Hey all, I'm going to take delivery of a 1992 300ZX twin turbo and am looking at some options, I was wondering what's with all the silicone turbo hoses or the polished ones. Is their any gain or should I keep them stock? Only reason I'm looking is that the series one ptu is under the driver side throttle body pipe so if I gotta take one off and if there is any gain I might just replace them. I tried the search function and the only thing I've seen is people that are selling their cars with the pipes fitted. So I'm just calling out to people who have this fitted so I can make my decision. Thanks for the help in advance.
Well silicone use less clamps so in theory less chances for leaks. Shouldn't be an issue if you tighten your clamps properly. Hard pipes are shiny and sound awesome. I like hard pipes.
Depends if you are into looks or performance, I think originally hard pipes would of been for BOV's, but became fashionable as a bling item, I cannot see ANY performance advantage with hard pipes, but I can see the already mentioned issue of extra fail points, also less flexible to move with engine and more uneven transition points were air flow can be effected, also OEM have insulation on them, I assume this is to minimise heat soak from the engine compartment to the intake charge. Probably not a massive difference in performance, show or go take your pick.
"Also blow up like balloons under boost" thats why hard pipes are better for performance less lag when boosting because you are not inflating the hoses but you have more places for leaks to occur
Let me see, estimated volume increase of hoses, 10cc, engine air flow at 4000 RPM per second, 50,000cc, seeing a performance issue, priceless !
Hmm, so it doesn't really matter what I do. There's not much gain to go with it. Ill see what the prices are on them. Thanks guys.
yes 4 less clamps just for the boost pipes in fact, never witnessed a silicon hose blow up like a balloon, unfortunately i have seen the p/s boost pipe sucked flat on my car
predominantly aesthetic. Second reason for replacing them is that the ends on the OEM rubber hoses can perish, or will have split from overlapping the throttle body lip while fitting. Hardpipes look good, but their finish isnt spectacular, and they scratch easily. Then there's the addition of twice the T-clamps. There was an issue with some silicone intake suppliers being very jewish with their hose lengths. Those that carcraze/a-bris-z (pretty sure) sells are excessively long, and will require trimming down. Not an issue, and much better than the opposite. If your OEM rubber hoses are fine, they offer no noticeable gain whatsoever, except the reduced weight from your wallet welcome back to the Z world
You will be convinced silicon pipes are best the first time you have to fit a hard pipe kit and remove it
THIS. I absolutely despise living with my hard pipes. Combined with an absolutely excessive four ply set of Z1 couplers, removing/refitting them is borderline impossible. Can't wait to go back to silicon.
I love my hardpipes for the sheer ease and speed of removal compared to the std black pipe AND the silicone pipes...... I actually gave my silicones away with a thank god they've gone, the std pipes went into landfill :rofl: it takes me longer to get the tube socket and the 18V rattle gun than it takes to drop the coupler off of the throttle bodies and slip it down the hard pipe, access is good enough for me at that stage for most jobs...... you must be doing something seriously wrong or using antique tools or is it the other way around..... antique mechanic with wrong tools :rofl: jk
Since replacing my silicones with the hardpipers. I can hear my turbos spool, and sounds awesome. however i needed a hammer nearly to get the bloody hard pipes on.... lol
