Intercooler Clamps......not The Average Sh!t

[JMW]

Best clamps i've been told to use by many (one of which being Keir Willson) are the ABW or Norma all stainless clamps. The t-bolt clamps spread the load out over a too wider area, thus reducing the clamping force

[quarkgun]

I don't know if this suits your application, but i found this entry on the autospeed blog yesterday: http://blog.autospeed.com/2009/02/19/an-amazing-bargain/

Excerpt: "For just AUD$64.90 you get 150 stainless steel hose clamps to suit hoses from 6mm to 60mm. The clamps are packaged in boxes and appear to be of good quality."

[femno]

Regular Tridon Worm Drive Hose Clamps and Turbosmart 3" Silicon joiners. (yes even though GTR pipes are 3 1/4") HKS Hard pipe kit.

1.5 - 1.6 Bar of boost all day, no dramas EVER! Never ever had one pop off. I usually squirt oil into the head so it tightens up nice and easy.

To eliminate the clamps cutting into the silicon, I have smooth bevelled-edge rings on the inside of the clamps with 2 little ribs on the inside.

Why spend so much on flancy bling-clamps when regular clamps used properly do just fine.

[Beer Baron]

steve mate, you can't just buy and use wiggins clamps. they are a completely different style of fitting are not designed to work with normal piping and silicone joiners and require you weld fittings to each piece of pipe to be joined. they work very similarly to V-band type systems where you have a machined flat flange on each piece of pipe that butt together then a clamp over the top. except the wiggins clamps also have some kind of membrane to make them seal better. they cost a shitload and then you pay again for remove all your piping and modify it all to suit. and you can toss all your silicone joiners away too. not worth it.

I use and swear by sard dual bead clamps. unlike cheap arse hose clamps (and even many t-bolt type clamps) that are just a flat strap around your silicone the sard dual bead clamps have 2 'ridges' aka 'beads' that create a high pressure point and seal. they also have an inner piece (the dual bead bit with edges folded back 90 degrees) and then the strap on the outside so that it doesn't rip into your silicone as it spins around. most of the cheap t-bolt clamps are not much good either as they are just a flat strap type clamp too and all they do is exert a metric f**kload of force onto your piping which is NOT what is needed. a good lip/flare on the pipe is important as is good quality joiner (they ultra thick cheap ones aren't always good) and then a good clamp appropriately tightened. the good news is sard just repackage someone elses dual bead clamps. I can't remember the brand but if you could find them direct they could be even cheaper than buying from sard.

pics:

[PM-R33]

Their similar to the turbosmart hose clamps aren't they?

[Ronin 09]

I wouldn't be super keen with the solid mounted clamps in your first post -

Wouldn't there need to be an element of flex to allow for the motor rocking when torqing?

solid mounting the joins would surely be a recipe for cracks and failure...

[WARLORD]

HDI are now selling ones similar to the Wiggins jobbies but they just clip together instead of using pins.

I had a look at them when I got my boost controller a few weeks back, reasonably priced to.

in the next week or so my setup will have the hdi ones about 5 of them and there largest intercooler. if anyone cares ill post some pics of the hole job from start to end thats if someone whats me to.

[dano4127]

Race Spec make some really tidy Billet alloy ones

http://racespec.com.au/product_info.php?cP...products_id=547

I dont personaly run them but when I have some extra coin I would like to swap some out to these

I am running the $13 autobarn Tbolt jobbies at the mo without any dramas

[Phobic]

i have seen a setup in which they used the t-bar clamps but had a small metal brace setup between each hard pipe so that if the clamp was failing the pipes couldnt separate anyway. similar to the setup on slide together exhaust piping where the pipe slides into the next with a small metal bracket or spring to hold them together

[bozodos]

Beer Baron were you able to recall in the end what the alternate brand name for those clamps was? As I'm sure Sard ones would be v. expensive. They also look a tad reminiscent of V-band clamps!

