Metal Guru

Barrier hose was introduced mid-year 1992. My '91 Turbo didn't have barrier hose. When I refurbished my system in 2020, I had all lines refurbished with barrier hose.
As for condensers, I bought a parallel flow one from Griffiths Technical. To get it to fit I had to mill down the rest pad welded to the bottom header and add a bolt hole to the sheet metal bracket on top. Easy peasey.

mystert

Is there a way to tell if my 92 has barrier hoses? Is there a marking on the hose or is there a build date that they started from?

Metal Guru

You might be able to do it by measuring hose diameter. I recommend calling Griffiths Technical and talking to them about it.
Somewhere in the engine compartment there should be a sticker stating what the system was charged with.

mystert

Mine was charged with R12 as it came with r12 ports on the compressor and no r134a ports on the hose manifold. What diameter should I have with one hose or the other?

Metal Guru

I don't know about the diameters but you definitely don't have barrier hose if that's the case.

mystert

So a simpler and less confusing to just say that they switched refrigerants in the 92 model year and cars that got R134a received barrier hoses. It’s a bit more clear.

Metal Guru

My understanding is that is that in '92 it was a mid-year changeover, so not simple at all.
Given that your car is outfitted with R-12 ports, it was most likely built out that way.
In any event, 30 year old A/C hose might have already failed or is getting ready to.