I recently purchased Exhaust Depots hard tube intercooler intake and return tubes with and HKS BOV attached to it. This kit requires the removal of the stock noise generator and that alone was worth it for me (why mini put this in I have no idea). I cant tell you in words how much more fun this car is with the kit. The benefits are well worth the time and money for this kit.

Right off the bat I noticed better throttle response, quicker spool up and of course the lovely PSSSSST whistle of the HKS. No stumbling at all quick take off and very linear.

First off do this at your own risk. Exhaust Depot and I assume 0 responsibility for this mod to your car or the resulting permagrin that will be left on your face.

Here is a guide for install.

Tools needed
Torx 15
Torx 25
Assorted Slotted Screwdrivers large and small
Assorted Phillips Screwdrivers large and small
Socket set
11/32 drill bit
Pipe thread tape or gel
Finally Bandaids lots of them.....wear gloves


Removing stock air box
First off you need to remove the stock air box, do so by first disconnecting the battery (you are undoing sensors and just in case doesn't hurt).
1. Disconnect the MAF sensor located on the right side of the air box.
2. Unscrew with a slotted screwdriver the pipe clamp just below the MAF sensor.
3. Using a T25 remove the screw located behind and to the left of the stock airbox.
4. Pull the air box up and out of the car. This gives you room to work and get the noise generator out of the car.

The box is pretty basic.......
Here goes



1. Unscrew the pipe clamp on the top portion of the tube.
2. Using a slotted screwdriver pull the clip that is connecting the two tubes together on the lower portion.

3. After Removing these two take out the top half of the tubes this will allow you access to the lower clamp located on the throttle body
4. Undo the sensor using a Phillips Screwdriver and pull straight up and let hang out of the way
5. Unscrew this to remove the sound generator
6. Squeeze under the red tape to unsnap from fire wall.
7. Using a slotted screwdriver unscrew the pipe clamp on the throttle body and remove the whole section.
The hose takes a bit of force to get off. I used a large slotted screwdriver to wiggle the hoses off. Take care as the hard parts of these specially the top is plastic. Its brittle and it can break. Walk, twist, wiggle they will come off.

Installing upper hard tube with BOV
1. Take the reducing bend and clamp and attach it to the throttle body with the bend facing straight up.

2. Slide another clamp over the silicone bend and leave loose
3. Slide the small coupler over the upper plastic stock tube
4. Slide 3 clamps over this couple
5. Insert the Exhaust Depot hard tube with the extruded end down into the lower silicone bend
6. Insert the upper part of the hard tube into the upper silicone coupler.
7. Tighten the upper and lower clamps on the top coupler
8. Tighten the upper clamp on the lower silicone bend.
9. Reattach the sensor by pushing it straight down onto the hole. Using screw to secure it.

Drilling manifold.
This isn't hard here but just dont over do it. I have a M7 AGSR on my car so I had to locate the nipple somewhere where the AGSR wasn't going to rub so I put it in the center and as well its an easy place to get a drill in there.

Using a 11/32 drill bit I drilled the plastic (verify that the drill bit is the same size as the bottom of the threaded end of the nipple)

1. Drill a hole at this location. Gentle pressure your not drilling through steel. As well watch that the drill doesn't mark your manifold (like it did mine)
2. Take the thread tape and put onto the nipple
3. Screw nipple gently into plastic to thread (NPT is tapered so it wont screw all the way down) AGAIN do not go crazy you want to make sure the nipple is seated good but dont expect to bottom out the threads.
4. Attach the supplied tube to the end of the nipple using a small pipe clamp or zip tie.

5. Attach the other end to the tube sticking out of the BOV valve.
6. Zip tie or use small pipe clamp to secure

Reinstall the stock airbox
1. Put stock airbox back into car by securing it with the screw.
2. Reattach intake tube
3. Tighten hose clamp from the box to MAF sensor
4. Reattach MAF sensor plug.

At this point if you have time about 1-1.5 hrs lets install the lower part. If you dont have time save it till you do. This can be tricky and you either get it with no problem or it takes some patients and time. This seems so simple but one screw can make your life hell

1. Jack up the passenger side front of the car
2. Unscrew the screw that holds the coolant overflow canister

3. Once removed pull the bottom of the canister away from you and rotate so it sits up out of the way
4. Unscrew the pipe clamp from the turbo side of the intercooler pipe
5. Go under the car and unscrew the pipe clamp that is coming out of the intercooler front passenger side almost behind fog light. Its pretty easy to get to
6. Ok make sure you have patients on this one. Look into the engine compartment. The down pipe has a "muffler" attached to it. This "muffler" is held in position by a T15 screw. The head of the screw is pointed toward the passenger side seat. Undo this screw. I found it was the easiest to unscrew by the side of the car. Some have had better luck reaching up from the bottom. Whatever way it has to come out and its a pain. Once removed the whole pipe comes right out with a little twisting and jockeying.


