Right, but what I am saying is that you can already buy intercooler kits with the pipes and everything that you need and save a grand. Can you turn a screwdriver and socket wrench? Trust me when I say that you will be pissed if you spend that kind of $ for a bunch of pipes and clamps.

A person with minimal fabrication skills can put one together easily. I could only see paying $1000 for those pipes if they were all stainless and tig welded together, but you can still source all the parts and DIY for less.

 

I mean I can do minor things and all but never messed with pipe. My only concern would be bending 2.5-3 inch pipe

 

I'm not saying do it yourself. Go to a good shop and have them do your hotside. Then you can buy one of those kits for the coldside to piece that together. Or also have the exhaust shop run pipe from the outlet of the turbo to the inlet of the intercooler. What's a shop charge? $80-$100/hr maybe? So that's 15-19hrs of labor to equal what STS wants just for the hotside. The shop that is doing mine is a speed shop and they do fab work for front mount turbos, superchargers, and exhaust. Find a place like that.

 

Sounds like a plan thanks bro!

 

I bought a bunch of mandrel bends and two sticks of 2.5 from the local exhaust shop. With boots, flanges, everything to do cold and hot sides myself I'm under 300. And, it actually fit my car. Measure twice cut once and all that.

 

How is everyone bending the 2.5 inch pipe on a DIY setup?

 

buying mandrel bends and cutting and welding them so they are formed how you want them. It's not like mandrel benders are cheap or easy to come by so I highly doube anyone has bent their own that way. You could just do some standard crush type bends but it would not be as efficient by any means... stil not a bad way to fab it out on the first go and then replace with mandrels after you figure out what it is you are needing. If you are having to ask this kind of stuff though I'd assume you really should be taking it to an exhaust shop to fab it out.

 

You just need to buy several pre-bent mandrel pieces and a few straight pieces then figure out how it can all go together. Some people go under the rear axle for less restriction. You could buy a cheap exhaust pipe expander so that the pipes will slide into each other. Then put an exhaust clamp on it and take it to someone that can weld it. The hot side is pretty much all stock and instead of a muffler there is a 12 in. pipe with a turbo flange and waste gate flange on it. Then a pipe coming out of the turbo.

 

The 1500 sts charges is for the hot and cold pipes. Like others have been saying, it is preferrable to get it fabbed up yourself. Buy some bends couplers and clamps. You can even use radiator hose for a bend or two. Check out zl1killas build thread for more info. He's got a lot of helpful info in there. Zombie has a good thread as well.

 

Thanks bud