DGP GARAGE

[AudiSport]

V band......way better solution

Only if you can make sure the fit is perfect. Otherwise it's a leaky pain. Anything that's off a bit or slight rotation on parts = leaks. You can't really force the seal with the clamp if they don't line up. It's great for easy removal, but really how often are you going to do this job?

I put v-bands on my twin turbo S4 and I kind of wish I hadn't. I can count the number of times I've removed the parts on 2 fingers since 2015. And I daily drive the car.

I've also had clamps fail when the spot welds on them broke.

[DGUN951]

V band......way better solution

Hey Chris,

Do you mean a vband on the adapter portion? or on the side the goes to the turbo? I agree V-bands are nice but I ordered this turbo with the k26 bolt pattern 14cm hot housing so it would be 100% drop in to what I already had at the time. I dont see it as economically ideal having to send the turbo out and having a v-band housing installed, and then having the new downpipe modified when I can just remove 3 easy to get to bolts, if I ever have to take it off. You have to remember this is a ongoing build when I first started I never expected to be modifying it this far. If I had sat down and knew ahead of time what I was going to do of course some things would be different and M44 does offer a v-band turbo housing and downpipe to match just incase someone does better planning then me LOL. When I ordered the M44 crossover I did opt for v-bands. I am super excited about that as I hate the old factory setup. Hopefully this eases some pain.

[AudiSport]

That header with cross over and flex makes more sense for vband. That's a pretty fixed factor that shouldn't have a lot of variance from different exhaust systems that the down pipe needs to connect to.

[chris white]

as always - just my opinion.....
just like everything else there are cheap v bands and there are good v bands.
cheap ones suck. the good ones have an interlocking flange that only allows correct alignment. They usually have a clamp of much higher quality too.
If you are doing a simple rebuild of the stock turbo then I get the desire for a 'drop in' turbo. Once you decide that you want a significant upgrade then why not upgrade the 'system'. worrying about who has the best bolt on down pipe seems a little off base to me. with the amount of time a effort to remove a stock turbo and replace it with an upgraded turbo along with a better down pipe seems like it would make sense used the best available stuff. an off the shelf GTX30 or 35 with the very nice Tial hot side can be installed with some DIY effort for the oil/water connections - and not cost much more than the high end 'drop in' turbo and down pipe.
BTW1 - the ease of clocking the down pipe is worth every cent of the v band solution. once you get in to all the variables of test pipe fabricators and subtle difference in everything the agility to realign the down pipe saves a lot of headaches. in fact its way easier to bolt the downpipe to the test pipe and then install the assembly as one piece....if you have the v band connection on the hot side!
BTW2 - if you want to get into modifying 944 turbo's as a cheap hobby....well, you made a mistake!

[chris white]

V band......way better solution

I dont see it as economically ideal having to send the turbo out and having a v-band housing installed, and then having the new downpipe modified when I can just remove 3 easy to get to bolts, if I ever have to take it off. You have to remember this is a ongoing build when I first started I never expected to be modifying it this far. If I had sat down and knew ahead of time what I was going to do of course some things would be different and M44 does offer a v-band turbo housing and downpipe to match just incase someone does better planning then me LOL. When I ordered the M44 crossover I did opt for v-bands. I am super excited about that as I hate the old factory setup. Hopefully this eases some pain.

the phrase 'economical' and pictures of a stainless 4 into 1 header do not belong in the same post!

[chris white]

So now I am curious - how much does that header/crossover/downpipe and turbo combination go for? the fabrication quality does look very nice.

[Tom]

Apropos nothing in particular, one of the most useful things I ever did was get a TIG welder and force myself to learn how to use it. Mine is a beginners welder, the Miller Diversion, so the learning curve was fairly light compared to TIG machines with a million settings. But for hot rod car work, it's completely freed me from the idea of having to send stuff out to have flanges/exhausts fitted. For 99% of car guy stuff, the Diversion is more than good enough.

IMG_8720.JPEG (865.58 KiB) Viewed 1796 times

pipe-with-port.gif (761.48 KiB) Viewed 1796 times

catch can.gif (554.6 KiB) Viewed 1796 times

Catch can in the making....


Carry on....

[DGUN951]

Apropos nothing in particular, one of the most useful things I ever did was get a TIG welder and force myself to learn how to use it. Mine is a beginners welder, the Miller Diversion, so the learning curve was fairly light compared to TIG machines with a million settings. But for hot rod car work, it's completely freed me from the idea of having to send stuff out to have flanges/exhausts fitted. For 99% of car guy stuff, the Diversion is more than good enough.

IMG_8720.JPEG

pipe-with-port.gif

catch can.gif
Catch can in the making....


Carry on....

ohhh thats awesome, do you have any links to this welder your using?

[chris white]

TIG welders sure have come along way since I got my 350lb Lincoln!
Aluminum is still pretty tricky stuff to weld nicely - your catch can looks pretty good.

[Tom]

I have the Diversion 165, which I got before all the low-priced Chinese inverter machines hit the market. If I were to get one today, it would be hard to ignore the lower priced units (knock offs) at Harbor Freight, Everlast, Eastwood, etc. That said, you can't go wrong with Miller, and I was able to upgrade the torch, add a foot pedal, etc., etc., which may or may not be possible with the others....