hey guys, i'm looking for your personal opinions, if you were buying this product.

I'm helping my friend build a turbocharger kit for his mustang (i know i know) but for the hot side, I am mocking everything up in aluminized steel. I was then going to go back and make it out of stainless steel.

Fords use these ball/joint type of exhaust connections. Which are very easy to find in mild steel (and cheap), but to get them in stainless through stainless works, they cost ~$100. I dont know if the stainless is just hard to flare/bend into that shape or what.

So I'm debating whether I should just keep everything mild steel, or stainless? I am going to use high-temp ceramic coating on everything either way.

So if you were buying a kit from whoever, would you rather have your hot side in steel or stainless?

p.s...can you ceramic coat aluminzed steel? or does the aluminum coating mess something up??

 

You can ceramic coat aluminized steel just like regular mild, since the parts are sandblasted before coating, the aluminum coating comes right off.

 

isn't the interior of the pipes aluminized also? how can you sandblast that off?

thanks for the input!

 

anybody else?

 

I would go with Stainless steel, and a 304 grade or better. Doing a ceramic coating is usually as expensive or more that stainless, plus its not as strong. As for the joints, unless your real good at fabrication, you can use slip-joints, otherwise use v-bands. They're a bit pricey, but worth the headache they save when other type of connections start to leak

 

well i was going to ceramic coat either steel to help keep the heat in and not do header wrap

 

i had the same ? as well on the aluminized steel. if u get it from summit it is not aluminum coated on the inside. u can easily coat these parts to. as for stainless it holds heat better but also has a higher rate of expansion and is more brittle than steel meaning it can crack easier than steel. so be sure if u run stainless that u get some flex jionts and make a bracket to hold the turbo or it may crack with everyday street use.

 

yeah i bought my steel from stainless, i never checked the inside. I was going to make a bracket for the turbo either way

i just wasn't sure how to connect the plate to the turbo

 

for real man i still haven't thought of a good way to make a braket for mine

 

i'm glad i'm not the only one scratching my head on a few of these ideas!

 

Stainless is harder to flare/spin into that shape. On the cheap used oem stuff might be suffiecent -409 most likely ,321 is custom and expensive and worth it.

 

I think making a bracket to hold the turbo could be a little tricky... I wanted to attach mine to the engine but couldn't find a point on the engine I liked. As a result, I think I am going to run no support on the uppipe and put a hanger/bracket about 6 inches off the turbo on the bottom of downpipe. This way I figure I will still support some of the weight of the turbo while allowing for material to expand and contract.

Also, this mount will act as sort of a fulcrum... the rest of the exhaust will be hanging from conventional hangers, but this piece will be supported from the bottom of the downpipe. The weight of the rear exhaust pushing down will put an upward pressure on everything forward or the bottom mount.

 

good idea

a fellow engineer?

 

I wouldn't use anything less the 304 SS. Coatings are nice for exterior thermal barriers but won't help with expansion and life of the inside of the pipe. 304 is not that expensive that it should not be considered.

We just did a set of headers out 321.............and that was expensive!

 

yeah i only want to use 304SS but getting some of the flares are almost impossible to find, but when you do, they cost a fortune. Maybe I'll hack off the "ford" fittings, and use a standard butt weld

 

Not for nothing but have you contacted Burns Stainless or even Stainless Works for some of these parts?

 

Haha no I am not, but thanks... I thought about that problem/solution for a long time though. I want to take as much strain off my uppipe as possible.

 

yeah I have, Stainless Works wants over $100 for a set of flanges to do one pipe

 

mild steel works fine on everythings,...it just would last as long......but who cares when the car isn`t drive 30,000 mlies a year anyway.

 

I made mine all out of mild steel. For the simple fact I had it coated inside and out.