ETS Titanium LP2 Lower Intercooler Pipe (Evo 8/9)

At this point we had to decide what was worse, a full 2.5" pipe with a fast area change at the turbo outlet, or a smooth area change, but with a 2" bend coming off of the turbo.

Our experience told us that a 2" pipe has no place on a 350whp+ vehicle, and that even though the 2"-2.5" reducer would cause and abrupt area change and possibly some turbulence, that it was better to make the bend in 2.5" with some turbulence, than make the bend in the small 2" and become restrictive.

We tested both designs and found that the full 2.5" pipe with a silicone reducer, worked better than the unit with a welded in cone reducer. From here we put our original lower pipe out to market, and have had hundreds of satisfied customers.

Moving Forward To 2008

With stock turbo cars making 500whp and Stock appearing (Red/Green/etc.) turbo making over 600whp, we knew that at these power levels the lower pipe was going to be a restriction. With that in mind we wanted to re visit the lower pipe design and see if we could improve it.

Upon review of current designs we were right back to where we were before; a full 2.5" pipe with a stepped reducer or a small 2" diameter bend with a smooth cone transition. With that in mind we knew that the new pipe needed to be a full 2.5", have a smooth transition, and have no welding.

This criteria meant that the transition from 1.8" to 2.5" would have to be right at the turbo outlet, as we don't want to do any bending in small diameters. We wanted a smooth transition so that the air would gradually slow down without turbulence, and we wanted to eliminate welding so that there would not be any internal ridges.

So We Did It!!!!

Starting at the turbo outlet, the ETS LP2 Lower Pipe uses a custom funnel shaped 1.8" to 2.5" silicone transition. This angled and funnel shaped hose gives a smooth transition from the small turbo outlet to the 2.5" pipe, while making the first part of the bend as well.

Once the first part of the bend is made, and the diameter is up to 2.5", the silicone funnel reducer attaches to the lower pipe. From here the pipe takes another 16deg of gentle bend, where it closely follows the core support out to the intercooler.

Because we no longer have a tight radius bend in the system, we can bend the whole pipe on our CNC mandrel bender without welding.

Now On To Dyno Results

Our Dyno test consisted of a stock turbo Evo 9, with an ETS 4" FMIC, Turbo XS Exhaust, Generic Intake, and 26psi of boost tapering to 22psi.

We tested the stock pipe, our original pipe, a leading lower with the 2" bend and a cone reducer, and our new pipe. The test consisted of 5 pulls for each pipe. After making 5 pulls for each pipe, we threw away the highest and lowest pulls for each pipe, and averaged the remaining three pulls. From this average, we compared each pipe and found: