[cooler2442]

After a friend of mine had tuned his car, his charge pipe blew off. I knew it would only be a matter of time before something similar happened to me. As most of you know already our stock charge pipe has a seal that can come undone under higher boost pressure. I didn’t want to deal with it breaking during acceleration so I decided to do just buy an aftermarket charge pipe to make sure my stock one wouldn’t blow off.

I spent quite a bit of time researching which charge pipe to go with. I decided to go with ETS due to the high quality products they provide such as having one of the only no cutting required intercoolers on the market and the outstanding customer service that Michael provides. Michael answered all of my questions extremely fast through both AIM & Email. He was able to customize the charge pipe to my liking instantly as well. I told him I wanted one meth bung since I plan on running meth in the future and I wanted it to be black so I could have a stealth look to my car in case I ever got pulled over and asked to pop my hood since my car has a straight pipe and it is pretty loud.

Everything arrived extremely well packaged(I already unwrapped most of it from the box):


IMG_0619 by baldadar, on Flickr

Starting with removal of the airbox:


IMG_0623 by baldadar, on Flickr

IMG_0626 by baldadar, on Flickr

Stock Charge Pipe Removed:


IMG_0630 by baldadar, on Flickr

ETS Charge Pipe with the Silicone Adapters Put On:


IMG_0632 by baldadar, on Flickr

IMG_0633 by baldadar, on Flickr

Final Installed Pics:


IMG_0634 by baldadar, on Flickr

IMG_0635 by baldadar, on Flickr

Review:

My main reason for purchasing the Charge Pipe was to have a meth bung in place for when I decide to do the JB4 BMS WW Integrated Meth kit and having peace of mind that my charge pipe won’t blow off under high acceleration like others have had happen to them.

The quality and workmanship of the ETS was great. The meth bung welds look extremely top notch and the silicone adapters are also very durable. The install itself was a breeze took about 20-30minutes without any kind of problems or complications. The fitment was 100%. Danny at Minicorsa in North Hollywood, CA did the install for me and didn’t charge me an arm and a leg for it. I will be going back to him for all of my performance installs since I do not have my own garage. He actually owns a 1M and is extremely knowledgeable about our E82 platform so he is able to install and recommend anything you may need from suspension to power.

After having it put on I definitely felt a difference. Not a horsepower difference but the car just felt much more responsive kind of how it felt after I went straight pipe from a regular muffler. I can also hear the turbo spool louder. All in all it was a great purchase and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I also was able to track test it this weekend. I knew that it would either fail on me miserably or it would go off without a hitch because this track is both extremely technical and a high speed track. I’m happy to announce that the charge pipe held up like a champ and none of the silicone hoses or T-Bolt clamps caused any issues. This was also more intensive than a regular track day as well because it was a higher priced one which meant fewer cars and much more track time so I really put the charge pipe and its connectors through the paces.

[madmanhiker]

nice! I like the flexible sleeve that comes with this pipe much better than the tiny 3-inch one I got with my ER cp. Very nice!

also, badass pic (top one)

[cooler2442]

Originally Posted by madmanhiker

nice! I like the flexible sleeve that comes with this pipe much better than the tiny 3-inch one I got with my ER cp. Very nice!

also, badass pic (top one)

Yeah I think that made the install much easier.

[madmanhiker]

Originally Posted by cooler2442

Yeah I think that made the install much easier.

and more reliable... the ER cp has blown off on the lower intercooler connection due to it's small size and coverage of the flange.

[cooler2442]

Originally Posted by madmanhiker

and more reliable... the ER cp has blown off on the lower intercooler connection due to it's small size and coverage of the flange.

Ah really? Damn that sucks. I think Terry said the BMS CP uses the exact BMW OEM connection. Not sure about ER though.

[madmanhiker]

Originally Posted by cooler2442

Ah really? Damn that sucks. I think Terry said the BMS CP uses the exact BMW OEM connection. Not sure about ER though.

The Evolution Racewerks (ER) CP has a small 3-inch coupler for the lower intercooler connection that works, it just doesn't have enough bite. You can get only so much onto it with the clamp due to its smaller size. It has to be half of what ETS provides! lol Once the ER coupler is on I guess it's fine. Mine blew off once due to this issue, but it hasn't since I tightened it down a little more.

[badblk335i]

^ same thing with my ER charge pipe. i just had to tighten it a lot and so far so good. a longer coupler would have been perfect!

[cooler2442]

Originally Posted by badblk335i

^ same thing with my ER charge pipe. i just had to tighten it a lot and so far so good. a longer coupler would have been perfect!

You could probably just get ETS to sell you the longer coupler if needed I think. But hopefully your ER setup won't come off again.

[badblk335i]

i could probably pick one up at the local auto store too. I am not too worried about it though because it only did it once and that was shortly after it was installed.

thanks tho! best of luck!

[cooler2442]

It seems the ETS Charge Pipe is now on sale for 199$!

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...&highlight=ets

[tphss]

Is there any benefit to the aftermarket charge pipe other than the fear the stock one will pop off?

By the way a few months ago on my N54, the charge pipe blew off with no modifications whatsoever... Was scary, happened while pulling 2nd gear and I thought something happened to the turbos.