Originally Posted by Shern

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.

Originally Posted by Shern

+1
Or over the winter….

Originally Posted by ykobayashi

It does complicate things. I was on the same fence a few years ago and I decided to skip brazing on real barbs. I didn’t trust my TIG skills to make a gas tight seal. And I am lazy. So I ground off the ferrules on the OE fittings and just crimped on new rubber despite being warned. This worked well on my hoses #6-10. I regret not doing so on the #12 suction line.

Another thing I learned in this process was not to do things piecemeal. For example I replaced my compressor, TXV and drier. Then later I discovered my discharge hose leaked. I rebuilt three hoses. Then I discovered my suction line was damaged. I rebuilt it. Then I realized my system didn’t cool that well on 134a. So I added a parallel flow condenser. Lots of recharging and evacuating. Drier swaps. Then my evaporator sprung a leak earlier this summer.

And I inquired here prior to all that. I was warned that I should consider a parallel flow condenser and a Sanden. Did I listen? No of course not. I just went ahead thinking it would work out differently for me and I’d magically get cold AC with the old serpentine condenser + R4 and R134a. . I discovered I was wrong on my own. I learned a lot but at great time expense.

There is something to be said about making a careful plan about what you want and how to do it before proceeding. Depending on your desired setup you may want to upgrade the condenser and compressor. This will require custom hoses but luckily Rollguy has all that figured out for you.

At the end of the day I needed all new hoses. A new compressor. New TXV ( I converted to 134a). A parallel flow condenser. It was a daunting task to do in one swipe so I stupidly did it one piece at a time. This isn’t even mentioning rebuilding two ACC boxes and five vacuum pods. It’s a big job and it can be done more efficiently if you take a step back and think more holistically. In retrospect it reminds me of chess. You need to look further ahead than the immediate move.

My AC is working pretty well now but I took an inefficient path to get it working. If I had listened more here before cutting I would have arrived at cold AC with a lot less charging and drier swaps. And as I said above I’m probably looking at another tear down to rebuild my suction line after summer ends.

Just my 2c. I’ve learned a lot over the past few years. Some of it the hard way.

Originally Posted by imgolden

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.

Originally Posted by ykobayashi

I don’t have PNs. Almost everything was recycled or replaced with 4 seasons stuff.

Are you running R12 or R134a?

I bet you have half a dozen shops who can build custom AC hoses in your area. This is the one I was going to go to near me. I just found them on Google.

https://www.cal-aire.com/

Originally Posted by Shern

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.

Originally Posted by ykobayashi

If you’re okay with your cooling performance you can hold off on the parallel flow condenser. My car really benefitted from the PF condenser. I converted to R134a. It went from cool to cold. I wouldn’t go back for anything. It will be a huge improvement for your R134a setup.

If you do switch you’ll need custom hoses. Then there’s the issue of the compressor which will need more custom hoses. The issue with using a service like cold hose is your hoses are made of bent steel sections and rubber sections. They probably cannot recreate the bent metal tubes with off the shelf components. That’s why you need to braze on barbs or male insert o-ring fittings on the metal sections then connect them with rubber.

It’s going to take a plan where you determine each element your system is going to have. That’s why I say don’t come up with something in the heat of the moment. Fix it now with a hose, recharge, then plan your dream system in the winter when you have a cool head.