Hey All,

I am installing a Vintage Air A/C System in my Chevelle. I need to crimp the hose fittings onto the ends of the hoses that go to the evaporator and compressor.

Does anyone have a Manual Hose Crimping Tool with Bead Crimp Dies that they might be willing to sell or rent?

Taking the hoses out and to a local shop won't work for me. It's a project car that I have been working on for about 8 years and building stuff up as I had the money. I've long since assembled the evaporater and dash panel and the refrigerant hoses are no longer accessible from the inside to remove (lesson learned: plan ahead next time!) so I can't take them out of the car without disassembling the entire interior.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Bill

How are you going to crimp them on the car if you can`t get to them?:confused:

Elcamino,

The hoses come crimped on the evaporator side already from Vintage Air. So those are already attached.

You then have to route them from the evaporator through the right side cowl and to the drier and compressor which is on the left front engine compartment and then trim them off and crimp only that end of the hose.

So I have about 6 feet of hose that I can lay over the right fender and place on my garage bench to crimp them before fastening them down to the wheel liner and compressor bracket.

Thanks,

Bill

Hey, thanks, mine did not come crimped on either end, had me wondering!!!

Hey, thanks, mine did not come crimped on either end, had me wondering!!!

Normally, you would pre-install the hoses without crimping the fittings, match mark the fittings to the hoses, remove them and have them crimped by the supplier (The shipping back and forth depends on the suppliers requirements and can be a hassle), or have them crimped locally. They take hydraulic crimpers to do it properly.

1969sleeper,
Manual Bead Lock crimpers are pricy, and really don't work very well IMHE. I've found that they don't crimp tight enough to prevent leaks over time. You'll likely be hard pressed to "borrow" one regardless. You might buy used, maybe, after it didn't work for the guy that spent the big bucks initially.

You should just bite the bullet and remove the hoses to have them hydraulically crimped at your local NAPA store or radiator/AC shop whether it "works for you" or not. It really sucks, I know, but...

When restoring a car, sometimes reality just b***hslaps you. Been there and done that, my friend. What will you do if you you source a manual crimper and the crimps leak in a year? You'll probably either take the hoses off and have them re-crimped, or just do without AC. Either way, the intended result will likely be less than optimal and $$$ will be lost.
Do it now, or do it later. You "might" have long term success with a manual crimp, but when was the last time you took a chance (cut a corner) on a repair and it paid off?

Maybe ask your local NAPA store, radiator/AC shop if you can bring the car to their parking lot/back door? The crimping rigs aren't particularly large or heavy. They're like a big grease gun with an attachment on the hose end. I've never thought of doing that, but it sure can't hurt to ask at this point.

Good Luck.

Hey Guys,

In the end I ended up disassembling my dash. It was frustrating to see the car slide backwards a little bit but it will be for the best in the end.

I had to just dive in and do it before I made a bunch of excuses as to why I shouldn't.

Thanks,

Bill