Engine Drivetrain 2nd Gen S Most liked posts in thread: Alta Turbo Inlet Hard Pipe?

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:

 

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.

 

You and me both!

 

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.

 

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:

 

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.