the entire core from the interior. Has anyone ever found a good workaround for these little plastic pipes?