SheepDog
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
Happy Saturday ladies and gents. I decided to finally tackle a small issue I had with the Procharger outlet tube on my car. I am referring to the rubber 90 degree 3" tube that connects the outlet on the head unit, to the inlet pipe of the intercooler, which also supports the BOV. First off I would like to say that this post is in no way, shape, or form a bashing on Procharger. I have installed many turbo/supercharger kits over the years on customer vehicles, friends vehicles, my own vehicles etc. and the Procharger kits have some of the best fit and finish of anything you can buy off the shelf. The quality of the parts are excellent, and the installation is a no brainer. Plenty of people are making giant power on the rubber Procharger outlet tube, I am just one of those people that can't leave well enough alone. Basically I like to fix things that aren't broken. And so it begins.....
Ever since I installed the Procharger kit, the only thing that irked me about it was the fitment or path that the rubber outlet tube takes. For those of you that installed your own kit, you know what I'm talking about. For those of you that didn't, you may not even be aware of this detail, and you certainly wouldn't know it based on performance. No matter how I tweaked, shifted or pulled on the rubber tube, it just always wanted to kind of cover part of the outlet of the blower. The angle that the edge of the tube has to take forces the the tube to kind of flatten out which causes a bit of a bottle neck in the tube.
This weekend I finally got around to scratching my itch to improve this tube and here is what it takes:
You will need,
1 - 3" 135 degree elbow
1 - 3" 45 degree elbow
1 - 3" coupler
3 - 3" Stainless T-bolt clamps
1 - 3.25" Stainless T- bolt clamp
a razor blade or other sharp ass knife
Now begins the process of turning this:
Into this:
The overall dimensions of the tube need to be almost exactly that of the original tube, there isn't hardly any additional space to work with. The original tube takes a hard 90 degree bend to meet the intercooler inlet pipe, so in order to make a 90 degree turn, but with a smooth transition, we need a 135 degree bend, followed by a 45 degree bend to get us back to 90 degrees.
The 135 degree tube has to be cut down all the way until there is just enough length on either end to support a thick t-bolt clamp. I frown on using worm drive hose clamps to make intercooler plumbing, especially when using silicone tubing. They tear up the silicone and will sometimes loosen due to vibration. I use the T-bolt clamp as a guide for the razor to make a nice straight cut.
You can always cut more off, but you can't put it back together so take your time and make small cuts until your new silicone assembly is close to the same size as the original rubber tube. It can be a little longer on the end that goes towards the intercooler inlet.
Installing this is just as annoying as installing the original rubber one, but there is a trick. You will save yourself a shitton of time and a mountain of frustration by unbolting the headunit from the bracket. Leave the furthest bolt towards the drivers side in place, (5/16 allen) and remove all the other bolts. ( 1- 5/16 allen bolt, and 4- 1/4 allen head bolts) This will allow you to pivot the headunit in a clockwise direction up and away from the outlet tube. Obviously you have to remove the belt an the idler pulley on the back of the bracket first. This will allow you to easily remove the old tube, and install the new one.
Here is the original tube. Sure I could probably have done a bit better job installing it, but none the less it had to go away.
Here is the new one installed
And from the other side
I couldn't seem to get a 3" T-bolt clamp around the connection at the blower outlet, it just seems to be a bit larger than the other connections, and this is why I recommended a 3.25 clamp for this location. In the picture I just have the old worm drive clamp in place with a strip of rubber I had laying around to protect the silicone until I can get a 3.25" clamp shipped from the interwebz.
Anywho, now I can stop thinking about this and find some other silly thing to pick apart in my head 100 times.
I got all my parts from siliconeintakes.com. This place has every conceivable tube, pipe, clamp, hose, fitting etc. you would ever need. I've used their products many times without failure.
Did it improve performance? who the hell knows.
Did it satisfy my urge to tinker and fix an un-problem, you betcha.
I never really cared much about dyno #'s and thus, I have no before and after results to share. You can all come to your own conclusion as to whether or not to do this. Have a great weekend everyone.
Ever since I installed the Procharger kit, the only thing that irked me about it was the fitment or path that the rubber outlet tube takes. For those of you that installed your own kit, you know what I'm talking about. For those of you that didn't, you may not even be aware of this detail, and you certainly wouldn't know it based on performance. No matter how I tweaked, shifted or pulled on the rubber tube, it just always wanted to kind of cover part of the outlet of the blower. The angle that the edge of the tube has to take forces the the tube to kind of flatten out which causes a bit of a bottle neck in the tube.
This weekend I finally got around to scratching my itch to improve this tube and here is what it takes:
You will need,
1 - 3" 135 degree elbow
1 - 3" 45 degree elbow
1 - 3" coupler
3 - 3" Stainless T-bolt clamps
1 - 3.25" Stainless T- bolt clamp
a razor blade or other sharp ass knife
Now begins the process of turning this:
Into this:
The overall dimensions of the tube need to be almost exactly that of the original tube, there isn't hardly any additional space to work with. The original tube takes a hard 90 degree bend to meet the intercooler inlet pipe, so in order to make a 90 degree turn, but with a smooth transition, we need a 135 degree bend, followed by a 45 degree bend to get us back to 90 degrees.
The 135 degree tube has to be cut down all the way until there is just enough length on either end to support a thick t-bolt clamp. I frown on using worm drive hose clamps to make intercooler plumbing, especially when using silicone tubing. They tear up the silicone and will sometimes loosen due to vibration. I use the T-bolt clamp as a guide for the razor to make a nice straight cut.
You can always cut more off, but you can't put it back together so take your time and make small cuts until your new silicone assembly is close to the same size as the original rubber tube. It can be a little longer on the end that goes towards the intercooler inlet.
Installing this is just as annoying as installing the original rubber one, but there is a trick. You will save yourself a shitton of time and a mountain of frustration by unbolting the headunit from the bracket. Leave the furthest bolt towards the drivers side in place, (5/16 allen) and remove all the other bolts. ( 1- 5/16 allen bolt, and 4- 1/4 allen head bolts) This will allow you to pivot the headunit in a clockwise direction up and away from the outlet tube. Obviously you have to remove the belt an the idler pulley on the back of the bracket first. This will allow you to easily remove the old tube, and install the new one.
Here is the original tube. Sure I could probably have done a bit better job installing it, but none the less it had to go away.
Here is the new one installed
And from the other side
I couldn't seem to get a 3" T-bolt clamp around the connection at the blower outlet, it just seems to be a bit larger than the other connections, and this is why I recommended a 3.25 clamp for this location. In the picture I just have the old worm drive clamp in place with a strip of rubber I had laying around to protect the silicone until I can get a 3.25" clamp shipped from the interwebz.
Anywho, now I can stop thinking about this and find some other silly thing to pick apart in my head 100 times.
I got all my parts from siliconeintakes.com. This place has every conceivable tube, pipe, clamp, hose, fitting etc. you would ever need. I've used their products many times without failure.
Did it improve performance? who the hell knows.
Did it satisfy my urge to tinker and fix an un-problem, you betcha.
I never really cared much about dyno #'s and thus, I have no before and after results to share. You can all come to your own conclusion as to whether or not to do this. Have a great weekend everyone.
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