We're talking mins here. It's a matter of cutting the length of hose you need, slipping the barb/ferrule or the bead lock fitting (whatever you choose), placing the collar in the crimper and crimping away.

The two I made were for the installation of a parallel flow condenser.

All of the fittings can be found on eBay. The trick is figuring out which fitting you need... flare, male insert o-ring, female o-ring... etc. It's actually not that complicated. Order the hose size you need, the fittings and you're in business.

I didn't have any experience either but it's a great way to learn.

Alternatively, There is a guy I found in Burbank -after much searching- who still makes custom hoses and is super knowledgable: Ben at Salerno A/C (1698 West Magnolia Blvd).
And of course you could always take a trip out to Rollguy and he'll sort you out.

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1981 240D 4sp manual. Ivory White.

Thanks Shern for your help and the contact in Burbank. Your report makes me more confident that I could make these hoses myself if I decide to overhaul the entire system.
Did you see a huge difference with Parallel Flow? We are in the same climate, as you know, and my current stock system does ok with San Diego heat.

My experience comes with a very important caveat.
I am running an HC refrigerant: Duracool

So no. I didn’t experience a huge difference.
That said, going from R134a to duracool was dramatic.
Throwing in the PF condenser was like an Olympic swimmer shaving their arms.

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1981 240D 4sp manual. Ivory White.

Ah, that is an important caveat. I don't know what Duracool is, so I'll have to do some research on that. Thanks again, as always.

Another update, in case anyone is interested. I found this interesting website:
https://coldhose.com/products/build-a-custom-ac-hose

They make custom hoses, or you can send in an old hose for repair, or, you can simply buy your fittings from them. Seems like a resource I may use.

Anyone used these folks?