intercooler piping on the cheap

[Atrosity]

On your stealth, are you using aluminum or stainless for your ic piping? I'm thinking about getting some stainless and fabbing up something similar to the DNP hard pipe kit. I figure 16 or 18 gauge ss would be good, but may be a lil heavy.

I would use aluminum, SS just seems really heavy for the same result...

[Austin@STM]

We run run aluminum on everything, we use .065 aluminum welded where ever is possible with a few couplers here and there to make it easy to work on. SS is great to it doesnt dent easy and is stronger, but it is heavy and not needed.

Yes i run aluminum on my car.

Back on topic with the original post, whatever you end up doing make sure you take your time, keep the pipes round, and make sure they dont rub on anything or they will wear through and make a hole. Also make sure you boost leak test the hell out of it, if you plan on running say 20 psi it should be able to hold 30 without a leak.

-Austin@STM

[elyria_boy]

Ok, so how about a soft pipe setup? Benifits would be one solid length of tube from ic to turbo to intake so less chance for leaks. Easy to route. No hard turns to mess up air flow.What kind of material could be used? Rubber, silicone? What about braided pvc? Rock crawler guys use that for rear mount radiator setups. What temps does the hot side see? Any body know?

[elyria_boy]

Anybody running softpiping other than stock chime in.

[11secondFWD]

Um buy a 70 buck aluminum piping kit and make it yourself. I made fmic and piping for 130 bucks. It was good for a 123mph car making over 400whp.

http://www.3si.org/forum/f60/ebay-fmic-pics-388772/

[mikeyVR4]

Bead rolled or lipped pipes = no blow off.

[Tiberius]

I'm running Samco IC-hoses with quality t-bolt clamps, cheapo Alu Y-pipe and turbo intake pipes. All vacuum hoses are Samco as well.
With a proper reducing coupler from Y-pipe to throttlebody and proper sized quality t-bolt clamps (1 clamp on TB, 1 before and 1 after the bead of the Y-pipe) this whole setup works perfectly.
Critical points: Y-pipe and turbo intake can be cheap stuff but bead-rolled ends are a must. Choose exact t-bolt clamp sizes for all hoses and get good quality, I think I spent at least €60 in clamps alone. Everything else is easy-peasy. Not fitment issues at all.
The only thing left to do is replace the cheapo silicone couplers from turbo-intake pipes to turbo with matching Samco couplers. So far no problems @ 15 PSI but I don't trust that stuff.

downsides to the Samco setup are:
-inside diameter of the Samco hoses is stock-sized and won't strech very much. Anything larger than stock will not work.
-rear turbo IC pipe remains stock. I just painted it silver, looks OK but no eye-candy
-I didn't weigh it but the Samco stuff must be a bit heavier than stock rubber. It's at least 3 times thicker after all.

[elyria_boy]

I think I'm going with aluminum. I got the strut bar I wanted and can make them both fit. I've heard some guys setups won't allow both.