Best Company To Buy Stainless Turbo Piping From?

[Rick Giles]

Can anyone tell me, hopefully from experience, where to buy stainless turbo piping from? Just bought an unfinished project that needs piping from 2 turbos to 2 intercoolers.

[64duece]

Most of the normal stuff we do, Stainless Works offwea very nice bends at a reasonable price. We use these on most of our turbo header builds.

If you need the nicest quality available, then SPD or Burns Stainless would be your next option but, more expensive.

[J2SpeedandCustom]

Best place and pricing anywhere - http://www.mandrel-bends.com/catalog/

[ItDoRun]

What about McMaster Carr. They used to sell 304SS tubing. I know a friens of mine used MC on his turbo Mustang.

[Fluid Power]

http://www.burnsstainless.com/

Another option, a little spendy, but nice stuff.

Darren

[E.rodz]

I don't know if you are set on stainless but aluminum is a common thing when it comes to intake piping. you can find plenty of kits on fee bay they come with 2 90s 2 45s 2 straights 2 180s and couplers for about 120 bucks.stainless can be used but great care must be used for it is very easily warped and when you weld the outside the inside should be purged with argon to prevent sugaring of the inside of the piping.just my 2 cents worth.good luck with whatever you decide.

[Rick Giles]

Thanks guys! That is all good info. I think stainless would look the best since the hot side is already done in stainless.

[ssinister]

FWIW Aluminum should also be purged with argon on the inside of the pipe. Mild steel piping is pretty much the only thing that should be welded without a inert gas shielding the other side of the weld.

[Blown353]

Burns, SPD, and Woolf Aircraft all make very high quality stuff. I used SPD and Woolf for my 321 stainless up-pipes to the turbos, the 321 wastegate tubing, and 304 stainless downpipes. Their bend quality is superb!

Woolf also offers some very tight 1D radius bends that the other guys do not offer, so keep that in mind if you have a "tight spot."

For the remainder of the exhaust from the downpipes back to the mufflers I bought all the 304 stainless bends and hardware from Columbia River. While the tubing is good quality their bends aren't quite as nice as Woolf, SPD, or Burns. They're not crushed, wrinkled, or rippled, but expect a few minor die marks and lots of grease left inside from the forming mandrel. Columbia River's stuff is not as pretty as the "high dollar" guys but for the exhaust under the car it's plenty good in my opinion and substantially cheaper. Don't get me wrong, CR's bends are still nice but they are not as perfect as SPD, Woolf, or Burns. The straight tubing itself that CR uses has Made in USA ink stamps on it-- so that's good!

FYI, if you're building tubing from the turbo outlets to the intercooler I would recommend using aluminum. It has a much higher thermal conductivity than stainless and will "shed heat" from the hot air leaving the turbos more effectively than stainless which has a much lower thermal conductivity and tends to keep the heat in.

As mentioned, remember all the necessary welding procedures for stainless tubing. Tungsten size, heat range, backside shielding (flux or backpurging), etc. A poor stainless weld is very brittle and an overheated stainless weld is also susceptible to corrosion.

[Rick Giles]

Thanks for the help! Aluminum does sound like a good choice now.

[96z28ss]

another recommendation for Columbia River Mandrel Bending.
There prices are great. I have the ability to just drive out there and get stuff when i need. So thats an added benefit.

[96z28ss]

One question I have is there a market for super high quality bends? I'm talking bends that have no markings at all. Bends that are perfectly round no matter where you cut them as long as you cut from the centerline.
Is there a point where its just too expensive.

[Blown353]

One question I have is there a market for super high quality bends? I'm talking bends that have no markings at all. Bends that are perfectly round no matter where you cut them as long as you cut from the centerline.
Is there a point where its just too expensive.

Even Burns, Woolf, and SPD have some ovalizing in the bend... it's just the nature of the material and process. I'd say the amount of "ovalizing" is the same between Columbia River and Burns/Woolf/SPD: it's more a function of bend radius, tube diameter, and wall thickness than who built it-- unless the bend shop has really sloppy or undersized inside mandrels.

The biggest difference between Columbia River and Woolf/SPD/Burns is cosmetic-- CR's bends often have very light scratches or light gouges from the dies where the other 3 are nearly perfect. However, there are some things CR doesn't offer that the other guys do-- 321 and Inconel tubing and bends, ovalized bends and tubing, 1D tight radius bends, a multitude of CNC exhaust flanges, merge collectors, etc. All parts at the high end of the materials and use market.

CR is a GREAT outfit though for tubing, bends, and exhaust fab hardware like flexes and v-bands and their prices are great. You just have to go to the other guys for more high end or specialized components and materials which is why I use all of them. I used CR for all the aluminum intercooler tubing, 3" v-bands, 3" and 1.75" flex sections, tubing from the wastegate outlets back to the downpipes, and exhaust from the downpipes to the mufflers. I purchased the CNC turbo and manifold flanges and 321 stainless tubing from SPD. I purchased a few 1R tight radius bends for the intercooler to the throttle body and the downpipe bends from Woolf, and I bought 1.75" v-bands for the wastegates from Burns.

Sometimes it's a matter of buying from the supplier who has what you need. For bang for the buck I try to buy everything I can from CR!