Aluminum vs Steel IC pipes.
 

I would prefer to use mild steel IC pipes. Adding the bungs for IAC, IAT and BOV would be easier since I can weld mild steel. Welding would allow me to have less couplers, and mild steel will be simple to cut using my chopsaw.

Now the dilemma. I haven't found anyone that sells a "kit" of steel bends, couplers and t-bolt clamps. CXRacing sells aluminum bends, couplers and clamps in kit for, which would be ideal since I don't 100% know what I will need.

http://www.cxracing.com/mm5/merchant...gory_Code=PIPK

Who has the best deal on steel bends? Or should I get the aluminum bends and use steel for the coldside?

Jay

Just use steel for the one pipe you need the bungs on and the aluminum ebay kit for the rest. Then sell what's left over. The ebay kits are so inexpensive, it just doesn't make sense not to buy them when you add up the cost of standard steel/aluminized pipes plus the clamps and hose. I just went thru this with my cold side pipe. The advantage of having more couplers is they add more flex to the system.

FWIW, I had no problem FluxCore welding bungs to aluminum pipe.

Steel is fine. I assume your worried about extra heat? I wouldnt

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I knew this, I just needed someone to tell me :)

Given that the I/C has 2.5" in/out and the turbo is 2", what combo of piping and reducers would you use?

Not even a little bit. My preference comes from how easy it will be to work with.

if you have the luxury to choose whatever you want, i would go with 2 1/4 hot side and then go with 2 1/2 cold side...whatever material really, there is not enough of a difference in properties to notice anything...SS would be my #1 choice if money was not an issues, but it is...so ebay AL will do

Why would I go 2.25?

I will probably go 2.5" and then run 1 reducer at the turbo to 2". 2" pipes would be easier to route, but 2.5" would make more sense considering my I/C is 2.5".

I went to 2-1/2 right off the turbine housing exit... but my housing has an aluminum pipe welded on it that steps up.

Ben - you welded a steel bung to an aluminum pipe using flux core? I figured the heat required to melt the steel would have long liquified the aluminum by the time you got there...no? I just kept my steel TB pipe because it was already setup and didn't have any smaller scrap aluminum around... but I do now - old a/c lines ftw.

turbo 2"-hot side 2.25"-IC 2.5"-makes sense to me
IC 2.5" to TB 2.5"
there are many ways to skin a cat

It welded up great. There's a pic or two on here somewhere under a thread like "show us your sensors" or something. That was maybe the fourth or so thing I welded up. I'm starting to get mean with the FluxCore. The welds are ugly compared to what I see others TIG, but they're fine.

My concern is routing the 2.5" pipe on the hot side. I guess I could buy two kits, 2.5" and 2" and then sell the left overs. You bought from CXracing through their ebay ad?

Jay

Sorry, I just don't see the point to the intermediate set of 2.25".

With aluminum youll save yourself a total of 5 minutes on the chop saw.

With steel you will save hours on the welder.

This is where I got my hotside pipes from but I picked them up in person. As of last Spring anyway, this is a one man operation working out of tiny shop just south of the Valley in L.A. Great guy, very helpful, with great prices, but it looks like he has a ton of stuff on his plate.

Aren't there a bunch of guys running 2.5 on both sides? You could buy to kits and then turn around and sell the kit as a combo 2 & 2.5. It'd probably sell easy for the same reason. I bought from "just-intercoolers" - same as cx etc. btw- if you pay extra for the black hose, the hose bends will still be blue, only the straights come black.

Here's some of the pipes in action.
That required two of the pipes from the kit, plus my steel TB pipe to do the around-the-rad cold side. Three cuts and four couplers. IMO it was quicker than welding.

So Ben- I suppose you could then weld aluminum to aluminum with flux core steel wire?

a not-even-decent mig can run straight argon and aluminum wire long enough to put a bung on...

Hmm...I never heard or thought of using a steel wire to weld aluminum to steel or whatever. But once while welding aluminum IC pipes together I accidentally grabbed the stainless filler wire and it wasn't pretty. it did melt both metals together though.

Good question, and I don't know. I do have that 4W head with a crack in the casting. Hmm... :)

you sound like a mad scientist...the outcome will be interesting if nothing else...

What kind of welder you rockin?

SnapOn 230V... not sure who made it for SnapOn, someone good I'm sure

So about 200 amp?

Don't know, never looked. It's my dad's, not mine. He paid for it, and it's at his place. I just buy the wire. :)
It's a big bastard though. He said it was $2500.

But the real question is.... Can we make some PcPros with it????

i welded an alum RFL bung to a steel pipe once and it snaped right off when i tried to put the bov on

I think snapons are rebadged lincolns

A new option ....

I can get all of the I/C pipes from FM for ~300 + shipping. That will be a little more expensive than getting my I/C piping in aluminum w couplers from CXracing (if they'd answer their email).

Time is an issue for me. I've got another kid on the way at the end of April, so if I want to spend any time driving the car this year, I've got to get this thing running before the baby is born.

I'm nearly ready to pull the trigger ...

$300 is 3x more expensive than the ebay kit. Plus shipping. It took me less than an hour to do my hot side pipe. That included disassembly of the old setup. My pipes showed up about 5 biz days after the purchase - that's west coast to east coast. I just don't see the project taking that much time, nor the FM stuff saving that much time. :dunno:

I'm a BIG fan of Aluminum Intercooler piping, but it is alot harder to work with if you need to weld any sections.

$300 for the FM silicon is an okay price, especially if you are okay wiht paying for piece of mind and speed of install. Is Piece of Mind worth $200 extra to you?

Maybe he doesnt like 150 couplers? I only want the minimum 4 on my setup

I was planning on ordering 2 kits, one in 2" and the other in 2.5". Add in the reducers and the amount they want to fuck me on shipping, it'll end up being not that far off. Granted still more, but not 3X more.

When I got my I/C from CXracing it took about 3 weeks to get here, I assume the pipe kit would be the same.

CXRacing has till monday to respond to my inquiry on shipping. We'll see what happens then. They charged me ~35 to ship my I/C, but if you go through their ebay store they want $70 per pipe kit.

Through their website each kit is about $120, and I think the reducers I want will be about $15. Before shipping price would be $255. Even if I recoup $50-75 on selling the left over bits the difference is only about $100 before shipping compared to the FM parts. I would still have to purchase pipe and bungs for the cold side in steel. Granted that'll be pretty cheap.

Yeah, I forgot about the two sizes.
Or maybe he wants the minimum of three.
I've gone from 4 couplers too 6 on mine and the performance drop was undetectable. :giggle: