a/c lowside. Any help please.

[matredd]

So i've got a 1988 t-bird 3.8 V6. I received the car wrecked and bought a spare parts car a couple of years ago. I had everything fixed a little over a year ago and have been driving it sense. I had put a new a/c condenser in and all other components for the a/c are good. when working on the car we realized there wasn't a place to connect gauges on the lowside. I converted it to R134 and to get a lowside valve I cut off the pipe from the parts car with the lowside port. To connect the two, the guy that was helping me (works on a/c's for Jefforson county, alabama) used a combination of hose and clamps. I believe it's A/C hose but at one point the hose just blew off from the pressure. We put it back on and tried to get it secured better and it seemed to work well at first but by the end of the week the freon had leaked out. I've pulled the hose off and it seems to be peeling from the inside. It's also tough to get the hose on one side because of a flare. I just need to know what's best that can hold the pressure and won't contaminate the system or get eaten away by the freon or oil. I'm ignorant on a lot of this.

Does anyone know what I can use to connect this whether it be more hose, soldering, or anything. I've gone to advance and pep boys for hose but they know less than me and can only look up little information on their computer's database.

[benchtest]

The best way to connect them is to TIG weld the pipes together. As an alternative, you can use the proper hose to connect the pieces, but the connectors need to crimped to the hose with the proper tool and the fittings on the pipes still need to be welded to the pipes. Either way, you need some welding.

[matredd]

cool, thanks a lot. Who would I get to do that? I live in Lawrenceville, GA so i've got access to pretty much anything.

[benchtest]

Welding: a good welder you trust. Hoses: Unsure, perhaps a company that services a/c systems or an industrial supply house may have fittings and the ability to make hoses for you. I'd try to use pipe if possible. As a side note: maybe you already realize it, but the low side is only low when the compressor is running. When the compressor turns off, the system will equalize...so, the low side needs to hold as much pressure as the high side. Good luck.