Please suggest with my three options for Intercooler work&gt

[Guest Anonymous]

(1) Order the pipings and tow the car to a muffler shop and have them weld together.

 

(2) Order the pipings and rent a welder and do the work myself.

 

(3) Just tow the car to the muffler shop and have them do all the Intercooler installation work.

 

I've never used a welder before so I trust the muffler guys work better. The pipings probably cost me about $200. What are your suggestions?

 

Thanks guys.

 

Nathan

[Lockjaw]

I you let the muffler shop do it, unless you supply the mandrel bends, you will get crush bent pipe, which is like a 20 % restriction over mandrel.

 

Do it yourself is cheap, but it is a pain. You know you can by a flux core welder for 200 bucks at home depot right?

[SleeperZ]

Personally, I did option 1). I don't think crush tubing is a good option, and if you've nver welded before, piping is not the easiest thing to learn to weld on.

[Tim240z]

What about this option:

Buy all the tubing bends etc, cut it up to the right size and shape and mark the joints with a sharpie (in at least 3 places on each side of each join, each mark with a different number or symbol). Then take all the parts to the exhaust shop to get welded up.

Tim

[Afshin]

I'm planning to go with option 1 for my own set up. I already have the hardest part set up, which is a good muffler shop that charges reasonable/cheap rates (hard to find these days). I figure I will get the piping from JC witney or alex costa at precision machines (he is a hybridZ member). I see no reason to have the shop do crush bending only to decrease efficiency and cause more turbulence.

With my non existent welding skills I figure it would take me longer, cost as much or more (getting/renting welder, redoing the work over after ruining the mandrel bent pipe I just bought or only to find a leak in my crummy weld later....)and certainly won't come out as nice as the work from my skilled mufller shop guy.

[Roostmonkey]

Just a suggestion, take it to a weld shop not a muffler shop. No dis for the muffler guys but typically they're welding quality is low. they will most likley use a mig welder and they're used to gobbing it on because 99 % of their work goes unseen. Aweld shop will tig weld the joints and make it look pretty. I realize my muffler shop comments are gross generalizations and I know there are exceptions but ....

[Doug71zt]

Tig is way to go on IC piping - no grinding and a lot nicer looking job. TIG is probably faster than MIG also - It is for me when you consider the amount of time it takes to clean up the MIG weld. One pass around the pipe and touch of scotchbrite wheel and its done. I second the opinion on the Muffler shop/ welding shop.

Good luck - Doug

[Guest bastaad525]

okay, someone school me, what does TIG stand for, what does MIG stand for, and what are the differences in the different methods?

[Roostmonkey]

TIG= tungsten,inert,gas.you use a small electic torch in one hand and feed wire into the molten puddle with the other hand.Mig welding feeds the wire mechaniclly right thru the torch.Tig offers a much more controlable weld.You use a foot pedal to regulate the amperage and only add as much wire as you want...with mig, you set the amperage and wire feed speed and pull the trigger and what you had set is what you get