Intercooler piping

[Stormhammer]

Alright, this might start up an arguement, but I've heard all sorts of shit

Say in my case, right now I have a stock 12A turbo, stock IC, and hard pipes that are 1 3/4" - basically stock cloth side, only hard pipes.

Now, a lot of people upgrade to 2 1/4 or 3" pipes, saying they get more HP etc etc that it'll flow more. Is that true ( with a stock turbo ) or just total BS.

I was to understand that was you want as even of sizing as possible. My turbo outlet matches my IC pipes which match my IC inlet/outlet which matches my throttle body inlet - thus keeping up air velocity and minimizing pressure loss... i think

[Ronsam2006]

Upgrading intercooler pipes alone will not make a noticeable difference. If you upgrade the IC and pipes, then you will be able to run more boost without knocking.

[AnthonyF]

it depends. Sometimes it does increase power, SOMETIMES. I know the stock EVO's pipes are sh*t and upgrades to those are beneficial.

With the larger pipes you are going to have better flow, common sense. If you plan on going on higher boost, larger pipes are always a plus. If you keep stock boost and get the larger pipes, you might have lag..MIGHT. It would be minimal if you did.

I had 3" piping on 15psi. Some people still run 2.5 on that much boost and more. Just depends on what you like.

-Ant.

[patrick4588]

i always run the cold side .25" larger since the air will get denser once it passes thru the intercooler. i match up my turbo compressor outlet with the hot side piping and match my throttle body to the cold side. on my last setup i had a 70mm (2.75") cold side with 2.75" cold side piping. my compressor outlet was 2.5", so i had a 2.5" hot side. if your hot side piping matches with the turbo outlet, it should be fine as long as you have hard pipes. you may want to bump up the cold side a tad if you are running more than stock psi and a upgraded intercooler. other than that, you most likely wont notice any gains

[Stormhammer]

Well I'm running the factory IC ( they're good up to 300hp ) and I don't really plan on upgrading it.

[SiRed94]

Improving the bends is probably the most beneficial, just try to avoid any 90 degree angles or sharp bends. Also, upgrade the intercooler with the pipes as someone has already suggested. Smaller and larger pipes have their benefits. I personally use 2.5 pipes on most of my setups. Unless I am boosting 20+ psi and/or using an extremely large turbo, then I use 3" and a larger intercooler. The majority of the air will travel against the walls of the tubes, so think about how to keep the air flowing smoothly. Spaces between pipes, sharp bends, and differences in pipe sizes all cause turbulence in the air flow.

[green91]

Keeping the system as smooth as possible and also replacing your soft hoses that swell under boost tend to help the most.

[Tracy]

Bigger is not always better (we found that our with our Supra. When everyone else was going bigger, we went smaller than most and made way more power). It depends on what else you have going on (I know you said stock turbo). A car is a machine and the combination of components is what you need to consider.

[patrick4588]

everyone in this thread has a ridiculous amount of posts. haha, no noobs here! thats a first...

[AnthonyF]

everyone in this thread has a ridiculous amount of posts. haha, no noobs here! thats a first...

lol, sometimes post counts don't mean you're intelligent.

Like Tracy said, it depends on application. So, it can go either way.

-Ant.

[JKOBD]

I made 675fwhp with 2.5" piping and went 10.10@150 consistantly. 30psi all the time with a non-ball bearing turbo. Those saying 2.5" is too small for 20psi is rediculous. 20psi on a 12A or 20psi on a 42R? Crazy. The speed at which the air is traveling and arguing about 90 degree bends....most people will never come to realize the benefits of low viscocity piping and flow.

[RandomGuy]

i have 2.25 inch piping from my turbo to IC, and 2.5 from IC to TB

on the starion.

[Stormhammer]

Hasan - I got the old KDM 1 3/4" piping to the IC and 1 pipe from it - still 1 cloth pipe, and one more spiced with the 1G BOV with the factory OVCP. So I was going to go with either A) a new IC to OVCP pipe @ 1 3/4" ( to use an aftermarket BOV with ) or B) go with a KDM or Mookeeh ovcp, which is at least 2 1/4".

Funny thing about it - FIP proved you make more power with the factory OVCP than with some aftermarket ones