I have the Fabspeed turbo outlet pipe, and I want to mount it this week. I want to fabricate some kind of hanger for the block bolt before I do (see photos).

There are four reasons for why I am worried that I might damage the turbo without it
1. The stock system is mounted to the block at the end of the outlet pipe. This stiffens up everything and ensures that the possibly high leverage forces from the rest of the system (a very long lever) is not applied to the turbo.
2. I will be subjecting the turbo to more weight than an SS system from time to time as I will have to hang the stock exhaust back on to the outlet pipe to pass emissions and comply with sound limits (sometimes stricter on track than on the street).
3. The block mounting protects the turbo from rear impacts to the exhaust system, such as backing into a kerb or scraping the exhaust tip when backing into a steep driveway.
4. The block mounting isolates the turbo from vibrations from the system and may prolong its life.

I have spent a lot of time sourcing parts, and eventually a new turbo due to a stray washer which ate my inducer blades. It is very hard and expensive to get parts for the K26#8 turbo and I plan to "never" need to do it again, so I want a system which will be as bulletproof as possible.

Has anyone successfully fabricated a hanger for this pipe?
I'm thinking something which could be bolted or spot welded on would be great.

I'm worried that welding could cause warping.
Could I use a stainless steel exhaust clamp as a hanger?

 

I wouldn't worry about it. When the exhaust is installed, the turbo isn't carrying all of the weight. No aftermarket downpipe will have that ab, and som guys don't even install th bolt on factory pieces.

 

Thanks for reassuring me. I'll keep you opinion in mind in case I'm unable to fabricate something to get it bolted on.

 

Do whtever you are comfortable with, but that looks like it will be a pain in the ***.

 

Umm.. Me thinks the Pipe will break long before the cast iron (or SS depending on turbo choice) turbine housing will...

application of the forces to the turbo are only applied IF the pipe were stronger than the turbine housing is.. and I can almost guarantee this is NOT the case!

Not to mention, the exhaust hangers are rubber (unless you solid mount the rest of the exhaust), so they will flex as will the rest of the exhaust!

MANY have used the fabspeed piece, and I have yet to hear of a single turbo failure caused by the stress being applied to the turbo by the rest of the exhaust...

If you are really that worried about it, put in solid engine mounts and a solid trans mount.. then the only flexing of the entire setup will be caused by the expansion and contraction of the exhaust by the heat it is seeing!

 

Thank guys, I am probably just being overly cautious. I'm just so sick of working in this area of the car.

You didn't mention the movement of the exhaust system when the car is hitting bumps and cornering. My guess is that this can cause quite a bit of movement.

Can you get uprated exhaust hangers?

 

You really are worrying over nothing. Ensure proper gaskets are used, items are installed correctly, and things are torqued to spec and you will be fine. All you can get for hangars are the stock rubber ones. You do not want the exhaust to be rigid.

 

+1, ridgidly mounted exhaust WILL break as it expands and contracts with temperature... the rubber mounts are more than sufficient to prevent excess movement when hiting bumps...

As I have already said, plenty of people are running this exact same piece, with no probelms to date!

 

Think about how the turbo is mounted...

You basically have the two bolts on the engine mount (at the drain) and the two exhaust connections (crossover and downpipe). The crossover really has no mechanism for applying/transferring any forces to the tubo, other than from thermal expansion. The downpipe and exhaust, like you said, can act like a long lever arm if the DP is not mounted to the block. It gives you the ability to produce a rather large bending moment at the drain flange (a cause for leaks?).

I don't think this should be any sort of problem in most circumstances however if you have monkeys working on installing an exhaust system I suppose it could be...

Unfortunately, due to its location on the wrong side of the engine, the turbo does need some sort of weight support as without it the crossover pipe/headers would likely fail (even quicker) from high-cycle fatigue.

 

Due to the tight constraints of the 951 exhaust system, I highly doubt that enough movement could be achieved to actually do damage to anything exhaust related. I'm sure if this was a legitimate structural issue, the aftermarket would have adopted the same mounting as the factory unit.

 

Right, you aren't going to hurt the pipes. You may cause a leak at the turbo drain flange with excessive movement but thats it.

Now, if the turbo wasn't supported at the drain flange (just connected to the crossover and DP), then yes you would likely fail at the headers.

 

This has come up before and I remember Tim at SFR said he could weld a mount on the pipe like the factory unit. Give him a call.

I had a broken SFR pipe about 6 inch past the flange to the down pipe. Made one heck of a noise on the track, Sent it back to Fabspeed and they fixed it under warrantee. They doubled walled and welded the pipe at the crack so I doubt it will fail there again.

I did find that the bolt to the down pipe had backed out so I re-tapped and installed it hoping that would help. So far, so good.

 

I have been looking at the turbo flange as well, and I do believe this is the reason for the factory hanger.
Aftermarket fabricators and engineers don't have access to extensive testing. They mostly design based on calculated guessing. The cost of the pipe is high as it is, add that hanger and it would likely be prohibitively expensive for most customers and they would have to drop their margins. Better for them to remake those that do fail under warranty.

I'll have a real close look at it today to determine what to do. I'll let you guys know what I decide.

 

Right...this is a great business strategy...Gotta say you're wrong on this one.

Do whatever you like. Ultimately that's what will happen anyways, regardless of what we tell you.

 

So they do extensive testing on tracks designed to expose flaws and week spots just like the factory engineers? And yes, it would be a workable business strategy because, as you say, they have not caused a problem so far... I'm not saying this to criticize the aftermarket guys, I love what they do, but in the end what they (mostly) do is to try to improve on tried and tested parts, there is bound to be some risk involved. In most cases that risk is carried by us, which is fair.

I agree that what is done is right in 90% of the cases, but what if none of the relatively few who have bought these pipes have taken a rear end hit so far? Does not mean that it won't damage the turbo or the mount when it happens. Nor do we know if owners are able to discern between potential accelerated wear on their turbo which might be caused by their performance exhaust systems from any other causes for wear and failure. Most likely they would put it down to rotten luck. I'm pushing it now, I know, I'm simply trying to explain why I'm not in agreement with the, "it has worked so far so it will likely never be a problem philosophy" when it comes to critical, or very expensive parts. I'll buy your argument for most other scenarios though.

I do appreciate your input, however. I am not as likely to go through with this as I was before, so thanks for chiming in.
B

PS: I still want tips and advice as to how such a hanger might be DIY'ed if anyone has any.