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blew pipe off compressor outlet

B

BrApple

No Life But CEG
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So last night I had an event .... turned out the pipe blew out of the coupler from the turbo outlet.

So the situation was I was on the highway moving along and went to pass another vehicle. Went to wot and then heard a loud bang noise and then the engine wouldn't really run. All I had to do was push the pipe back into the coupler. The band clamp was still tight too.

Now I was running 10 psi ... and I have run more before and never had an issue. The big difference that I can note was the ambient temperature. It was in the mid 50's where as when I last ran more boost it was in the middle of the summer.

So freak occurance or could there have been something that caused this? All I can think of is the the mbc or wastegate got jammed up and it made more boost then it was suppose to and it blew the pipe out of the coupler. So if that was the case I got lucky and the motor was saved.

I did not note any other ill effects from this happening. Turned the boost down and went on my way.
 
What kind of fastener does the clamp use? If it's a worm style clamp or some other non locking mechanism it might have loosened just enough to let the pipe slide off.
 
its a worm style clamp. When I checked it it was still tight, i couldn't tighten it any more. Again the setup has been running for a few years now, even at higher psi, and I have never had an issue.
 
I can't think of a reason why it would come off except for the clamp coming loose, I would throw T-bolt clamps on myself only because worm screw do have the ability to loosen themselves. I'm assuming you have a boost gauge and can monitor your boost levels, I would check to ensure that the wastegate and BOV is opening, because as you stated in your original post a stuck wastegate could cause the boost pressures to increase to high in the higher RPM. I would also check the vacuum supply to the wastegate.
 
jrichardson said:
I can't think of a reason why it would come off except for the clamp coming loose, I would throw T-bolt clamps on myself only because worm screw do have the ability to loosen themselves. I'm assuming you have a boost gauge and can monitor your boost levels, I would check to ensure that the wastegate and BOV is opening, because as you stated in your original post a stuck wastegate could cause the boost pressures to increase to high in the higher RPM. I would also check the vacuum supply to the wastegate.
Click to expand...

Yes I could change to a t-clamp, however it has been fine as it is for years, so I suspect something else. The wastegate appears to be working fine, It was controlling to 10 psi when I was at wot. Which was before this happened. BOV is definately working, its a RFL, so its loud.

Maybe its just a fluke then that this happened.
 
I never liked the fact that the NPG kit did not have bead formed ends and used standard worm gear clamps. I bought T-clamps for my setup to replace the worm gear clamps and I also plan to use my bead forming tool to add beads to all of the tube ends. Just because it's been fine for years does not mean anything. Your relying on friction to some extent to hold it together, and friction changes over time so it's not suprising that it just now failed for the first time. Now that said you could have had a increase in boost due to the failure of another component, but that can be tested too.
 
You can even just weld some material on to the pipe that popped off. When I made my first solid charge pipe (one pipe 2 couplers)..without a hump hose it would pop off all the time, so I welded some tacks onto in a pinch (dd) and it holds up to 28 psi now. It just needs something for the clamp to push against instead of pushing itself off. Ditch the worm gear clamps.
 
ditch the worm gear clamps and pick up some Mikalor t-bolt clamps. much nicer than a traditional t-bolt IMO, doesnt require a deep well socket, and you can hide the threads better. I use them on almost all of my boost hoses and love them. You can pick them up from Fastenal for a reasonable price as well as find them at other places. combine those with beaded pipe ends and they should never slip off.

http://www.fastenal.com/web/product...lars"|~ ~|categoryl3:"603517 T-Bolt Clamps"|~
0427799_hr4c.jpg
 
If you wanted to go the cheap route I've seen people weld a washer onto a pair of vise grips and use that to form a bead on the end of tubes. You could even just do this by using a map gas torch and some brazing rod instead of a welder.

However if you wanted to mess with it you could send me the pipe(s) and I could use my bead former to put the bead on it for you. Just lmk.
 
If you have been running the same coupler for years, with the same clamp...it wouldn't surprise me if the coupler got soft/flexible enough over the years to just slip right out of the clamp under full boost. I had this happen a few times on my blower SHO @ 14+ LB's before I switched to thicker ply coupler and T-Bolt clamps.

-Sam
 
T-bolt clamps will fix it. I blew worm clamps off quite a few times with my supercharger setup. When I switched to t-bolt clamps I never had an issue.
 
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