flexible hose for intake to turbo problems?

[ZR8ED]

I can never leave well enough alone. This time I am working on the intake piping into my t3/t4 hybrid turbo. I no longer have a MAF, and it is now a bit of a patch work from the filter to the turbo inlet.

 

Background.

Mild modded vg30et in a 280z. I was still using the STOCK turbo inlet pipe from a z31. Yep. I made it fit the new inlet by slicing it upalong the flange to flare it out enough to fit on the larger t4 housing. Yes it was very barbaric. Not very pretty, and most likely restrictive due to its flattend section originally designed to go up and over the front motor mount (drivers side) I used the part, because I had a complete parts car for my original swap where I kept the stock t3 during the break in phase of testing the driveline in an s30. It was just easier to keep the engine setup as stock as possible, and custom making a pipe is not as fun when you have a perfectly fitted part in your hand already.

Its got pretty banged up and dented to make it fit the t4 housing with less than 1/4 inch of clearance from the motor mount due to the larger turbo. I actually had to destroy the part last night removing it from the car. The engine was installed into the car with the inlet pipe on the turbo, and there is no room to remove it without lifting the motor again.

 

So NO going back on this mod.

Now on to my question. building a custom inlet pipe from mandrel bent steel (3inch dia) is beyond my skill level unless I want it to look like the last pipe. (crap) I do however have some nice 3" flexible hose reinforced with SS wire. The hose is pretty flexible, and I was able to test fit it on the turbo and got it to past under the motor mount for a greatly improved direction of flow. ( there is now no need to have two 90 degree bends to clear over top of the motor mount.) I am all set to continue when this naging question made me stop working on the car. "Will the hose collapse when under full load (suction into the turbo)"? I have been using this exact piece of hose on the intake already, but not this close to the turbo. It is approx 18" long, and the bends are not nearly as sharp, though the first bend is probably 50-70 degrees. ( I only have 4.5 inches of clearance from the turbo inlet until it hits the motor mount, and has to dive under it 3 inches or so)

 

Should I be concerned? or should I just go for it and stop worrying so much. Just man up and put that belly pan back on and button everything up and drive the darn thing.

 

Yes I should have pics, I can throw some up tonight if it would help.

 

Thanks,

Scott.

[nismo kid]

Here is some for Z31's.

http://www.redz31.net/turbofaq/mod.inlet.html

 

But you can use it our you can buy this.

http://www.knfilters.com/search/product.aspx?Prod=RU-2510

 

I ran this on my old holset setup in stock location.

[260DET]

Wire wound flexible hose should be OK providing its good quality stuff. My GT35R has some for the inlet with short piece of aluminium tube onto the turbo. So the immediate inlet is straight.

 

But its good to think about these sorts of things that can cause serious problems if they fail.