Anybody have any experience with the new Alta turbo inlet tube? My biggest question is does it fit? The design of it looks good. I currently have the JCW hard pipe and can't keep it attached to the turbo even with the narrow T-Bolt clamp. A couple JCW owners I know have the same problem. This is serious stuff as there's a sleeve inside the connection end and if it comes loose you trash the turbo! That's my main interest in the Alta unit although the better airflow is nice, too. Thanks for any help.
Dwight..... My memory is a little foggy on this, but I'm going to throw it out anyway... I seem to recall the R56 S turbo (cold side output collar diameter) is slightly smaller than the JCW turbo (cold side output collar diameter). As the JCW turbo is a "hybrid" so to speak from the "S". Is your issue with the JCW hard pipe not fitting properly because it's designed for the slightly larger diameter collar? I also seem to remember the same issues with proper sealing with the Alta hard pipe. But maybe Alta has come out with two fitments?? I'm just throwing this out so you don't end up with the same issues.....
You're correct on the difference in pipe diameters. A regular hose clamp would not seal the connection on the JCW hard pipe, but the narrow t-bolt clamp was supposed to. It didn't! Alta's first hard pipe came out about a year ago, but they never shipped it. I suspect they discovered that design didn't take that difference into account, but I'm guessing there. That's why I'm concerned about their new pipe fitting. Don't care for the hassle of returning a part! Thanks anyhow.
Out of the goodness of my heart (LoL) I ordered the Alta hard pipe to let you guys know how it works. Due in Thursday with a club run Sat. to check it out. I'm not really interested in any performance gain, just a turbo inlet tube that stays on! This will be my 4th different tube. The original ribbed, hard rubber tube failed at 18K. It had softened so much I could collapse it with my hand and had to hard wire it to keep it on. Replaced it with a silicone tube that didn't fit right to start with, went soft at 12K and had to be wired, too. Replaced it with the JCW hard pipe and used the recommended narrow t-bolt clamp on the connection. After 20K it too will not stay on and this can be disastrous. There's a inner sleeve on the connection and if the tube comes loose it can be sucked in and trash the turbo! 2 friends have new JCWs and are having trouble keeping theirs on, too. The new Alta tube has 2 O-ring seals and 2 set screws to seal and secure it. If this don't work I think I'll go stand on my head in the corner and stack BB's! :mad2:
The JCW hard pipe spools thru the air better. I noticed an improvement after I installed it. I too use the narrow T-Bolt clamp and there's NO way that sucker is coming off. Dwight I'm surprised to hear yours has come loose
You're not the only one that's surprised. My 2 JCW buddies and I put our heads together and all we could think of was that the constant flexing of the engine gradually works the connection loose. At least they got theirs replaced under warranty.
Good luck Dwight! I kinda liken buying stuff from Alta to buying stuff from JC Penney. Some of it is high quality stuff that lasts and the rest is crap that will fall apart shortly after the warranty expires. Only diff I understand is that Alta is a bear on warranty returns..... Anyway hope this is one of the good Alta products
is it here yet? :biggrin5: my stock S pipe with DOS CAI is coming off even with the t bolt clamp... :mad2:
Yup, put it on today. Fitment is fine, but getting the flex collar on the MAF/DoS CAI was a bit of a hassle. The turbo does seem to spool faster, but any power gains, if any, I'll probably never feel. Feels solid as a rock and no leaks or CEL. Only time will tell if it's going to stay on.
thanks for the feedback Dwight! will definitely look forward to more updates to how well it holds up! and I wonder how's this one lol http://mini.dejonpowerhouse.com/
I took a close look at that Dejon tube and saw that it uses hose clamps at the turbo end. That's what was causing the problem on my previous tubes. That connection also appears to have a rather sharp shoulder where it necks down to the turbo. It's also steel, not aluminum and IMHO too gaudy.
JCW Hard Turbo Inlet Tube Warning! Sorry, but I completely forgot to tell you about what I found when installing the Alta inlet tube. When I removed the JCW tube I found that the soft rubber seal on the turbo end had been rolled up inside during install. Of course it was on the bottom where you can't see or feel it. If the tube had come off while driving, the seal would have been sucked into the turbo. Say goodbye turbo! As is the bottom half of the sealing lip had pulled off (see pic). I think I dodged a major bullet there. :yikes:
That's scary. Were you using the seal that came with the JCW tube or did you replace it with the one from your original R56 tube?
That's the seal that comes with the JCW tube. Wow, a big portion of that seal's locating flange has gone missing! From the photo it looks like the seal's landing surface (tube end) on the turbo side of that JCW tube was pretty rough. I've never seen one that looks like that. They've been a smooth, square face in my experience. Seems like the rough landing surface of the tube cut through a portion of the flange on the seal and allowed it to slide. As long as the flange on that seal is intact, correctly placed (outside the tube), and mated against a smooth landing surface that shouldn't happen. Dwight, looks like you got an out of spec JCW tube and definitely dodged a bullet. -Clint
One thing that puzzles me with the Alta tube, being that its completely rigid, and yet obviously there's a fair amount of shaking going on in the engine bay, isn't it going to cause some stress on the tube or cause it to come loose somehow?
There are flexible silicone connectors on the PCV tube and MAF tube. BTW, the Alta tube is angled slightly to line up with the OEM MAF outlet. I've got a DoS CAI with a straight line outlet and it took some wrestling to get it to line up. Had a 100mi. club run yesterday and the Alta tube hadn't budged at the end of the day. I be happy so far.