Easier to get silicone inlet pipe IN than plastic inlet pipe OUT?
 

My inlet pipe has split so I'm replacing it. I was all set to have the inlet manifold off next weekend to get this done, but today I was fiddling around with a few other jobs that needed doing, which involved the removal of the intercooler, airbox, a lot of plumbing etc...so I thought, well while I'm here, might as well see if I can get this plastic inlet pipe out.

Big mistake. Even though I've cut just about every sticking-out bit off it, it still won't come out, although I'm sure I could chop it about some more if I was really determined. Now the thing I need to know is: will the new silicone pipe go in easier than the old one will be to get out? Or will I spend another half a day getting it out only to find that I might as well have lifted the manifold because I it's even harder to put the new pipe in?

Can someone just give me an idea of what to do, and in what order to do it, if I was to take the inlet manifold off? So far, I've got the oil breather hoses off, airbox off, MAF/inlet joiner off, intercooler off, throttle body off and ISCV about to be removed and cleaned out, all hoses joining to inlet pipe are off, so it looks to me to be just vacuum hoses and electrics over the top of the manifold, plus a few water pipes that I'd rather not disturb if I can help it. I do have a pair of inlet manifold gaskets standing ready.

Is this a feasible Sunday morning project?

I have the Samco sport induction pipe, and have been told the hardest part of the job is removing the oe item, plently of soapy water and elbow grease is whats needed to get the new one in place.

This is a job i will be attempting next weekend :)

OK well I'll give it a go now then.

Just had another look at mine, the bit that confuses me is the end where the induction kit/airbox joins on, there is a metal ring, now the old one lets the pipe slip over and tighten via a jubilee clip, this one wont.

Not sure what to do here :wonder:

https://www.scoobynet.com/newage-imp...-part-1-a.html

Test 5...

Last two that I replaced, I smashed the O/E inlet tract to get it off. Replacing the silicon item is then possible as it is flexible enough to get into position.
Use a big screw driver and hammer to split the O/E.

Would you recommend doing the job though?

Is it worth it and are any there any gains to be had?

Until you are bigger power ie well past 400 bhp, I doubt that replacing the inlet tract will make any appreciable difference. If you get an inlet tract for very little money and happen to have the inlet manifold off for other reasons then it might be worth doing but to do it as a one off or spend a lot of money on one of these silicon purpose made jobbies is not a good use of cash IMHO.

LOL well I'd never tackle it just for the sake of something to do, that's for sure. From looking around on SN, most people tend to do it because they have to replace a split original.

After taking the belt cover off, taking the belt off, taking the PS tank lid off and spooning out the fluid (no syringe!) and then finally getting to the bolts to remove the tank entirely, 10 minutes of struggling got the inlet pipe out.

But I can see the same problem as you Cookstar...the replacement silicone inlet pipe I have looks like it's designed to butt up to the MAF pipe with a metal joiner (roughly 73mm) and a jubilee clip on each, rather than the original where the MAF pipe overlaps the inlet pipe and tightens down on it.

So either I bodge it by pulling the metal piece in the new pipe outwards to give something to fix the old MAF pipe onto, or get a slightly longer bit of alloy pipe made up to join the two properly.

Thats the thing though, even if you put a longer pipe top it, how can you clamp it down as the metal ring will stop any compression of the end :wonder:

The standard way is that the inlet pipe, with the metal ring liner, is smaller than the MAF pipe. Therefore the MAF pipe slips over the inlet pipe and tightens down onto it.

The new way with a silicone pipe is that it is no longer smaller, but the same size as the MAF pipe. So even though it comes with a metal ring liner, the same as the original inlet pipe, this is now too big for the MAF pipe to slip over and can only make a butt joint. But the ring liner doesn't stick out far enough to do this securely.

So the answer is to pull out the new pipe's ring liner, then turn to ebay again (if only I had my own engineering works!) to replace it with a 2" long, 3"OD alloy hose joiner, which is already on the way. I'd imagine the same problem would occur if I had an aftermarket silicone MAF pipe because it would still need butting up to the inlet pipe.

But now this has caused a whole new set of problems anyway - e.g. do I fork out yet more money and fit insulating manifold spacers 'while I'm there'? And why stop at that? Why not fit header tank spacers as well? And why not fit one of those fancy oil pressure sender extensions while I can easily get at the oil pressure switch? Then why not do the job properly and also get a threaded plug for number 3 cylinder so I can whack an oil temp sensor in there? Then, do I go for boost/oil temp/oil pressure in the centre console, or on the dashtop in a big pod?

It's a never-ending slippery slope, and that's before considering which mods I can get away with without the wife realising it's not just essential maintenance LOL!

next time you do the swap, just take off the PS belt and move the whole pump, with the fluid undisturbed, off to one side.

I would just heat the plastic maf pipe up somewhat and it should fit over. The 3" pipe you have coming will be too big.

Paul

what do you sudgest with regards to the metal liner, in the new Samco pipe?

Well my ebay 76mm OD alloy joiner has just turned up and it fits perfectly to butt together both the new silicone hose (with the metal piece removed) and the original MAF pipe. The only fly in the ointment is that the old MAF pipe would have overlapped the inlet pipe by a couple of cm, which now won't happen, but I'm sure that extra 2cm of pipe will find room for itself somewhere...