I've not had any problems so far with the $5 t-bolt clamps i get from Cummins, but then having the ridges welded over the joins really seemed to help as posted elsewhere in the thread, I'd though that my mate and I had dreamed that up until I read this thread lol.

[zebra]

Race Spec make some really tidy Billet alloy ones

http://racespec.com.au/product_info.php?cP...products_id=547

I dont personaly run them but when I have some extra coin I would like to swap some out to these

I am running the $13 autobarn Tbolt jobbies at the mo without any dramas

I have a couple of those on my car...they dont close up properly as in they leave a gap and leak unless they are BS tight

[JonnoHR31]

Race Spec make some really tidy Billet alloy ones

http://racespec.com.au/product_info.php?cP...products_id=547

I dont personaly run them but when I have some extra coin I would like to swap some out to these

I am running the $13 autobarn Tbolt jobbies at the mo without any dramas

same ones supershit have. as i said before they seam to pinch the joiner a bit and create a fold where boost could escape. maybe buy 1 from supercheap first and try it?

[shanef]

The main difference between the cheaper 'wiggans' style joiners and the proper wiggans joiners is the angle of flex that is allowed in the pipes. The wiggans have a flex angle of upto 30deg and the cheaper ones only have a 5-10deg flex. So the cheaper ones would be very similar to just welding all ur pipes together

The other problem u could come across is the fact that some of the pipes maybe coming together at an angle, and not directly square to each other, that angle could cause the clamp to not give a 100% seal.

How often do you guys properly pressure test ur intake system? i.e hooking an air compressor upto the air intake and feeding pressure into the system (making sure all obvious breathers etc are blocked off) This is a very easy way to make sure your coller pipes dont blow off and tracing any annoying air leaks.

Race Spec make some really tidy Billet alloy ones

http://racespec.com.au/product_info.php?cP...products_id=547

I dont personaly run them but when I have some extra coin I would like to swap some out to these

I am running the $13 autobarn Tbolt jobbies at the mo without any dramas

they are the ones noel was talking about earlier

[Sky-Engineering]

Even better then the SARD double bead hose clamps are the following constant tension double bead hose clamps: http://www.murraycorp.com/index.pl/tss_turbo_seal_series.htm.

These are used a lot in the race and rally here. But they are used for 2.0 bar plus cars.

For normal road cars the normal wormdrives are ok. The T bolt are shit and only for low pressure applications.

[Blitz]

Race Spec make some really tidy Billet alloy ones

http://racespec.com.au/product_info.php?cP...products_id=547

I dont personaly run them but when I have some extra coin I would like to swap some out to these

I am running the $13 autobarn Tbolt jobbies at the mo without any dramas

They look like a glorified cheapo clamp to be honest.

[N1GTR]

Thanks everyone for the replies and info - certainly a lot of info has just come out of the woodwork!

Car's all fixed and boosting away like it should

[shanef]

oi stevo did some more digging and found this very informative thread and vid

http://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?p=8938406

[dangerman4]

They look like a glorified cheapo clamp to be honest.

agreed the 3 piece aluminium things should be avoided.

the thread to tighten them is very corse so the ability to get them tight using a allen key is not going to happen.

and then theres the 3 pinch points.

also why are you guys getting the end of your pipes welded?

surely getting a nice smooth lip rolled into the aluminium gives a more even load point.

ASE in adelaide rolled a few bits of pipe for me for $5 took him 5 minutes and it has a perfect flair at the end.

[R31Nismoid]

^^ for a nice sharp rise, stopped my hose popping off and took a welder about 5mins to do it as well (all the way around)

Didnt look that flash, but its under a hose so didnt bother me particularly and it was free!

[Tangles]

the t-bolt clamps I run are around $10? from agriculture supply depo's - for use in plumbing etc.

excellent quality, only 1 has failed after numerous do-up, un-do, do-up, un-do, do-up, un-do, etc procedures