sjpatejak

My mechanic tells me that the air conditioner hoses on my '86 Turbo are shot. I've been looking at replacements from Pelican and other suppliers, and a complete set will run around $800. Is there a cheaper alternative? I've run across a place that will custom make hoses, but I don't know if they can deal with the part-steel, part rubber design. I've seen adds for various do it your self crimping tools, but I don't know how good any of them are. Could someone give me some advice on this? Thanks in advance.

MAGK944

You could contact Griffiths they used to offer a service where they rebuilt your old hoses with new barrier style hoses.

badcoupe

I went to our carquest and made my own new ones, cost me about 35 in hose and fittings. This was a few years back not sure if they can still get the correct steel ends though

Mike C.

The steel ends are still readily available, however, did you simply use R-134 hose on the old fittings? I'm currently looking at doing that now but the hose barbs used by Porsche (on my early 944) are significantly smaller in diameter (looser fit on hose). Porsche used a very fancy ferrule/crimp on the originals - not like the sheet metal ones used on most cars. I asked Griffiths what they do about this but I guess it's a trade secret.

I've had good experience with these places: http://www.polarbearinc.com/PBPC/Homepage/product.html
http://www.ackits.com/
http://www.docsblocks.com/categories.asp?cat=8

I would not recommend these guys: http://www.autoacsystems.com/
They stiffed me on a part I paid for and they have no customer service (ignored e-mails, never answer phone).

944Ross

They appear to be going out of business. If they treated you like that, I can see why.

Mike C.

Good riddance to them....

O.K. so here are a couple of photos that explain what I was talking about with the ferrules. The two on the right are cut off the (85) 944 hoses. The other one is from an aftermarket replacement hose (and is typical of the this sheet metal ferrule variety). Notice how thick the Porsche ones are and the presence of ID barbs. The 944 hose fitting itself (the barbed end that fits inside the hose) is an easy sliding fit into a new hose of the same diameter. For example, a #6 hose is 5/16 ID and the fitting is just about the same. 'Normal' R-12 fittings have a much tighter fit and I suspect this is why they are able to use the thin sheet metal ferrule. So to cut to the chase, has anyone successfully used new R-134 barrier hose on the original fittings? If so, did you use sheet metal ferrules? Badcoupe, do you remember if you replaced the entire fitting or just the ferrule?

Mike C.

So Sjpatejak what did you decide to do?

sjpatejak

Since I don't use the air conditioner that much and won't need it until spring, I haven't decided anything yet. It's a Japanese system used on a wide variety of cars, so I don't feel the need to give it the treatment worthy of a Porsche, like paying $300 for a hose. The idea of rebuilding them myself appeals to me, but I don't know how easy it is to rebuild the hoses that go to the evaporator, as they have alternate metal and rubber sections. Also the crimping tools I've seen tend to be expensive and some use a large vise, which I don't have. It might be cheaper to have Griffiths do it. I sent them an email, but have yet to receive a reply. I'm also considering replacing all the rubber bits on the compressor and, since the R12 has all leaked out, convert the system to R134a.

944Ross

Over the years I've had a local industrial supply house make or repair PS and A/C hoses for me. It has always turned out well. They have hose materials I'd never be aware of. Many of them are made for just the type of repair/retrofit work needed here, and don't need crimping. In fact one time I questioned why they weren't providing a crimped fitting, he said crimped ferrules actually weaken that type of hose. Obviously this is a kind of hose you don't just wiggle onto the fittings, they had a hydraulic machine that forces them on. (This may have been on a high pressure PS hose). They have silver-soldered new/different fittings on and in one case brazed in a Tee for a pressure gauge.

Anyway, I totally agree that these are not worth any more than the same hoses on an econobox, all the rest of the components are the same crap that a Kia Rio has. (maybe not as good?!)

Mike C.

I'd be interested to hear the quote. I have looked around the local area (southeastern CT) and have found only one place that has done AC hoses, has the crimping tool but doesn't stock anything... A real confidence builder. It looks like I'm going to learn how to silver braze steel...

sjpatejak

I got a quote from Griffiths for $434, plus shipping, for the complete set. This is about half what it would cost to buy genuine Porsche hoses from Pelican, but still expensive for pieces of rubber hose and metal pipe. I've checking various online sources, and hoses cost $3-4 a foot and the fittings are $5-10 each, and, evidently, Porsche uses inch-sized fittings so I shouldn't have troble gettings the right ones. So I have to go out to CarQuest and see what they have. Perhaps they can give me advice on the metal/rubber hoses.

944Ross

That quote must be for all new everything, right? Not replacing the hose sections of your existing hoses?

Mike C.

I suspect they are re-using the longer pieces of hard line. Unless they have a computer controlled tube bending machine, it would be difficult to reproduce the bend patterns. The problem I'm running into is the diameter of the original hard lines is metric (10, 12 and 15 mm on the early car anyway) and none of the AC suppliers sell braze/weld repair fittings for these diameters (they're made for 3/8, 1/2, 5/8 and 3/4 tube OD). I suppose somewhere in Europe they might be available but since I have access to a metal lathe I think I'm going to machine up some braze adapters. Take some measurements on straight sections of the hard lines and see what you come up with.

944Ross

Check with your local Swagelok or Parker hydraulic distributor. They should both have fittings.

Mike C.

I see Swagelok does sell metric to inches adapters....