AC Line Hose Crimp Tool Set

[goodfellow]

I need to make custom AC hoses for my Jag. The aftermarket doesn't have much in terms of offerings, and what is available is ridiculously expensive and not of good quality. Given my limited choices, I decided to make my own AC hoses. I will cut free and reuse the original fittings from the old hose sets and purchase new brass hose ferrules. The bulk of the work will be done with this manual Mastercool AC hose crimping set.





I used some of my Christmas gift cards (Thanks family!!) from Sears to purchase this set through the Sears website for $165 delivered. I wasn't expecting much, but was quite surprised by the quality and heft of this tool. It comes with four dies sets to crimp the most common AC hose diameter ferrules, and from the documentation I gather that I will have all the necessary dies to make all my own AC hoses for this E-Type.







I can get bulk AC hose and crimping ferrules quite inexpensively from my local NAPA, and the cost per hose will be less than $40 each compared to $130-230 per hose that the aftermarket retailers demand.

Problem is that I've never made any hose before -- so this may be a classic "Learning Experience" for me.

[goodfellow]

Before I get any further with this AC system, I had to make sure that the OEM hose fittings could be successfully extracted from the old ferrules and hoses. The hoses are pretty crusty and the fittings are rusty inside, but if I can remove them from the hoses, a good soaking in rust remover will clean them up quickly

First I used a small thin cutting wheel to slit the OEM ferrules on opposite sides. Then used a small chisel to separate the ferrule casing from the hose -- this was pretty tight and gummy. Once the ferrule sides were split and separated, the hose barb could be loosened with little effort.







The barbs, ferrules and hose ID were measured with a dial caliper and it turns out that the ferrule is a #8 size, the old hose has a 3/8"ID, and the Mastercool set has an appropriate #8 die.



The other fitting was removed in a similar manner -- success! I can now order some bulk AC hose and ferrules to make up a fresh set of custom AC hoses.



Onward --

[goodfellow]

This is a touchy subject because so many folks I know have warned me against going the DIY route with AC hoses. Problem is that it is almost impossible to find aftermarket AC hoses for this car. The few leads that I did have pointed to the United Kingdom and they were outrageously expensive. Hence I had no other option but to at least try this job myself. Central to the project was a Mastercool model 71550 manual AC hose crimping tool, and the old harvested AC hose fittings from the trashed and deteriorated original hose set.

http://www.thegaragegazette.com/index.php?topic=27413.0

I soaked the fittings in Evapo-Rust for a few days to get rid of the corrosion, and then ordered 15 feet of bulk #8 AC hose and 5 feet of bulk #10 AC hose from a vendor on ebay -- with shipping that came to about $80. In addition I ordered a mixed set of #6,#8,#10, and #12 hose crimping ferrules from another ebay vendor (about $20 incl. shipping). When I include the Mastercool AC hose crimp set for $165; I'm in the hole for about $265  -- NOT BAD!!!





The ferrules are almost compatible with the Jaguar AC fittings, but not quite -- the throat needed to be opened up a few thousands to be able to fit over the upper collar of the fitting. I used a Uni-bit to widen the ferrule throat.



Setting up the Mastercool crimper is easy -- and the instructions point to a line on the body of the crimper that the ram needs to reach in order to make a tight connection. I found that these Jaguar fittings are a bit undersized and that a lot more pressure was required to make a very tight crimp. I made several test runs and then proceeded with the "real deal".



I needed to make four hoses -- three #8 sections and one #10. All bulk hose sections were first indexed on the car to make sure the fittings point in the right direction, and then the crimping was fairly straight forward.



Here are the #8 hoses and connections --







Then the dies were switched over to #10 hose.







A complete set of AC hoses for $285 -- not a bad deal for this kind of project.





Onward --

[TexasT]

So....worth the money right? I've looked at the  setup but never pulled the trigger. Looks like a fun time!

[goodfellow]

It's worth it- for sure.

Sorry about the damn Photobucket watermarks. I refused to pay the ever increasing high prices to maintain a "link" account, and switched to a more reasonably prices basic account. The problem is that Photobucket puts those annoying watermarks on your picture library if you choose the basic option.

A total rip-off, and I have switched to another provider, but since I have thousands of pics on Photobucket, this will have to do for now.