If you need another reason not to buy on ebay
 

So i bought a load of piping, couplers, & clamps for my now gone tII project. Thought ot a pretty good deal. The couplers were supposedly two ply silicone with mesh in the middle. So i got a boost leak right up in front, replaced it by cannibalizing my box o' pipe. I thought the 3ply would be stronger than the stock rubber- Guess not.

Only 12lbs
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e5...b80c5ba09e.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e5...c9451549e1.jpg

Boom!

So, any recommendations?

Cheap Ebay crap. I remember I bought a coupler from an auto parts store as a temporary fix, and blew a hole through it in a few minutes of light boosting.

I'm gonna get the pipe kit off ebay, but i'm definitly ordering my couplers elsewhere. I've always heard good things about www.turbohoses.com.

that is 0 ply, nothing wrong with ebay but you have to watch out and turn in scammers, liars and thieves.

i got some of those couplers from a friend who ordered them from ebay as well and they are pure crap, nothing more than pre-chewed bubble gum in the shape of a coupler... these were never meant to be used on automobiles and they should not be advertising that they were tested to 25PSI when obviously they have not. call them up, ask for a refund, contact ebay, and if nothing is done still then contact the internet fraud department. some may say they are not snitches but i doubt those people would like to be lied to and hand over their money for an obviously misleading description of a product.

and it really has little to do with ebay, there is other places besides ebay that advertise these same items for sale with the same misleading descriptions.

Unfortunately it says: "Silicone hose is NOT compatible with fuel or oil." I have a certain amount of oil blow-by in my hose. Could be part of the problem.

https://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e...c9451549e1.jpg


funny enough my blown coupler looks identical to this one and it was only pushing 10PSI.

wow thats sick havent seen that happen yet

Trouble is i bought all of this stuff a year ago. I'll never see a dime. I don't know if i even have the records.

Edit: When it blew it was not cool. Loud Pop followed by backfiring, and no boost. I only stopped worrying when I lifted and engine braking felt & sounded normal. Pulled over and changed it at a gas station :rlaugh:

I'm sure they are refering to mass amounts, not some blow-by. They specialize in turbo hoses, they even have a kit for the FD's stock intakes, so i'm doubting something like that would really pose much of a threat. It might decrease it's longevity but I doubt it would do anything for quite some time. Silicone in general does not react well with oil or fuel, not just their hoses, but i'll test'em out and let you know if they are safe :tonque:.

Many People do Silicone Vaccuum hose kits, and they do detriorate over the years, but the funny thing is it usually outlast the motor.... (before another rebuild)

The general idea is that you're not supposed to use it where fuel or oil come into constant contect with the surface, and "Flow" past the silicone, since that would errode the surface much faster than a little resedue... which is not nearly as abraisive....

mine was installed on my FC, luckily i had my standalone in the car or i woulda been stuck on the side of the road with the stock engine management AFM system.

these cheapo couplers did not blow out due to oil, the one i installed only lasted 1 single good pull before it popped like a balloon after it was warmed up. just by feeling the material i had a bad feeling about it.

I really doubt it.

I would be much more focused on sharp edges that could chew into the plies and destroy the strength of the coupler material.

Dave

http://hightempsilicone.com/
or
http://hosetechniques.com/

www.atpturbo.com for your couplers

I just went with Vibrant 4 ply Reinforced Silicone couplers. You can buy them at any speed shop. Some people think "rice" when they hear the name brand Vibrant but these couplers have worked well for me in the past and i have pushed them over 25psi in other vehicles. The thing with an FD is the huge amount of heat created under the hood can make a coupler weak and blow. I have had no issues so far with these though... They go as far as to say..

http://vibrantperformance.com/catalo...15477c061a3703

http://vibrantperformance.com/catalo...15477c061a3703

,Jason

PS, I do not see any mesh in the middle of the couplers you show above, they look to be single ply non reinforced silicone hose but it could just be the pictures. You can see the mesh in the pictures in the links that I posted and being 4ply I doubt you will have issues with them...

http://vibrantperformance.com/catalo.../2700_WEBS.jpg

A local buddy has tried just about every coupler there is out there and recommends Hose Technique's couplers. FWIW, those are what I use as well.

im using samco sport and they are very good quality also.

There's plenty of good high-quality stuff on eBay, but even more crap. I just recently purchased a single silicone coupler on eBay, but it was 4-ply silicone and was $25 by itself. Pretty sure at that price it was the genuine article (of course there are always scammers selling knock-off turbo kits for nearly the price of the real thing so buyer beware!). I've been using it for a while now with no incident. If you're interested, here's the seller:

http://motors.search.ebay.com/_W0QQf...iliconeintakes

Yes, i know. That illustrates the difference in what was sold, and what was delivered. I'll stop by some of the local speed shops while i'm out and see if they have any decent couplers.

If I were you, I would just order something you know is going to work. Yes, it may take a few days, but you'll at least know what you are getting. My last order from Hose Technique took 4 days with standard (cheap) ground shipping.

Also make sure you have 'real' clamps for the IC couplers.

while it may have been a contributing factor I doubt oil was the sole reason your couplers blew. If it was doing fine until you loaded it up with a lot of boost (a lot being a fairly subjective statement) it was more than likely the cheap single ply that caused the failure, any fatigue from oil would make it worse but would be very unlikely to cause the failure.

I forgot about hose techniques, i've also heard very good things about them as well, but I dunno, turbohoses.com is the official supplier for the millitary ;) :tonque:. I think any of those companys would be suitable, they all have good reputations and when it comes down to it the differences in quality (if there is any) would be negligible, please if anyone knows otherwise correct me but I don't see any reason to think otherwise.

Oh, jeez, if they have no polyester reinforcement, that pretty much guarantees a blowout. Even the stockers are compression molded around a polyester belt.

Dave

i had the ebay couplers that came with the piping kit for a few months, and they started ballooning out, especially on the turbo side. I replaced them with some couplers i found at lowes at $2.50 a piece, comes with 2 screw-type clamps each, and they seem to hold up fine. ive been using them for about 6 months now, no ballooning or anything, but im only running about 10psi.

I just ordered some couplers from hose techniques, very good customer service :bigthumb:. I'll update when I get'em, although from the sounds of it they will be awesome :D.