anyone good at making there own piping for intercoolers?
 

see here is the deal. I can get a greddy front mount intercooler for what 1000 bucks or more?? or if there was somone one this forum that just took the 250 intercoolers from ebay and made custom piping for the second gen and sold them for like 500, 600 or maybe even 650 bucks I bet that person could make a killing! Just some ideas for you guys out there that have the know how! After you fabed your first one after that it would be easy!

just found an hks on corksport for $2124.00 :eek:

well me and my roommate did his piping..

all we did was take some of that dryer hose to find the bends and stuff.... then we just ordered the piping and cut and welded.

see there you go! I don't (would love to) weld and really don't have the time! just want something cheaper than hks or greddy!

this thread cannot go un answered :) we need a guy that does this just think you could make probably two to three hundred for every intercooler!

I am planning on using flexible (metal coil reinforced) coolant pipe for my IC piping. It should hold vacuum, or at least .8 atu which is the most my car ever pulls, and it is guaranteed to hold 15+ psi and 300 degrees F. It is smooth on the inside, black, thick, insulates well, forms gentle curves when bent, and is mildly expensive. I don't know if they carry 2.5" ID though, I haven't got that far yet, my FMIC is sitting in my apartment still.

huh, thats pretty neat, where do you get this stuff from??? any websites? Now when you say flexable do you mean you can bend it and it goes right back to the straight posision or does it stay in whatever posision that you bend it?

It has a slight memory to it but for the most part, it's like hyrdraulic hose, very stiff, kind of hard, wouldn't want someone to whip u with it kind of hose. It comes on a roll and I've seen it at NAPA and other stores. Like I said, I don't know if it comes in large enough ID but there is no reason u have to use metal for the fmic pipes. But don't use PVC plastic!

well if you do it any time soon take some pics and post them, I'd love to see how they come out.

Lesse...
Aluminum pipe sections are like $20 to $50 each.
turbo to front...1
front to intercooler...2
intercooler return to engine...3
return to throttle body...4
That's like $200 in aluminum pipes and some pretty complex bends, unless you start moving a lot of stuff and cutting a lot of holes in panels.

Now, add silicone reinforced hoses for all those connections.
At least a pair of 90-degree hoses (unless you get them bent out of the aluminum pipe), a pair of bump hoses (recommended for engine versus intercooler flex, and another pair or straight couplings.
Average price about $30 each, and we're talking almost $200 in hoses.

Add another $100 for the throttle body adapter...

So, already you're looking at around $500 for all that stuff (add clamps and all miscellaneous hardware - we never even added an intake system before the turbo itself).
So your $250 from eBay ends up being a $700+ project at this point.
That $8xx GReddy intercooler kits sounds pretty damn good right about now.

There have been several members who was teasing everyone with "cheap" intercooler kits, but I don't recall any of them being sold.
I don't know how these people would make a cent trying to sell a $500 or $600 "kit".

You might be able to use aluminized, mild steel exhaust pipes, but these need to be cleaned up, welded, and preferably painted to combat rust.
This will drop the price a bit, but it involves a lot of labor for prepping.

Good luck with your budget intercooler project.


-Ted

My intercooler kit hit the dirt after i lost contact with the dude at Promical and the aliminum piping cost went through the roof... HOWEVER.. and i need to post some pics of this... i bought 4 180 degree mandrel bends and cut them into 90's and from there cut them further to get the bends right, then taped them up with masking tape (really right) and took them to a weld shop where they welded the peices together.. it was 60 bucks for the 4 pieces of 2.5 inch steel pipe and about 50 bucks at the weld shop for the welding.. so thats like 110 bucks for the pipes.

this winter they are going to a local powder coater to get coated with that new chrome look powdercoating.

So... in reality, ,all you need is a hacksaw, an angle grinder (to smooth out the cuts and make them fit correctly) a few 180 bends and about 10 hours of your time... the weld shop does the rest!!

JRP still has my IC designs, but the dude making the T/B adapters has dissapeared as well, so, in order for me to make the pipes, i'd have to get a different intake adapter and change one of the pipe lengths.

You can get this intercooler from JR Perrot for around 300 shipped
http://mysite.verizon.net/res1f3en/s...g.w560h423.jpg

http://mysite.verizon.net/res1f3en/s...g.w560h423.jpg

yeah get the greddy kit. I have it and its twice the size of the intercooler in the pic above. Also I got mine for 889 shipped. I think that the greddy is the way to go because it fits all the way to the top of the nose cone so if you wanted you can cut slots in your frontend as your liking and cooling needs require.

Been there, done that. Rented a pipe bender. Cost maybe $200 for the stainless pipe and bender (5 day rental). Made the TB adapter myself (maybe 2 hours?) and used cheap (though not very pleasing to the eye) rad hose as couplers.

see the only problem with huge front mounted intercoolers i've heard is that it blocks flow to the radiator causing hotter temps. Does this happen to everyone???

Soution:

Two step process.

1. Remove the stock belt driven fan
2. Replace with an E-Fan or two

how would that help??? I've heard there are hardly any fans out there better than stock??? Anyways does anyone know the core dimensions of the greddy intercooler??

Explain how this helps when an e-fan moves less air then the stock fan, and is normally poorly shrouded.

Really, the solution is to make sure the cooling sytem works properly (especially the fan clutch), make sure the undertray fits properly, and make some ducting to direct and straighten out airflow.

88IntegraLS - you don't want to contact NAPA for this.. you need to get in touch with a Hydraulic Supply Company. I do networking/computer work for one, and they'd have no problem finding 2.5" ID flexible hose that could take the heat and pressure you're describing.

Thanks for the tip!! NAPA will overprice everything it seems.

"see the only problem with huge front mounted intercoolers i've heard is that it blocks flow to the radiator causing hotter temps. Does this happen to everyone???"

Please don't make blanket comments like this unless you have the equipment in question.

Yes my temps on the highway are 200-205 with the stock clutch fan on a 90 degree day. Once it started raining and cooled the highway down and I saw my temps drop to 180 in about 4 minutes. And I had a 3 speed ford efan and it wouldn't cool it. Also by opening up the lip/face i think I can get more air in their and see if that helps cool it down a little.

how well does a FIERO e-fan wok....I have heard mixed things on this..........I got one for free but I have yet to install it......

Efans are not worth the trouble IMO; the stock fan works very well if ur belts don't roast.

Heres a question- what about using a efan mounted on the intercooler and using the stock fan shroud setup. Mabey im just insane.......

Im really thinking just proper ducting and a better skid pan would help airflow using the stock fan setup.

I wonder how a fan on the back of the IC would work..

I could see how that would make the IC more efficent, but I don't think that would help the cooling problem with the radiator. I'd bet a aftermarket radiator would help with coolant temps, but then you have to worry about your oil cooler. Maybe try to make some ducting like HIGGI.