Anyone got any pics of how they fabbed up some type of retainer to keep the top turbo from blowing the boot off? The intake of my top turbo is totally smooth and doesn't have any grooves or anything to keep the boot on, even with hairspray and quality clamps. All my other connections are working fine since they're all either bead rolled (on the primary outlet) or have a hefty TIG bead layed on the ends of the main charge tube (a poor man's bead roll job ). Looking forward to seeing what you guys have got!

Edit: I meant "boot" in the title, not boost.

 

Are you using silicone boots?

 

Yup, got 'em from www.turbohoses.com.

 

Are you also using constant-tension T-bolt boot clamps?

Silicone shrinks when it's heated...

 

I'm using the regular heavy duty T bolt. Thats what turbohoses recomended when I bought it from them... on the other hand I think they're more of a gas/import performance shop and aren't running the large boost numbers that us diesel guys are. Would a spring loaded/constant torque bolt do the trick? Maybe someone can explain to me how the spring loaded ones work better than a standard T bolt.

Thanks for the advice so far! I'd much rather just toss a new bolt on there than have to rig something up to keep the boots on.

 

First of all, turbodiesels typically make a heck of lot more boost than forced-induction gassers.

Secondly, silicone shrinks when it heats up, so you need constant-tension T-bolt clamps (the kind with an integral spring) to maintain their torque (and thus clamp-load on the boot) when the silicone gets hot from engine operation.

Some guys tighten the standard clamps when the engine gets to operating temp, but then after shut-down the boot expands (too much, IMO) against the clamp more than it should.

 

Cool, I'll go ahead and pick up a constant torque T bolt. I think I'll also use the standard T bolt along with the constant torque for even more strength.

Interestingly enough, all the ends that have a standard T bolt with a bead rolled lip have been holding up no problem, and I should be past 60PSI (I think, I need a 100 PSI gauge and not a 60, LOL).

 

Of course, since the bead's larger diameter prevents blow-off... and regular boot clamps aren't any stronger than constant torque T-bolts.

 

Yup. I wish that my top turbo had some kind of bead roll on it... then again I'm sure that the engineers at holset never thought it would be used like this!

Thanks for the advice. I'll let you guys know how the constant torque thing works out.