Intake Pipe and Blow-Off Valve

One of the other things learned last season was that the Mitsubishi Compressor Bypass Valve we were using was leaking pretty badly - it wouldn't hold much more than 18 PSI of boost.

Given that we're supposed to be running 24 PSI or more, this is a bit of a problem.

To solve it, we mounted a new blow-off valve from Turbo XS

But given that we had to redo the intake piping to accommodate the TurboXS o-ring flange, we decided to eliminate a known point of failure and replace a section of rubber hose with this:

This is an Adel Wiggins clamp, an example of trickle-down from military aircraft. This puppy is the cat's ass. It is a quick-release tubing joint that not only positively locks the tubing together, but also allows for some relative movement, so that the tubing can flex.

This is a test-fit of the new pipe. Looks pretty good.

Here is the finished pipe, with the new blow-off valve in place and the Adel Wiggins clamp locked down.

Another view, showing the blow-off valve in more detail. All that is left is to run a pipe from the outlet of the BOV to the inlet on the turbo inlet horn.

No more blowing off hoses in competition!

2010 Update: This is the start of my transition from a "consumer" to an "engineer". Prior to this part, all the modifications made to the car had been purchased or comped off-the-shelf parts provided by other suppliers or sponsors.

But a lot of these parts didn't quite meet my specifications, and I started thinking that maybe I could do better myself.

So with this one, I bought the mandrel bends myself. I used a chop saw with an aluminum cutting blade to section the tubing. the mount flange was an old throttle body elbow I cut up and milled myself. The whole assembly was taped together, and when I got the fit right, I took it to a local welder to weld up. Post-weld cleanup I did, and then it went off to the anodizer for the final finish.

The result was a bulletproof and amazingly lightweight and leak-proof part that was far better than anything available off the shelf.

Yes, I'm proud of this part. It just goes to show you that you are not limited to just what other people do - don't be afraid to design it yourself!