[Mike@N54Tuning.com]

There has been some discussion as to the various mounting choices (i.e. silicone or factory C-clip) at the turbo but I have also been asked a few questions about the second connection at the intercooler piping as a few users have posted it coming loose.

The ER charge pipe in particular uses a solid elbow, while some other manufacturers make the elbow out of silicone, making the silicone piece larger. There was some discussion on which is better so I thought I would get ER's take on it...

The reason why our silicone hose isn't an elbow like some others is because our elbow is metal and is part of the pipe. That is why it's a 3" coupler and not a long elbow. Silicone hose has similar characteristics as rubber hose as it can balloon under boost as well. Thus, that is why our charge pipe extends all the way to the lower intercooler pipe, to make it full hard piping instead of partial hard piping with silicone hose.

As for the silicone couplers potential to pop off due to its length, just make sure the silicone hose is evenly place between the two connections so that the t-bolt clamp goes on after the bead in the pipe. Also make sure the t-bolt clamp is tight. T-bolt clamps have a nylon nut on it that gives it resistance when you're tightening it. Sometimes, it tricks people into think the clamp is tight when it's not. Obviously a clamp that isn't tightened will pop off.

We have looked into making some new silicone hoses that are longer but honestly I don't think it's the reason why a few people have had an issue. The same issue will arise if you don't tighten the t-bolt clamp correctly. We've sold hundreds if not thousands of these things and it's not been an issue. Been tested for years on our race car under extreme conditions. Again, never had the CP pop off our car ever.

[ETS Michael]

Originally Posted by Mike@N54Tuning.com

There has been some discussion as to the various mounting choices (i.e. silicone or factory C-clip) at the turbo but I have also been asked a few questions about the second connection at the intercooler piping as a few users have posted it coming loose.

The ER charge pipe in particular uses a solid elbow, while some other manufacturers make the elbow out of silicone, making the silicone piece larger. There was some discussion on which is better so I thought I would get ER's take on it...

That's interesting. We run the same "90 Degree Elbows" on 40psi+ Evo's w/o any ballooning or popping off. It might be that we use T-bolt clamps and heavy duty 4 ply silicone, but we have none of this ballooning. Ballooning usually only takes place in factory rubber hoses


** Evolution Ralliart as an example (extreme example), where you have a LONG rubber hose. The short 90 degree hose doesn't have enough surface area to expand and balloon.

Also with under 30psi of boost, I would put it on installation errors of loose clamps rather then hardware failures.

I personally have been running our charge pipe with silicone couplers and never had a problem with couplers popping off.


** N54 pictured, but we make it for the N55 as well.


** Installed picture on the N55.

I'm not trying to argue our product since we don't even use a 90 degree coupler, we use a straight coupler which will never have a problem. I just know from experience with a good high quality coupler, it will not pop off or balloon under boost unless the legs are excessively long.

Michael

[madmanhiker]

I'd still prefer the ETS coupler over my ER coupler for piece of mind. Doesn't matter to me though because I am installing the ER FMIC soon, so I'll be affixing my coupler to a metal lower IC pipe. I can say that my ER coupler DID pop off once and it was secure during the initial installation. It's too small.

[cooler2442]

I can attest to the ETS couplers not popping off. I took mine to the track the next day after getting it installed and I had 0 issues with about 2+ hours of pure track time.

But my installer did use an air tool to make sure the T Bolt clamps were very secure.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

I think they are both great in their own right. There are cheap silicon couplers but they are used by cheap companies, not ETS.

[hetzle]

My best friend used silicone piping everywhere on his WRX (32+psi) and had no ballooning issues. That said, the clamp will work extremely well too. There shouldn't be issues with either of the coupling components if they are installed correctly.

[SpartanGA]

good point on the lock nuts however...they can feel tight when you are only feeling the lock nut resistance.