Intake line material turbo/intercooler

[punchdrunk monkey]

I am going to be reworking my intake plumbing. I will be making most of it hard line from turbo to intercooler and from intercooler to throttle body (Subaru). I've noticed most cars use aluminum tubing. Why not steel 16gauge? I will need to order a few mandrel bends and steel is a lot cheaper and easiler to work with. I guess steel could rust if any moisture was in the intake. Any other reason why alum would be better than steel?

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[Chris Tobin]

Aluminum is lighter and I believe it does not hold heat as bad as steel or dissipates heat quicker. If you want to use steel and are worried about rust have the tubes ceramic coated inside and out, this will help with induced heat from outside forces but not internal heat.

[snowman]

I used stainless tubing on turbo and radiator plumbing . It's easy to work with and doesn't rust . Purchased the elbows and tubing from local stainless distributer.

[mexracer10]

siliconeintakes.com
they have all the cool stuff you need here.

[MC@ Performance Fab]

Crawford Performance in Oceanside

[John F2000]

I am going to be reworking my intake plumbing. I will be making most of it hard line from turbo to intercooler and from intercooler to throttle body (Subaru). I've noticed most cars use aluminum tubing. Why not steel 16gauge? I will need to order a few mandrel bends and steel is a lot cheaper and easiler to work with. I guess steel could rust if any moisture was in the intake. Any other reason why alum would be better than steel?

The main reason for Aluminum is heat

[NoThrottle]

I used a combination of steel for the straight parts and pre-formed aluminium for the bends, we were running 30 psi and I welded a bead on the ends for the hoses to grab.
You can put a barb / bead on the aluminium pipes using a block of soft pine and a blunt cold chisel.
Be warned the average rattle can paint will burn/melt off on the hot side. Use high temp exhaust paint on it and bake it in the barbecue hood.
use t bolt clamps and leave about 1/2 inch gap between the metal parts when you join them with silicone hose. Everything will flex you don't want too much in one piece.
(Yup, I'm a redneck)

1/8th inch wall thickness for the aluminium, and for the steel I just used exhaust tube, but make sure you clean up the weld line on the insude, sometimes there is some splatter in there.

[redmist]

We used moly throughout, as it was readily shop available, easy to work with and ensured we never had an issue with ali fatigue cracking. If you do head down the steel route ensure you chrome coat everything and then also get the plater to pay special attention to the tube internals. Ali is a better conductor, but in tapering joints and complex welded curves I'd run with steel.