Flex piping for turbos?
I don't think it'd be a problem, so long as the weight of your turbocharger and wastegate are supported by something else (Bracketry). However most people, including myself, design our hot side so that it supports the full weight of the turbo and WG, to avoid making bracketry, while keeping the system reliable. But if your entire hot side is flex pipe, it can an will flex. So now your turbo is moving around, as the weight and heat causes the flex pipe to dip from not being able to support the weight. Now every other line from the turbo needs to be able to move. So your intake pipe, water lines, oil lines, and the charge pipe. Well you can't move your charge pipe too much, as the silicone connectors are already problematic places for leaks (In fact most big builds use V-bands on the charge side, and having a flex hot side would cause the charge pipes to break and/or leak).
So just a hypothetical here. What your saying is if I had a bracket that atatched to the engine to support the turbo and wastgate and keep them stationary then running flex pipe from the manifolds to the turbo would work?
I don't see why not. It probably won't be the best for flow, but it can't be as bad as an STS system, and some people think those work, so if you want, try it.
I wouldn't like it, just aesthetically it looks bad, but that's how I am.
I wouldn't like it, just aesthetically it looks bad, but that's how I am.
Staging Lane
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 75
Likes: 0
From: NYC
..i used flex pipe on my rear mount set-up and it works fine. .i used marine grade stainless steel flex pipe tubing on the hot and cold sides to eliminate any rust particle issues...i used header wrap and HVAC on the hot side tubing to retain as much heat as possible...its been holding up fine for 1.5 years.
