Silicone Couplers and T-Bolt Clamps Options

[Fastbird]

Where are you guys getting your stuff?? I'm switching everything to black and have to get some more T-Bolt clamps also.......and need them quick. Any suggestions on where to check?

[Dr_Tweak]

Woah, Brian, dude, chillax man. T-bolt clamps, as you can see, use an actual bolt and nut (usually an aircraft nut) to tighten the clamp down. These are expensive industrial clamps that are used for very high pressure systems. The worm gear clamps, even the BEST quality ones, don't even come close to what a t-bolt clamp can do in terms of strength. A t-bolt you can just keep tightening and it will just keep getting tighter until it crushes the pipe, if you push it too far. On the other hand, even the best worm gear clamps will strip if you tighten them even a little bit too much.

I normally always use t-bolt clamps, but on Fastbird's Celica, the intercooler kit that I bought came with a set of clamps. The ones that were included were TERRIBLE quality worm gear clamps, and I finally had to remove every single one of them because one pipe after another was blowing off. I replace an entire side with t-bolts, and then I ran out... so I went down and bought the highest quality worm gear clamps I could find. Even then, they couldn't be tightened down enough to stop hoses from blowing off. (This problem was partly caused by the rubber connectors we had been sent, which we also replaced).

Bottom line is, a combo of good silicone (not rubber) connectors, and high quality worm gear clamps will work fine most of the time. But NOTHING comes close to a t-bolt clamp!

-Doc