Kevin in Atlanta

Had a couple of suction side hoses rebuilt for $80 each.

Lumpkin Hose and Supply in Cumming, GA

Here's the result:

AO

Bargain!

And better than OE. The OE hoses are non-barrier hoses, so your "freon" will eventually leak. These are likely made with a better hose material that should last, for all intents and purposes, FOREVER!

Kevin in Atlanta

More than a bargain considering that the hose for the '89 is $248 and on back order from Germany.

RedPanda

oooh industrial strength.

Mmmm, makes me want to do this too.

Randy V

Any hydraulic hose repair shop can do those plus all the other specialty hoses found on our car, usually at a cost much lower than OEM replacement.

Chalkboss

This is what I thought... I could find no one to repair my oil cooling lines in Sacramento. I figured it was a no-brainer. Either they did not have the correct fittings or they were afraid of the liability. Whatever.

Ended up going with Greg's lines. Happy with them and no need to worry again about those. Bombproof.

Randy V

Most hose repair shops will reuse your original fittings.

Chalkboss

They did not have the correct crimps or crimping tool, several of the places. I am sure someone must be able to do them around here.

joejoe

I am restoring a 1960 nash metropolitan that has the oil filter canister on the firewall. Both hoses needed refurb and I found no one that could even make them (They look like brake fluid lines) Tried the new NAPA (they are worthless, much like autozone ore o'rileys. If not on computer then they are helpless) Finally went to an older NAPA (more farm related) and they built me a couple in about 20 minutes. Try NAPA.

jetson8859

Kevin, great news as AC is the last system to get fixed on my S4. Have been enjoying the cool weather with windows down but that will be short lived here in the ATL!

RedPanda

hey Randy, do you know of any in San Diego?

Kevin in Atlanta

Have a couple of 928s here for complete A/C refurb. The 91 had a 134A retrofit that was comprised of replacing the connection ports, replacing a couple of the R12 o-rings with 134A green ones. But mostly the black o-rings that we found were either the wrong size and in a couple of cases missing entirely! The line we had rebuilt has a gash in it from hitting the air pump pulley.

But my favorite was on the 89 where the previous mechanic wrapped a piece closed cell foam around a pin hole leak held on with zip ties. Yikes!

Randy V

I used a place out in Escondido a couple years ago - don't recall the name.

M. Requin

Charlottesville is small but we have an old-time hose guy who has a zillion fittings and a beautiful piece of machinery to rebuild hoses. He explained to me that those machines are no longer made, and at the time he was considering buying a used one that was not working for the parts, even though it was still a pretty substantial investment (any of this sound famiiar?) That may account for the fact that it is getting harder to find this service. And joejoe brings up a good point- farm shops rebuild some hoses - I have used my John Deere dealer for tractor hydraulics, and if you are in a big farm area they might do AC hoses, lots of big tractor cabs have AC.

The Forgotten On

In Simi Valley there is a old school AC shop who specifically said they would not work on 928 AC systems (pretty typical of shops who have done a 928's AC system before). Shops name is Figi King IIRC.

He rebuilt the long high pressure line running from the condenser to the expansion valve for $45 after I told him he won't have to work on the car. This was with barrier hose as the other 2 lines came in the Griffiths Kit I bought.