im putting together a turbo kit and someone threw out the idea of using rubber hoses as intercooler piping. it kind of makes sense that it would work but i have never heard of it. i was wondering if anyone had ever seen this done or if you think it would work.

 

Silicone hose works, rubber is a bad idea and does not even work well for couplings. As rubber heats up it becomes very soft and will slip off of whatever its clamped to when it gets hot, if you tighten it tight enough it does not slip off it will end up tearing off. This is just when used as short 3 inch couplings, larger lenghts will probably expand a lot once they get hot as well as the previous problems.

 

nope. don't do it... you need something that will hold pressure, not something that will expand on you... not to mention that it will try to straiten out on you under boost like a fire hose...

 

I have some silicone 45 degree bends that I use to get around a corner on my setup. About 4-5 inches is just coupling, no piping. It doesn't expand but I would not try a length anymore than this. This is runing 15psi by the way.