Silicone Hoses Question?

[peter21]

hi i was just wondering with the silicone hoses do they do anything to the car or are they just for looks?

i tried searching it in the search but i couldnt find anything about the silicone hoses so i just thought ill post one myself.

[sh@un]

silicone doesn't 'balloon' under high pressures like nitrile rubber hoses do. this is one of the reasons standard hoses frequently 'blow off' when you up the boost pressure- the constant expansion and contraction of the standard hoses contributes to this. this is especially annoying when it's the intercooler inlet/outlet pipes. over-tightening the clamps to compensate won't help

silicone hoses with proper constant-tension clamps are a must if you're chasing big power with high boost levels

but for N/A, probably largely a rice mod...

[N-DAWG]

Peter, are you talking about the silicon hoses used primarily in turbo applications, or silicone radiator hoses?

[peter21]

Peter, are you talking about the silicon hoses used primarily in turbo applications, or silicone radiator hoses?

just the normal silicone hoses that makes the engine look nice. does anyone no how much labour cost for puttin silicone hoses in the engine?

[N-DAWG]

http://justjap.com/store/product.php?produ...at=0&page=1

http://justjap.com/store/product.php?produ...at=0&page=1

?

Apart from that all I can think of (at least in an N/A Application) would be your silicon vacuum lines and possibly induction pipe. Messing around with the induction setup on the R34 RB25DE NEO engines isn't the best idea as they're designed a special way for optimum efficiency, and even then a metal pipe would be best.

To swap your water hoses, well there's your cost of the parts, plus your hourly labour rate and new fluids. Besides looks there's really not a whole lot of reason to do it, unless of course your hoses are worn out and you're looking at an aftermarket option, at least in an N/A application anyways. Your OEM hoses are going to withstand the heat easily.

Lets say it takes an hour of labour, you're looking at close to $200 just for nice looking hoses. Better off putting that money towards upgrading the air filter, or add more on top and get a catback system made up and get some real-world benefits.