1. The elbow that comes off of the turbo needs to be trimmed down some. You want to trim as much off as you can but still be able to get enough of the clamp on there to be able to clamp it down onto the turbo. I took about 1" off of the bend. Take off a little at a time take too much and your SOL. New silicone bend time and your car is down until you get a new one. So go slow and be careful.

2. After you trim that piece put it onto the hard pipe. The bend of the pipe goes on the bottom with the straight coupler on it. Feed the pipe down into the engine and attach the straight coupler and both clamps to the intercooler.

1. Attach the silicone bend and clamps but do not tighten yet.
2. Re attach the coolant overflow tank by matching the tabs and then inserting the bottom plug. If the coolant overflow does not fit you need to trim more of the silicone bend.
3. Once you have everything fitted tighten all the pipe clamps and reinstall coolant tank.

Your done now go wake up the neighbors with your PSSTTTTTTTT

I have no affiliation with Exhaust Depot. Questions regarding price etc. should be directed to Hector personally. He is a vendor on the boards and Im sure will chime in here once he sees this.
If anyone has anything to add please let me know.

 

Wow. Great write up. Question: How do you ensure you're not getting pieces of drilled plastic into the manifold as you drill a hole into it? Doesn't seem good for the engine.

 

Plastic wont matter much, metal yes.

But, being that its plastic it loops around the bit and doesnt go in. At least it didnt for me, the plastic is pretty soft. Another trick is to put vaseline around the bottom of the bit, the plastic (or metal for that matter) will stick to it and will catch most of the material coming out.

 

Great write up Lyle!

He hit it on the head with the manifold. The plastic does loop around and if you get small little shaving inside, the head will vaporize that thing with the quickness.

 

Good stuff. I'm glad I'm not the only one seeing good results with this mod.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Question

What do you do with the elctronic bypass valve in the turbo? Disconect? Isntall the block off plate?

 

Leave it as is.

 

wish i didnt already have some alta silicones! those look nice. no... VERRRY NICE =] sexy almost

 

I got my set of tubes today from Exhaust Depot....Hector is a super guy...I will installed soon, Lyle, thank you for this write up great info.

 

Diablito let me know if I missed anything or can add to the install instructions. Cause Im sure I forgot something

 

Is it necessary to also use the aftermarket BOV?

 

No, you can order the pipes just state that you dont want a BOV flange on the pipe. This willl yield you some good performance gains.

 

order the forge for now thats what i did and love it it quites the waste gate down and you dont hear the loud psshh at low rpms makes it sound more powerful imo ....still want exhaust depots boost tubes just a temporary fix

 

Good news guys I just clicked over 500 miles and no CEL.


This sure works great with the Exhaust Depot 3in turbo back exhaust! hehe

 

Hit 2000 today no cels with either the hard piping nor Hectors turbo back!

 

With this kit would it be possible to tap boost to control the BOV from the MAP adaptor (pictured on nearly all the above photos) as Im not too keen on drilling my manifold! I have already got my boost gauge vacuum wire coming off the MAP sensor (using Alta's adaptor) so could I just put a T-Piece there and have one end of the T-Piece connected to the BOV and the other end connected to the BOV?

 

Lets revive this thread...how many people got these pipes since 08? Lets see some more pics and experiences!

 

Futureal,

If you don't want to drill, just buy the Helix 13 BOV, then get Hector to give you the hard pipes without the fitment for the HKS BOV. OH wait you have the boost adapter on the MAP... crap nevermind

 

So no matter what...whether you get a boost guage and a bov, your going to have to drill one way or the other?

Any way around this?

 

I have only sold about 3-4 of these sets. I closed down shop for about 2.5 months due to my move so I was incognito right after those initial sales.

Right now i have a set at the powdercoaters. THey are being done in white for a gentleman.

 

There is a small block that i think alta and jscspeed sells that allows you to get around this.

This is altas setup:
http://www.altaperformance.com/produ...533/Boost-Port

 

yeah, but the bov and boost gauge port go in the same place on the intake manifold right? Is there another place to fit this port?

 

Sorry Hector, didn't know that!

 

Yup, you can mount both to the same port. A plastic T fitting from the autoparts is your friend.