Found a AC in-dash Duct Hose Replacement

Good day All,

Just a heads up that I found a near perfect replacement for the in dash AC duct hoses within the dash. Well, for the 365 GT4 2+2... but since the 365 and 400 share a lot of parts the replacement hose might be the same.

I had some time today to work on my car and so I was focusing on all the bits in and around the dash while I have my interior all part. My original AC ducts/hoses were made from fabric and were simply falling apart and/or disintegrating because of age. I spent some time a while back and found a suitable flexible hose on McMaster Carr, ordered it, but never tested its fitment until today. The McMaster Carr hose is a great replacement and is well suited for this application. The part number is 55125K16 and is described as:

High-Temperature Flexible Duct Hose for Fumes with Unfinished Ends, Neoprene-Coated, 1-3/4" ID

Sadly, the price has increased by about 300% in the past few years to $18 USD a foot (I bought it at around $6 a foot in 2017). However, it fits great and will do the job quote nicely.

I have included some gory details of my original duct (and the McMaster replacement), but also the driver side lower air diffuser. I have to say the diffuser is pretty slick in it design. A full plastic assembly with a gimbal'd eyeball adjustable diffuser. The diffuser itself is comprised of a rotating number which engages gears on leafs internal to the assembly. Rotating one way closes off the diffuser and the other way opens it fully. The assembly does come apart, but someone glued the outer ring to the input section and so it was a bit of a challenge to remove without breaking anything. Thankfully the glue (probably contact cement) was very old and brittle and so a bit of coaxing I was able to remove everything without breaking anything.

Installation of the new duct was a bit of a pain, as the duct feeds through a dash opening and then a sharp 90 degree turn into two openings just above the steering wheel assembly and then connects to the top of the AC blower. It may be possible to replace the duct with the dash installed, but I am sure glad that my dash is apart, as it made the job a bit easier.

Anyway, if you are in need of these ducts and cannot find any, then these McMaster ones will certainly be suitable.

Cheers,

Sam

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Good day Arvid,

You are most welcome! Indeed McMaster has a lot of stuff and what is really impressive is that every item has a link which provides specific details (size, material, composition, etc) on the item in question. The details are very similar to an Engineering document and so is quite comprehensive. As for shipping... McMaster is in the US, but I am in Canada and s there can be ssues. Not too long ago McMaster would not ship to Canada. However, since I am have a business and have bought from them for years they still ship to me. Some items they cannot ship, as I believe that some item manufacturer has territorial limits which a distributor can ship to. Even so, the McMaster product detail documents and search mechanisms allow me to find items very quickly.

if your dash is part, then check your ducts/hoses, as they were originally made from some sort of fabric and so they do degrade over time. If you are unable to find a suitable replacement, let me know and I buy the McMaster item for you and ship it from here.

Cheers,

Sam

 

I did find these way back when, but since I am this side of the pond the McMaster solution was far less expensive. In my case I paid around $18 USD for 3 feet and shipping was included with a number of other items and so was incrementally pretty inexpensive as well.

As I recall the McMaster options were sized in imperial units and so some of the larger sizes would be tough to match up. I had this UK firm slated for other larger hoses like those used for the heaters. The issue here might be color... as these other hoses are more visible and somewhat bright blue/red would look too "blingy" for my taste.

I should also add that my experience with full silicone hoses has been so-so. The reason is that hose clamps do not hold silicone hoses very well over time. The result was that I had to retighten silicone hoses periodically and so was a bit of a maintenance issue. The McMaster hose will grab a bit better, as the internal item seems to be more textured.

Cheers,

Sam

 

Good day Arvid

Understood and agree... but ... once the usual dust gets in and settles on the hoses they will look pretty original Also, the hoses are completely hidden inside the dash and so are not visible. My concern with full silicone hoses has been the clamps retaining tension over time. Getting inside the dash periodically to retighten the clamps would be annoying. The McMaster hose is not fully silicon and so so I think that they will be fine.

Cheers,

Sam

 

Good day Arvid,

Indeed, I agree. I will have to look again for these visible hoses, as I remember looking for similar ones when I found the McMaster hose and I could not find any I liked. The worst case is that I can buy the silicone hoses and then repaint the exterior with a more flat finish. Before I go this route I need to redo my search efforts, as there may be solutions currently available that were not available when I last looked (5 years ago).

Cheers,

Sam