I've replaced clutches before -- on the old York piston-style compressors. Just had to remove the belt -- no charge loss on those. I don't think you have to worry about charge loss.

I found a simple aluminum double-male barbed fitting at my local car a/c specialty shop that allowed me to connect the Mustang low-side fitting to the Volvo hose (they're two different i.d.'s) with the special stainless clamps (also supplied by the a/c shop). No need for a custom hose, much cheaper, and with some corrugated plastic wiring loom covering the hose for protection, you can barely see the splice.

On the other hand, mine has always struggled to work really well -- blower capacity is marginal, and it works fine on the highway. But if the car sits for hours in the heat, getting it cooled back down takes a LONG time. My next change will be to pull the whole Volvo hvac unit, and fabricate placing a vintage air heating/cooling unit under the dash.