Warning for all procharger owners

[Andrey Sidorov]

Hey guys, so for any pro-charger owners (not sure about paxton, etc) be aware of the piping issue that i faced recently. Maybe its a self explanatory, but still i decided to post about it, here is the issue. The intercooler piping in their kits is made of steel, not stainless and painted on top with some questionable quality paint and no rust protection. If your kit is older then 3 years ish, check the piping for rust, because it is a huge issue from no under-tray in our cars and heat exposure. I caught mine in time, got it sand blasted and powdercoated and it was a close call since the rust under paint in some places was really bad and hidden on top with the paint. Make sure you inspect your piping, because if it rusts through and will suck that crap into your intake - you know what will happen. Procharger new piping is impossible to get, and costs around 1k for couple pipes, so get it redone.

 

[Iceman62]

Wow...sucky deal. Any pics of what you ran across & fixed?

 

[JC SSP]

I would have thought these would be aluminized pipes and/or coated steel. That kit is expensive. $$$$$$

Did you reach out to Pro-Charger customer service?

 

[Andrey Sidorov]

Unfortunately no close by's, but here is what i have, the first image is you can see paint starts bubbling,
and you will think not a big deal, so on the second pic you can see bubbles on the bottom pipe if you zoom in, when i started sanding down the pipes - it was way worse then i expected, 60-70 percent of each pipe was covered with rust. Third image is after sandblasting and powdercoating and polishing the head

 

[Pentalab]

They could have easily used aluminum for hardly any more $$. Rust never sleeps, and aluminum doesn't rust.

 

[redfirepearlgt]

They make great power on track cars, but was never a huge fan of them for mostly street driving. Don't care for the intake routing design for the S197.

 

[Pentalab]

They make great power on track cars, but was never a huge fan of them for mostly street driving. Don't care for the intake routing design for the S197.

I almost bought a Pro-charger for my 2010, back in 2011. My problem is the cone filter CAI is back in the corner, by the firewall. It's sucking in under hood 200 deg F intake air. It's a stupid place to put it. All that metal piping is gonna absorb even more heat. I can't see it working in blazing hot summer temps around town.
Suck in 200 deg F hot air....then compress it.

 

[86GT351]

I get the Steel vs Aluminum and the only thought would be due to supply chains the product was changed to keep delivering product to customers. However seems kind of odd no close ups of issues. Have you spoken to Procharger about this at all?

 

[Andrey Sidorov]

I get the Steel vs Aluminum and the only thought would be due to supply chains the product was changed to keep delivering product to customers. However seems kind of odd no close ups of issues. Have you spoken to Procharger about this at all?

I called, them - they said its due to age of the kit bla bla bla, tons of people have the same issue , they just decided to make pipes out of material that rusts. No close ups because i decided to warn people after the i actually fixed the issue, found the pics that i had left, you are not really inclined to take many pics of the engine bay that looked like that

 

[Andrey Sidorov]

I almost bought a Pro-charger for my 2010, back in 2011. My problem is the cone filter CAI is back in the corner, by the firewall. It's sucking in under hood 200 deg F intake air. It's a stupid place to put it. All that metal piping is gonna absorb even more heat. I can't see it working in blazing hot summer temps around town.
Suck in 200 deg F hot air....then compress it.

that why i have this hood with heat extractors right above the filter location (not a big fan since guess where the water goes when it rains, but i put the sock on the filter and so far so good)

 

[86GT351]

I called, them - they said its due to age of the kit bla bla bla, tons of people have the same issue , they just decided to make pipes out of material that rusts. No close ups because i decided to warn people after the i actually fixed the issue, found the pics that i had left, you are not really inclined to take many pics of the engine bay that looked like that

When did you get the kit? Was it possibly during Coviid?

 

[Andrey Sidorov]

When did you get the kit? Was it possibly during Coviid?

Kit is way pre Covid, 2015 ish

 

[05stroker]

Yes, its because of covid...

 

[moooosestang]

Never liked the idea of air to air intercooling. I had no idea those huge pipes were steel though, geez!