intercooler piping and couplers

2256 Views 17 Replies 4 Participants Last post by T182quest, May 30, 2008

04gsNA

Discussion Starter · May 28, 2008

I am trying to see whats a good number of couplers to have on the car. My shop told me that I need one on the upper intercooler piping because flexing too much will crack the pipe.from the throttle body to the turbo I have 5 couplers total

1 - 18 of 18 Posts

noricereclips

· #2 · May 28, 2008

in the beginning im gonna have rougly about 8-10 between the throttle body and the turbo based on the drawn-up plans that i have

since im not gonna weld anything in the beginning ...but yeah 5 sounds very nice considering the fact that you need 1 at the TB and 2 at the intercooler and i think you're gonna use 1 between your J-Pipe and the rest of the intercooler pipings...plus 1 more somewhere...correct?

04gsNA

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 28, 2008

noricereclips said:
in the beginning im gonna have rougly about 8-10 between the throttle body and the turbo based on the drawn-up plans that i have since im not gonna weld anything in the beginning ...but yeah 5 sounds very nice considering the fact that you need 1 at the TB and 2 at the intercooler and i think you're gonna use 1 between your J-Pipe and the rest of the intercooler pipings...plus 1 more somewhere...correct?

absolutly right, one for the turbo, two for the intercoolers, one for throttle, and one to split my upper intercooler pipe

noricereclips

· #4 · May 28, 2008 (Edited)

cool cool...well mine will be a little different...1 for turbo, 1 between cooler and j-pipe i think, 2 for cooler, 1 to get up to bov, 2 around bov, and 1 for TB...i might do a quick paint thing on here...

noricereclips

· #5 · May 28, 2008

haha dont look at my crappy paint skills, didnt take much time

but blue = couplers

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04gsNA

Discussion Starter · #6 · May 28, 2008

thats orignally how mine looked untill i started welding them

noricereclips

· #7 · May 28, 2008

haha my plan is to weld em later on but for now, i'll be fine with couplers only...especially because i have never welded in my life yet lol!

but back to the point...the only way to have less couplers for you is to eliminate that mid-coupler in the UIC, and i would not do that...

04gsNA

Discussion Starter · #8 · May 28, 2008

noricereclips said:
haha my plan is to weld em later on but for now, i'll be fine with couplers only...especially because i have never welded in my life yet lol!

but back to the point...the only way to have less couplers for you is to eliminate that mid-coupler in the UIC, and i would not do that...

thats what I am scared about, I have also considered welding my piping to my front mount, dad says do not do it

noricereclips

· #9 · May 28, 2008

nah man you dont need to weld your piping to the fmic, since if you look at all the other factory built cars (or even track evo's etc etc.) none of them are welded...easy answer why = just in case something happens to your IC - like it gets damaged, you can just buy a new one, and put it on in 2 minutes, instead of pulling all your piping, and taking half a day! also, UIC pipe you could weld, but it'd be a lot harder to take it out in one piece if you need anything, and if you need to change some stuff around, like a new bov with a different flange, you will get to it a lot easier, and you'll have to work with a lot smaller pipe to begin with

thats my idea haha

04gsNA

Discussion Starter · #10 · May 28, 2008

noricereclips said:
nah man you dont need to weld your piping to the fmic, since if you look at all the other factory built cars (or even track evo's etc etc.) none of them are welded...easy answer why = just in case something happens to your IC - like it gets damaged, you can just buy a new one, and put it on in 2 minutes, instead of pulling all your piping, and taking half a day! also, UIC pipe you could weld, but it'd be a lot harder to take it out in one piece if you need anything, and if you need to change some stuff around, like a new bov with a different flange, you will get to it a lot easier, and you'll have to work with a lot smaller pipe to begin with

thats my idea haha

I wondered if the flexing of the motor with the welded intercooler piping would case my pipe to get damaged, hey man you setup sounds great btw, are you auto or 5 speed?

noricereclips

· #11 · May 28, 2008

04gsNA said:
I wondered if the flexing of the motor with the welded intercooler piping would case my pipe to get damaged, hey man you setup sounds great btw, are you auto or 5 speed?

good point i bet it does thats why its good to have a couple couplers haha...

thanks i've been researching and collecting parts for like 6 months now and im almost done getting everything but its still just a "project-plan" but its manual not auto...

04gsNA

Discussion Starter · #12 · May 28, 2008

noricereclips said:
good point i bet it does thats why its good to have a couple couplers haha...

thanks i've been researching and collecting parts for like 6 months now and im almost done getting everything but its still just a "project-plan" but its manual not auto...

so I plan on keeping that one coupler on my UicP. I think 5 is enough for me. Whats left for your car?

noricereclips

· #13 · May 28, 2008

well i still need to buy all the oil and water lines and then just small stuff like a recirculating hose, and manual boost controller plus extra t fittings and vacuum lines...i also gotta get my dp made again, gotta get my tactrix cable, and thats about all

plus i gotta have like a 2 day install "vacation" off work haha
and then i gotta get it to AMS to get it tuned

thats all haha

toogood11

· #14 · May 29, 2008 (Edited)

noricereclips said:
haha dont look at my crappy paint skills, didnt take much time but blue = couplers

never use a coupler for a bend. :nono:

just get your piping welded. you already spend a ton of money buying parts to go the FI route, why cheap out on your charge piping? it isnt terribly expensive to get your shit welded together guys.

you should have two pieces for your upper intercooler piping, resulting in three couplers on the upper ic (throttle body to piping, piping to piping, and piping to intercooler. the lower intercooler piping should be one entire piece in an ideal world, too. so you would have a total of 5 couplers in the entire kit.

too many damn frankenstein kits get put together with couplers and universal piping kits. i understand people want to go the cheapest route possible but holy hell, how lazy and cheap can you be to just buy a universal kit and 14 couplers? ::ghey3:

toogood11

· #15 · May 29, 2008 (Edited)

i have time to kill until class, so i worked up this quick diagram. be creative in placement of your bov, and of course figure in for an intake if you'll be using a mas. its very similar to Ben's intercooler piping. you can check his stuff out on the forum, especially in the force fed check in. in order for this to fit properly and make it look presentable, you will more than likely have to relocate the battery to the trunk which isnt much work.

but thats how it should be done. :wavey:

to break it down in what you would use (if anyone even cares enough):

1x 2.75 to 2.5 reducer (tb to upper)
3x 2.5 straight coupler (joining upper and lower/upper to ic)
1x 2.0 to 2.5 reducer (compressor to lower)

as for piping, be creative with this as well. a variety of different bends can be used to achieve this.

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noricereclips

· #16 · May 30, 2008

toogood11 said:

that image made my drawing look like a poop

very nice job and nice info too

toogood11

· #17 · May 30, 2008

lol thanks, im just trying to help. :bigthumb:

T182quest

· #18 · May 30, 2008

yea i have an uicp that has 5 couplers but i am going to ask the guy who is making my custom downpipe to weld to or three pieces together so it will get rid of two maybe three couplers i will order a 90 degree pipe from slowboy racing to get rid of the 90 degree coupler (and he will weld this at the same time when i am getting my downpipe)

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