Charge-Air Plumbing Restraint

[BC847]

Yo main, other'nigh pulup to th'lite, stg,
Go gone, WAHH WAHH WAHH . . . dagum yo BOOM SHHHEEWWOOOO! , main!






Yeah, did that again the other night at the track.

BOOM!


Another charge-air boot blown off. To date I reckon I've had one blow off maybe five times now. Been lucky every one that no real damage was done.


So the other day I was at the annual Mopars/NADM at The Rock and was peeking under Jeff Garmon's hood. I noticed he had some tabs welded to the charge-air plumbing, right there on either side of the silicone boots. There was a single strip of aluminum bridging the two tabs thus locking the two pipes together. That way the charge-air pressure (boost) can't blow the two pipes apart.

Neat!


I've historically depended on the silicone boots having a good grip on the pipes. Further, I've depended on the pipes having a decent hump for the boots to get a grip on. And then there's the dagum band-clamps. Constant-pressure (those with the springs) or not. I've had to torque the snot out of them for it all to stay put.

I figure the torque twisting up the engine thus pulling on stuff ain't helping.




OK, so thinking about that Garmon mess, and thinking I've differing plumbing metals and lack a TIG, and thinking all I've got are some rivets and some aluminum strap-stock, . . .. .

I did this . . . .




Take some 1" x 1/8" aluminum strap and bend it around the chuck end of a 5/16" drill bit in the vice. Make it so the inside of the slot is about 1/2" deep . . . .





- Using a hammer and an anvil, radius the tabs to fit the charge-air pipe in question, drill four holes for some aluminum rivets (drive pins secured with red Lock-Tight) . . . .
- Some "Thread-All" rod with the aviation type lock-nuts . .. ..





Installed on the inside radius of any flexing and install boots/plumbing as usual. Then suck-up the slack in the threaded rod for what appears to be a decent restraint. And cheap too.

Making the slot for the threaded rod in the strap a little big allows some movement in the installed assembly.



I failed to take pichers while making the stuff, work with me.

Here's where the charge-air comes into the intercooler . . .





Here's the bottom of the restraint at the secondary's outlet horn . .

[gear jammer 91"]

Looks good I would be kinda concerned about the rivets loosening up and causing an air leak after a while though.

[IowaCummins]

looks like an awesome idea. one thing you could do to make em last is try and find a buddy with a tig and get them welded up. i think those rirets might come loose and you would start hearing soem new whistles! lol or maybe some metal to metal epoxy? that might work

[RSWORDS]

David That is a AWESOME idea

[fergavs]

These are what I have seen the big boost crowd use around here:

http://vibrantperformance.com/catalog/p ... ts_id=1074

I feel they are a waste of money and would fab my own but you get the idea. Good work.

[Oddfire]

Ooooooo, aaaaaaaaaa!

[PToombs]

I'd be more worried about the metal stud in the rivet loosening up and falling in. You know where it'll go!

[bgilbert]

You need a mig my friend.

[BC847]

You need a mig my friend.

A MIG would be nice but I want a TIG >drool<.

The rivet mandrels are captive. I went the extra step of adding a drop of red Lock-Tite in the rivet's pin hole after they were set.

There won't be problems of the rivets worrying the holes and such.