Around Radiator FMIC guys, I need pics!
 

Just installed the IC today and need some insight.
IC piping is the last thing I need to engineer. The IC has 2" inlet/outlets.

I have no PS or AC, so the IC inlet side should be cake... go around the rad and up to the compressor outlet. I am going to reroute the large radiator tube that's there though.

But the IC outlet is a 180* around the rad direct into a 90* behind the sway-bar brace directly up into the throttle body that is already slightly pointed down. Is a 45* coupler at the TB the idea? At some point I've got to go to 2.5" pipe in there. Is it better to put the enlarger coupler on the IC and go 2.5" up to the TB, or to go with the enlarger coupler at the TB?

There are a dozen different combinations of couplers, pipe, radiator hose, etc... but I'd like to see wha others have done.

What I really need to see is the two shots I've posted... but of your car.

http://www.rev2red.com/images/cars/piping.jpg

https://www.miataturbo.net/forums/at...6&d=1134430508

http://www.rev2red.com/images/cars/DSCN2351.JPG


I'd do your belly pan as a scoop liek this instead:
http://www.rev2red.com/images/cars/fixed006.JPG

I see the bellypan lip, that's nice... something to engineer next weekend. So, it looks like there might be room to snake that pipe through the radiator tube on the drivers side... but I've got the RB swaybar support thing... we'll see. I know I can just get another piece of radiator pipe that routes a different way.
Those are great pics, but just confirm since I can't see, that on the passenger side, where that black pipe disappears under the stock bellypan, that there's just a 90* coupler that takes the pipe straight up.

Great pics, who's next...

Ill be installing a new intercooler similar to the size of yours (28x9x3.5) soon and I can post pics when im done...although youll have already finished by then, hah.

Yeah, there is just enough room for a 2" pipe to fit through there. I did it that way since that's a straight shot to the turbo. If you are running pipes off the turbo like a traditional GReddy setup, then you can easily run it past the radiator hose before the turn up.

Yeah, basically a 90* coupler and then it makes small slight bends to another 90* to the TB.

Basically two 180* bends and two 90* bends will get you around and up without problem. Something like this:

Thanks for the diagram... I was sure that was what it looked like, but a little Paint always helps the imagination.
Do I take it that the 2"-2.5" coupler is best installed at the TB so I can run 2" pipe that will fit better around the rad.
Also Brain, it looks like you could have made a lot of those lengths shorter and the overall package tighter. Is there a reason you used such long piping. I know the idea is not to make bends too tight... but what is the tradeoff between bends and overall lenght given the same size pipe.

I would use a 2-2.5" coupler at the intercooler, there is plently of room for 2.5" pipes from the intercooler to TB.

My bends are like that because I didn't fabricate them. I made due with what I had. If I would have done them it would have looked like Stripes Kit from the TB to the backside of the driverside radiator.

You can also search for a thread I posted a year ago that shows how I ran my own pipes. It's pretty obvious where they need to go when you get to that point. Then it's just a matter of fiddling with your measurements.

2.5 inches will fit with ease around the radiator. You'll most likely have to transition to 2.0 inches on the driver side coming up to the turbo.

https://www.miataturbo.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2658
Here's that post you mentioned. That's a real good-lookin' setup. I can't afford a welder right now, maybe Christmas... but I'm going to make due with some bends and couplers. I'm almost ready to buy some pipe!

Is this price for all 4 pieces in the picture?
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/I...D:100000315071

All the other sizes appear to be on this page:
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/P...t=steel+tubing

Hell, for that price, I'll order up two sets and be set. This won't be that hard afterall. Are there any local chains that stock stuff like that for those prices. Is that stuff avail at Pep Boys or Autozone.

No. The description says: "Tight-radius Mandrel-bent Aluminized Steel Tubing (16-gauge, 180-deg. Bend, 4-1/4"L, 3"R, 2"OD/OD)" and "Each."

So, you're getting one, 180 deg. bend, in 16-ga. metal, that has 4.25" legs, a 3" radius and is 2.0" in outer diameter.

if you dont have ac/ps then you can easily run 2" pipes behind the swaybar on the turbo side..thats how i did mine. the pipe comes down from the turbo then out behind/under the swaybar, then forward around the rad to the IC...you can see pics of the post intercooler setup on my cardomain..
http://miata.cardomain.com/ride/264041/6

if your really worried about radiator hoses the get yourself a protege water pump intake which gives you more room than the miata one.

That is a good lookin' pipe there... nice and clean... just what I want mine to look like. Did you have a shop fab that up?

No i fabbed it up myself and tought myself to TIG weld on my workshops welder...Tig makes such a tidy job.I painted them with engine enamel which makes it look good.
I used 2.5" pipes from the IC to the Throttle body mainly because of the two tight bends around the rad. (larger pipes mean less flow loss on a tight bend.)

A bit late to the story, but I finished up my DIY intercooler setup yesterday. No TIG welding sadly, just pre-bent aluminum elbows from eBay, lots of silicone, and some copper plumbing fittings brazed to the intake manifold pipe for the BOV and IAC.

Coming out of the turbo is a 2" 90, a 2" 45, then a 2" 90 turned down, a 2" 90 turned out, a 2" to 2.25" reducer to a 2.25" 90, then a 2.25" to 2.5" reducer and into the 2.5" silicone 90.

On the other side it's out of the IC with a 2.5" silicone 90, a 2.5" 90 turned in, a 2.5" 90 turned up, and then a 2.5" 90 cut at a slight angle into the manifold.

Astute readers will note that there is a clamp missing on the driver's side in one of the pictures. Guess how long that fitting stayed in place the first time I went out for a drive? :nuts:

The only tight spot was running the 2" pipe between the power steering pump and the sway bar. I fabricated a little bracket out of steel which mounts to the lower radiator fan bolts and holds the pipe in place via a hose clamp and some rubber for vibration/abrasion resistance.

On the intake side there was plenty of space for the pipes, despite the larger size.

Where did you get those long silicone elbows? Those 90*s coming off the IC are really long.
I guess I'm going to have to go w/one of those ebay kits after seeing yours now.