The compressor is in now and I am going around connecting the A/C lines. I have run into a fairly serious problem at the evaporator. The new evaporator I just installed the other day has an input arm, where the expansion valve mounts, that is too long. The threads on the TXV are now about 1.5-2" to the right of the hole in the firewall that the hose passes through. I can not get the hose to bend to accommodate this in the short distance between the firewall and TXV. It seems that the specs on this evaporator unit are a bit different from the original.

One fix I can think of is to put about a 20 degree bend in the short length of steel tube in the connector so the hose can bend to the left (looking down on it) and then the bend in the solid section would compensate and allow the connection to be made. Is there a good way to do that? It seems like fixing the hose somehow would be a lot easier than sending back the evaporator, especially since I do not have the luxury of time just now.