BC847

Yo main, other'nigh pulup t'th'lite, stg, Go gone main!, WAHH, WAHH, WAHH,
Dagum yo BOOM SHHHEEWWOOOO!, main!






Yeah, did that again the other night at the track.

BOOM!


Another charge-air boot blown off. To date I reckon I've had one blow off maybe five times now. Been lucky every one that no real damage was done.


So the other day I was at the annual Mopars/NADM at The Rock and was peeking under Jeff Garmon's hood. I noticed he had some tabs welded to the charge-air plumbing, right there on either side of the silicone boots. There was a single strip of aluminum bridging the two tabs thus locking the two pipes together. That way the charge-air pressure (boost) can't blow the two pipes apart.

Neat!


I've historically depended on the silicone boots having a good grip on the pipes. Further, I've depended on the pipes having a decent hump for the boots to get a grip on. And then there's the dagum band-clamps. Constant-pressure (those with the springs) or not. I've had to torque the snot out of them for it all to stay put.

I figure the torque twisting up the engine thus pulling on stuff ain't helping.




OK, so thinking about that Garmon mess, and thinking I've differing plumbing metals and lack a TIG, and thinking all I've got are some rivets and some aluminum strap-stock, . . .. .

I did this . . . .




Take some 1" x 1/8" aluminum strap and bend it around the chuck end of a 5/16" drill bit in the vice. Make it so the inside of the slot is about 1/2" deep . . . .





- Using a hammer and an anvil, radius the tabs to fit the charge-air pipe in question, drill four holes for some aluminum rivets (drive pins secured with red Lock-Tight).
- Some "Thread-All" rod with the aviation type lock-nuts . .. ..





Installed on the inside radius of any flexing and install boots/plumbing as usual. Then suck-up the slack in the threaded rod for what appears to be a decent restraint. And cheap too.

Making the slot for the threaded rod in the strap a little big allows some movement in the installed assembly.



I failed to take pichers while making the stuff, work with me.

Here's where the charge-air comes into the intercooler . . .





Here's the bottom of the restraint at the secondary's outlet horn . .



It ought to work.

Riflemanusmc

Once again Dave, Great writeup!..

RollinCoalSmoke

BC847 take your vice grips and pinch the bottom of the rivets that protrude into the tube. I was working on a door the other day and noticed some of the rivets had had fallen out of the little mushroom clamp part. It might make a bad day if by some way one went thru your charge air cooler into your intake and stuck in a valve and seat. On the door who cares if they fall out they just get kinda loose, on your truck I'd cry to see your clean engine bay messed up lol. Just a thought from an observation. Looks good!! Good luck.

archer39

this is what i was thinking especially with the all the vibrations of the Cummins

BC847

Yup, the pins of the rivets are secure.

speed75

i would go pay a shop to weld on your tabs aluminum is way yo soft and to much vibration probably just going to eggshape the rivet holes

ofcmarc

The rivets for a roof rack off an Explorer had a captive pin that could not fall out. They also are designed not to leak.

I'm sure there are other aplications for this kind of rivet but I ran across them While working in a Ford dealer.....

BC847

Through the years I've had good success using rivets for whatever. With proper selection and installation, they work VERY well IMO.

I am not concerned with this means of fastening failing in this application.

smoking

Take a look at 53 foot dry van trailers some time!! 44000 lbs rollin, bouncing and vibrating down the road and nothing but rivets holding it all together. We use the block head pop rivets on trailer roofs, no pins to fall out and no leaks (most of the time).

RollinCoalSmoke

Where my thought came from was I looked at a Freightshaker. It was a 77 model yes I know an oldey. I kinda thought about buying it and restoring it for some crazy reason. These trucks were made to look like a Pete of sorts. They used rivets instead of huckbolts like the Petes uses. The truck looked good for its age but the hood, doors, and sleeper panels were all loose. The pins had come out of alot of the rivets causing this. I wasn't trying to down your good work because I admire your work and your post for those of us who haven't been there done that yet. I felt you did your homework and double checked it, I work off murphies law here, if it can go wrong it will. Keep up the good work.

BC847

Have ya met me?

The rivets I used here are standard 3/16" aluminum with the length such that there's about 1/4" initial protrusion inside the given pipe. Once set, the rivet is swagged to the point that the mandrel is well within the rivet and has pulled the end of the rivet in on itself a little. The remaining stump is a little under 3/16" tall. Having the correct size hole, the work firmly in place and the rivet driven squarely are critical to success IMO.
I wish they could have been the sealed type but I gotta work with what I have ATM. To get around that and to further ensure the mandrel couldn't go anywhere, I put a drop of the red Lock-Tite in where the pin went. 15 minutes with a hot hair drier blowing through the duct and that boy's in there like a hair in a biscuit.

RollinCoalSmoke

LOL hair in a biscuit. I figured you did your homework, but "again murphies law here" I could just see all your good work and your clean engine bay being molested by a .01 cent part failing. I enjoy reading your threads with the pics, very informative. I can fix most engine problems if I have it in front of me and a lil time. Man this forum is like having cheat sheets in school, good info, good people, great inside info, good pics, it don't get much better than this, well if someone else was paying to have your ride fixed for ya. Keep up the good work. And thanks for the good info.