Where is a good place to get plumbing for turbos and FMIC's and such?

i see tons of places online, and tons of shops on ebay.... but i cant tell if the stuff is crap of decent.... where are you guys getting your plumbing stuff from?

also what materials are best? i keep hearing conflicting stories on this... some say steel, some say aluminum, some say plastic, etc etc...

I would imagine something that TRANSFERS heat well would be best for the run to the FMIC, so it acts as a heatsink. so aluminum or so... but depending on where it is run, it could work against you by adding heat to the air charge...

steel is easier to weld and bend than aluminum... plastic... um not so much...

so what are you all doing and what would you suggest? (and then of course, where do you get it?)

karo has a bunch of elongated 90's in aluminum. PM him. they are 2.25" if thats what your looking for.

plastic will probably crack and break from pressure.
steel works but is heavier. its easier to weld and work with for sure.
aluminum is nice because of very fast heat transfer, its lighter. downside is, it can crush if you tighten the clamps too much, harder to fab up due to welding. you can just clamp it in 20 places and be fine like most do. i chose to weld as much as i possibly could and then coupler where needed. you just have to be more careful is all.

so if you want some 2.25 aluminum pipe, pm karo or call his store and order some. all he has is elongated 90's and they are 10" from center to point i think. thats what i have and they work fine.
also he can get you the couplers and clamps that you need too that match the pipe.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Monday, June 09, 2008 4:30 PM

X2.


Built&Boosted moar
04 Cavalier Turbo r.i.p my baby
2nd place 2009 GM tuner bash qwick 8--holla

This is where i got my supplies for my down pipe. They have great prices and i haven't had any problems with them.


clickme

It is very very very difficult to mess up pipes for intercooler routing. I personally went with a universal ebay kit on my last turbo vehicle and to this day it still has had no issues at all. $100 for everything is a pretty damn good deal too. Having a local shop custom bend things *might* look better, but as for functionality there will be no difference....just a bigger hole in your wallet.

I agree on the plastic, definitely stay away from that....but whether you go with steel or aluminum, you aren't going to have any issues other than what Vincent Morris described.

do you really want a bunch of pvc piping staring back at you when you pop your hood? Might not be so bad if you wrap it all in CF tho. Most pvc piping can handle more than 7psi. I think heat would be your biggest factor there.

If you go on ebay, either 1. buy your t-bolts and couplers separate or 2. look for a kit that is full aluminum, silicone couplers, and t-bolts. Also, don't expect one of those kits to be the end all, they may be close but you might have to get a few more things.

rubber is no substitute for silicone unless you like blowing things apart.

worm feeds are no substitute for t-bolts unless you like to constantly have to put things back together