I just got my car back from my indy after changing plugs/coilpacks/O2 sensors. I could hear a little bit of a boost leak so checked the usual suspects (turbos, intercoolers) but it was the clamp on the passenger side intake plenum waaaaay at the front of the engine bay. Strange thing is that last year I had my car at the P dealer and when I got home there was a boost leak and it was the exact same clamp. Both times the tech said they were nowhere near that clamp!!!


Anyway, I guess I'll change it myself. It looks like I have to take off the y-pipe, throttle body and then either replace or reposition the shifted clamp. Google is my friend but I couldn't find a diy thread. Usually The Rock has one! Anything unusual for me to watch out for? Other than dropping tools into the engine bay and wasting time looking for them, lol.


I don't think I have torx sockets but they should be readily available I assume. Anyone have torque specs for the bolts on the throttle body? Or does it even matter?


thanks

 

Oddly I have had those same clamps come loose. I think I may have over tightened one recently too and may need to change them out. I've been using Oetiker stepless screw clamps everywhere on my boosted stuff with success. They are a much narrower option than normal t-bolt clamps and they can be installed with the hoses on. These will fit in the grooves of the coupler in this location too. You can likely reach in and snip the old ones to remove them and replace with these which will be easier than removing everything. I order them in Canada from Aircraft Spruce.

 

Thanks for the tip. Do the Oetiker ones come all the way apart? I'd like to feed them around the plenum without disconnecting the plenum from it's attachments. Otherwise I think the "Ideal" brand is also supposed to be reasonably durable.


Edit: I reread your post and you stated that they can be installed with the hoses on. Sounds perfect to me. I will order a set once I translate inches into millimetres, lol.

 

I don't suppose you remember what size you ordered? The ones I see have much smaller "ranges" from min to max than the stock ones. I know the stock range is 90-110mm and it looks like it is closer to the lower end based on the amount of "tail" left on the clamp.

 

I haven't changed those 4 yet so let me know how the sizing goes. And yes they do split apart.


I tightened up a Norma 90-110 to about the same size (~40mm of tail) and it measures about 100mm across. The 95mm Oetiker I have is too small (the size is the max size). I'd guess the 105-9 Oetiker clamp is needed.


A nice feature of the Oetiker clamps (among many) is the lack of the screw housing. That section of the coupler gets rather deformed using the Norma clamps.

 

Can't really add anything to this thread. However I'm wondering what a boost leak sounds like? Also can you feel the loss in boost?

 

You sure can hear it (if it is significant). When you floor it you hear some more hissing than you normally expect to hear. Your butt dyno might not necessarily feel a whole lot of loss, depends on how much leak. If it hadn't been for the sound I might not have known anything was amiss. When I had a large leak (one of the intercooler hoses blew off) you could hear it and the car wouldn't make much boost so you could definitely notice the power loss. With a smaller leak the turbos will spin faster to compensate and you can see in the logs that the turbo duty cycle increases. You have to be careful not to overspin the turbos or be prepared to open up the wallet.

 

I bought 5 of the 105-9 Oetiker clamps for about 50 bucks delivered. They are pretty neat and would probably work great when used in a location that had good access. The plenum hoses at the back of a 997turbo engine are not that location, lol. I can't tell you how much swearing, sweating and body contortion was involved in order to get the sonofagun clamp on but I finally did it. I don't want to admit how many hours it took. Mainly because of the nature of this clamp - you need to align the end in a groove, the part is rotatable and you only have 2 hands.

As it turns out, the original clamp didn't "fail" - it must have been slightly too tight. When I slightly overtightened the oetiker I was astonished to watch it slowly wiggle off the rubber boot that it was clamping. I checked and I hadn't left a piece of the clamp on the lip or anything. Anyway, after more cursing I tightened it just enough and then left it for a day. Then tiny adjustment. Then left it alone and so far no boost leak. Car runs great. I have 4 spare Oetiker clamps because there was no way I was going to change the other ones after the nightmare of the first one. This is a good project for when your engine is already down getting other work done, lol.

 

Lol I can almost see you all frustrated doing the work with your description as I have been there to many times!


I am having multiple issues with the throttle body, Y-pipe and now the same clamps you are talking about!


I need to make time to bring it to Boost Theory to do the custom Y-Pipe with the v clamp and I will get them to look into the same area you are dealing with now.


Hopefully it all holds for ya, as I know how frustrating that could be.

 

I have been using stainless clamps from McMaster carr. They work very well. Another trick is to also put the boots on with hairspray. Aquanet for the win. Hold over 20psi on the track all day with no issues.

 

My throttle body clamps and y-pipe clamp kept coming off almost every other run until I took everything apart, cleaned up (with brake cleaner) the flanges and then applied hair spray. Now it takes awhile & is much improved, but it still occasionally comes loose / leaks.




Thanks


Bobby Ali


ba

 

I would consider something like the Oetiker clamps for the throttle body and y-pipe. They would be easy enough to put on there because there is circumferential access, unlike the intake plenum area. I didn't take the boot off the plenum. That's a can of worms I just didn't want to get into! Even with 1.55bar from the Champion 68s I haven't had problems with the throttle body or y-pipe connections. knock on wood....

 

I've actually been looking at clamps too - while lurking the board for the last few months .

I want to give these a try: Murray Constant Tension Turbo Seal Clamps

I've noticed several serious cars running these but haven't run down a source that I like yet. You can get them on Jegs/Summit via Turbosmart, but they want way too much for them. I need 12 for my intake manifold setup, and $300 in clamps isn't appealing...