JPC Turbo Kit? Race setup

[Bobby]

Well apparently the ball joint is 2.25". I ordered the parts linked in the second quoted post above. Got them today and they do not fit the manifolds. I figured it was 2.5" since that is the size of pipe used on the on3 turbo kits for the primary pipes before the merge. This is the part I should have ordered I guess.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/wlk-41725

You can use 2.5". It doesnt matter. You just have to have the right 2 bolt flanges. We use 2.5" on ours

 

[Bobby]

Also you dont want just steel. Only stainless and if you had a choice use 409 stainless. It hold up better to heat.

 

[PNR Welding]

Mild steel ftw. I seen too many cracked pipes with stainless/409 with age. My old hellion kit was one of the first made. I purchased it used with about 30k miles on it. After about 20k miles on my car started cracking in a lot of places.
I did and will only use mild steel.
Majority or the turbo kits made are mild steel, check out turbo forums and see what those guys use, they have experience.

I'm only going on experience here. I've done my fair share of welding pipes/kit designs. 


Ceramic coating is a must with mild unless used aluminized.



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[PNR Welding]

If there weren't so many turbo kits out there I would pull the kit off my car and market a forward facing kit. No AC but retains power steering and uses stock manifolds.
4" down pipe into stock exhaust


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[JeremyH]

Mild steel ftw. I seen too many cracked pipes with stainless/409 with age. My old hellion kit was one of the first made. I purchased it used with about 30k miles on it. After about 20k miles on my car started cracking in a lot of places.
I did and will only use mild steel.
Majority or the turbo kits made are mild steel, check out turbo forums and see what those guys use, they have experience.

I'm only going on experience here. I've done my fair share of welding pipes/kit designs. 


Ceramic coating is a must with mild unless used aluminized.



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I have had the complete opposite experience, I would never use mild steel on my kits for a street car. It has to hold up to miles and the elements. Most turbo forum guys are doing ebay or junkyard builds for as cheap as possible and use mild steel and they are usually drag only builds so it works for them. It would never be my first choice. There is a reason oem's don't use mild steel on exhaust anymore. My on3 stainless piping from 4 years ago is still in great shape, no stress and I abused the crap out of it, the first year it was on the car I didn't have a supporting bracket on the turbo either so the piping was holding it up in the engine bay. My year old mild steel hotside from zimmers that was on the car for 6 months is flaking off the coating and rusting underneath already. I had ceramic coated mac mild steel headers and mid pipe on my 2v back in the day, after 2 years half the ceramic coating had flaked off and it was rusted through at the header collector(must note that mac wasn't known for their quality).
I have seen the old hellion piping with mig welds and I can't say I was impressed with it. On the HP kit I installed it was aluminized steel but was much thicker gauge and it held up fine.



The problem comes with 304 in situations where they use too thin 16-18 gauge and then the piping supports a lot of weight as 304 has the most expansion, hence why it is not idea for turbo headers/manifolds.

Based on our engineers recommendation who builds turbo racecars for Penske racing we use 14 gauge 409 stainless, a lot less chromium in it and very little expansion through heat cycles. We also have a lifetime warranty of the piping and welds. I couldn't do that with mild it just wont hold up and rust through completely over time. 409 ss will get a light surface patina but will never rust through even when not coated.

Another point to touch on, ceramic coating is very rigid when cured, making it good for cast iron and cast steel thicker materials that don't have a lot of expansion, not so much for thinner piping. Ceramic does not hold up on mild or stainless steel piping or headers from my experience. Through heat cycles it stresses the coating and begins to flake. We use a high silica content coating that is more flexible when cured as it holds up to heat cycles a lot longer.

 

[JoshK]

You can use 2.5". It doesnt matter. You just have to have the right 2 bolt flanges. We use 2.5" on ours

If there weren't so many turbo kits out there I would pull the kit off my car and market a forward facing kit. No AC but retains power steering and uses stock manifolds.
4" down pipe into stock exhaust


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The 2.5" socket on that pipe was too big to fit on the manifold so it won't work. I will get the other one and neck up to 2.5" right away.


Paul, just build me one. If only to save me time lol

 

[v8venomgt]

My single thp kit constructed of mild jet hot coated steel. Its held up great. Its been on the since since fall of 09. granted the kit has maybe 15k miles of street use on it,and is garage kept. However, the turbo was free floating,and there was no centered exhaust bracket for the first year. Thus far, I'm happy with mild steel.

 

[JoshK]

Thinking about it some more, I believe the 2.5" sockets will work fine. The socket is just so deep it is bottoming out on the manifold. I will trim it off a bit and it will work fine I think.