I will be shortly putting a 14b / cx manifold on my sohc vtec motor, and I plan on making my own downpipe and exhaust, and I ran into a couple questions:

First, should I use a piece of braided flex pipe after the downpipe to allow for motor mount flex, or should I try and find 2.5" spring-held flanges similar to the factory honda ones? Or use standard flanges and rely on the stock rubber exhaust hangers? Where is a good place to get such flanges?

Second, do you guys see anything wrong with using mild steel for the turbo flange / downpipe / exhaust, as opposed to stainless? I'd rather not shell out the extra cash, not to mention have to worry about back-purging, etc, I've never welded stainless before.

Also, would there be a benefit of running a bigger (3") exhaust after the downpipe? I don't think its necessary for a ~200whp goal, I'm just curious as I see some of you guys expanding the exhaust after the downpipe.

ps On a side note, wouldn't it make sense that my charge pipes only need to be as big as the inside diameter of the flange on the turbo where the compressed air comes out?

A big thanks in advance...

 

anyone?

 

One more time...

 

The flex pipe will help relieve some stress from your manifold, so it's a good idea, but not completely necessary.

It's fine to use mild steel for the flanges. My Lovefab manifold even came with mild steel flanges. They'll rust a little, but never rust through. It's a good idea to use stainless on the actual piping though because that can rust through.

3" exhaust is not necessary for you application, but you main gain a few horsepower from it.

 

if your on a budget i wouldnt use stainless its a little lot more expensive than stainless...i would also use a braided flex pipe too..i would keep away from the spring bolt flange too...i would jsut flange the flex pipe. 2.5 would be good enough for a 200 whp turbo setup, also much easier to make the down pipe too...here are some pics of a custom, inexpensive turbo kit i made for a customer...

 

I am going to be using a flex pipe with my set up... just for the peace of mind.

I don't want to crack my downpipe/manifold/exhaust, or anything else that might get stressed from my engine rocking and rolling!

Flex pipes are pretty inexpensive on eBay so you might as well...

I don't know where to get the 2-bolt flange that hooks up to the catalytic converter though... I think most exhaust shops will carry them... if anyone knows where to pick one up let me know!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EJ1 wilcox &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I don't know where to get the 2-bolt flange that hooks up to the catalytic converter though... I think most exhaust shops will carry them... if anyone knows where to pick one up let me know!

</TD></TR></TABLE>

http://www.kteller.com/store/index.php/cPath/23_85_86

 

Thanks guys, that setup looks very clean jon. Tell the customer to point the alarm siren down so there's less a chance of water getting into it.

I'll try to take some pics when I make up the pipes.

 

jon i think you're gonna wanna drop the car to the ground so you can actually realize how bad the ground clearance is gonna be. it might just be because of the pics butg it looks relaly low.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by project dc2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">jon i think you're gonna wanna drop the car to the ground so you can actually realize how bad the ground clearance is gonna be. it might just be because of the pics butg it looks relaly low. </TD></TR></TABLE>

yea looks low..but it sits like a 1/4 inch lower than i JDM ITR header