FINISHED!

Day 1 of fabrication:

Here is what i started with. This is with my stock SMIC that i have been using for almost 2 years now.


This is the garage where it all goes down.


after we tore down the front end.


The old one. 14+ year old SMIC.


For comparison


Cuttin' the bumper support.


Removed the A/C Condensor



Drilled the hole for the cold pipe.


Welded on mounting tab number 1.


FOERST official test fit.


Cutting the FOERST pipes.



FOERST bend finished.



FOERST pipe finished (lower cold pipe)


Pie-cuts ***.


Welding the pipes.



2nd pipe finished. (lower hot side)


Pair of lower pipes.



End of night 1 pictures.






Day 2 fabrication:

Fitting the new cold pipe




Welding my IACV tube.




IACV tube welded to cold pipe.


End of day 2.



Day 3 of fabrication:

We started and finished the hot pipe today.





All welded up...so far.


Some great looking welds, IMO.


Yes, i know my fan shroud is destroyed, i dont wanna explain.


Doing some more pipe cutting. This is the new saw my buddy got recently.



The TIG welder.


Fitting some more pipes.



Welding some stuff up, just tacking it, so we can test the fit.



Just a picture of the garage.


Almost done. Fitting some more pipes.


All tacked up for final test fit.



All finished and welded up hot pipe. w00t



Both of the upper pipes. Hot pipe on top, cold pipe on bottom.



Yay for mothers polish.




Fitting my BOV flange.




Abbey Road Company. F T W.


Drilling the whole in the hot pipe for the BOV flange.


Welding the flange on.


DONE, Done, and DONE!







Yay for being a dork.


Couple close ups.



End of day 3 pics.






So what do you guys think? :happyguns

Damn man, you got skills!!

Looks great! How does it feel performance wise? Can you tell a pretty good difference in the seat of the pants dyno?

kalifornia087 wrote:Damn man, you got skills!!

Looks great! How does it feel performance wise? Can you tell a pretty good difference in the seat of the pants dyno?

I think teh technical term you are looking for is "butt dyno".

Install looks good. Performance report?

noice, you should add "56K DIAMFF" to the title of this topic

looks good. I want a tig.

Wouldnt it have been easier to buy a cheapo pipe kit and mod it for it to fit?

I want ur lip.

I havent really had much of a chance to get on it yet actually lol. I blew a coupler off yesterday and have just been daily driving it so far. I'll let you know in a few days when i get back closer to home

looks good.. i'm glad there are still ppl out there on the forum that are DIY and can/have-friends that TIG.

did you weld beads on the pipe so that the couplers stay on?

quazar311 wrote:looks good.. i'm glad there are still ppl out there on the forum that are DIY and can/have-friends that TIG.

did you weld beads on the pipe so that the couplers stay on?

no didnt, and im wishing i did. I thought i'd be ok with a T25 and T-bolts, but im gonna have to do that. the hot pipe coupler that joins the upper and lower together is the only one im having issues with.

i had to weld i bead onto cody hot pipe right before the last even we went to cause it kept blowing off

hell ya kyle looks like you did a good job, hope to see it running around the town sometime

Zenkis14 wrote:

quazar311 wrote:looks good.. i'm glad there are still ppl out there on the forum that are DIY and can/have-friends that TIG.

did you weld beads on the pipe so that the couplers stay on?

no didnt, and im wishing i did. I thought i'd be ok with a T25 and T-bolts, but im gonna have to do that. the hot pipe coupler that joins the upper and lower together is the only one im having issues with.

I had the same problme with the hotpipe from compressor ( 90 degree bend almost ) and it just wouldent stay on. I just relocated my maf to the coupler between the cold pipe lower and cold piper upper so i an only have a small boost leak and easy to find. And now i got my pipes to stay on with a better couppler.

very pretty welds.

Man, that looks good.
You should get those powder coated, or use some engine enamel.

down_shift wrote:looks good. I want a tig.

no kidding, those welds turned out pretty damn nice. I'd really like to get a tig, and that saw looks like it made life way easier. If you don't mind asking would you mind finding out what that saw cost your budy cause I'd definately like to get one . Overall I'm very impressed with how it all turned out, very clean intercooler piping setup I'd say it deserves two thumbs up