Effective intercooler plumbing on a diet!

Habanero666 · Post by **Habanero666** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 9:09 am

I had a brainstorm!

I thought about using aluminium piping for an Intercooler, but that is just cost prohibitive in N.Z,so.....

Off to the wreckers and have a good old look around at some OEM nissan macaroni.

Well, I think with the pipe bends made by the guys and gals at nissan I could not only save $$$ but actually save weight too!

How?

If you have seen skyline turbo plumbing, you will infact see that it is made of a thin guage steel (thin wall thickness). Much lighter than exhaust tubing! just a few of these factory pipes can provide 100% of the bends required to zap up a set up!

Psycho_Dad · Post by **Psycho_Dad** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 11:03 am

how about 50mm copper? i get the bends for about $10 a bend, and they come in 90 and 45 degrees

you can braize it too if you dont like silicone joiners

Peace
Psycho_Dad

Habanero666 · Post by **Habanero666** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 11:43 am

Thats an idea, copper is an excellent thermal conductor aswell!
I wonder which way heat will go....into the tube....or out??? interesting!!
Might be worth some research.

Have you done this yet?
50mm is about two inchs right?

Psycho_Dad · Post by **Psycho_Dad** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 8:51 am

yeah 50mm is 2"

if you were in tauranga id give you a hand to try it out since i have all the stuff here at home, sadly, just before i installed the turbo on my car(to use the copper) i wrecked my back welding up a turbo manifold

that was about 10 months ago and i havnt really worked on cars since

PEace
psycho_Dad

Habanero666 · Post by **Habanero666** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 10:58 am

I thank you kindly for your offer.
Back injuries are way too nasty so be sure to not push it!!!

I have opted for steel tubing

(I know slydit will have a chuckle about this !) but it is thin walled and my TIG welder will do the job!

Anyone got good ideas on weight reduction for Mx5 s ???

Weight reduction is like horsepower....only it saves gas and not consumes it!!

poison · Post by **poison** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 11:30 am

Weight reduction is a topic of it’s own, and a good one too. I’ll start a new thread.

SLYDIT · Post by **SLYDIT** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 8:50 pm

chuckle chuckle...

who needs to worry about that last KG of weight savings when you can just crank the boost up another PSI.... HE HE

Habanero666 · Post by **Habanero666** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:22 am

[quote="SLYDIT"]chuckle chuckle...

See I knew it!!

Hey I should also mention that I have just about finished the O2 clamp, I have tried to mount the lot onto a pcb to keep it all tidy. I will try every trick in the book to keep it Japanese like in respect to being compact and reliable!
Will send pics to you later!

SLYDIT · Post by **SLYDIT** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 4:07 pm

that sonds good.. i did the same thing.. my final version is about 25mmx40mmx25mm. so it tucks in nicely next to my emanage (which is next to the ECU.) I hope you got a good 25 turn pot so you can get that fine adjustment needed....
Let me know if you have any issues with it at all.

Habanero666 · Post by **Habanero666** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 4:41 pm

[quote="SLYDIT"]that sonds good.. i did the same thing.. my final version is about 25mmx40mmx25mm. so it tucks in nicely next to my emanage (which is next to the ECU.) I hope you got a good 25 turn pot so you can get that fine adjustment needed....

can't wait to turn her up to 8 psi and see what happens!