Nisei Engineering > Forum > View topic - Helix Pipes & How It Differs From Nisei Engineering

**Nisei Team** Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 115

Below is the Helix (Black Pipes) and Nisei Engineering (Red Pipes).

You can see how the upper pipes look when attached / connected. The Helix has significantly more bends and pipe length involved with the upper assembly.

Helix - 8 bends in the upper section alone. (Black Pipes)

Nisei Engineering - 4 bends in upper. (Red Pipes)

Lower pipe assemblies below:

Helix - 3 bends. (Black Pipe)

Nisei Engineering - 2 bends (Red Pipe)

There is also a measurable difference between the kits as well.

The Helix pipe would actually slip into the Nisei if the pipes didn't come with beaded ends.

Helix - Comes with a pipe which attaches to the turbo. Note: It is made in Mild Steel NOT Aluminum.

Nisei - Does not. Some of you have asked about this piece in the past. Several key factors as to why we do not include this pipe: Cost - as you can see it would require an addition flange, fitting, 2 different sized pipes, one of which needs to be bent before fabrication, welding / fabrication - leading to more man hours (labor time = $$). Production Fitment - with the additional pieces (4) involved with assembly and being as small as they are, could potentially add quality control issues and installation problems. 3"- difference in length was too small to try and replace the stock piece. Since there was NO WAY to make a TRUE 2 1/2" diameter pipe come off the turbo, it was an easy decision.

Since the Helix pipe that attaches to the turbo is made from Mild Steel it actually adds a lot of weight, considering how small of a piece it is.

Compared to a silicone coupler.

Earlier, I touched on the difference in diameter between the pipes. I measured the Stock / Helix / Nisei Engineering pipes.

Now I elected to present these measurements in metric because, the readings would be much easier to view.

Inside Diameters:

Outside Diameters:

The first photo is of the Stock piping. I know some of you are asking, how come the O.D. is smaller than the Helix, when the I.D. is larger than the Helix? Well, a quick explanation of this is:

Helix pipe kit is mandrel bent. For those who aren't very familiar with this process. There is basically a plunger that remains inside the tube while the piping is being pulled & bent. The purpose of this plunger is to keep the piping consistant and round.

Stock pipes are not mandrel bent. They may be using another process called compression bending or press bent. Either way the bender used does not have a "mandrel" plunger involved. The end result is the pipes come out slightly "out of round". They save a lot of $$$ and labor using these methods for production.

Hardware:
Helix - when I inquired about the clamps I was told the kit no longer comes with T-bolt because of sizing problems and the kit would leak. So the stock clamps are to be used to re-assemble or I would have to locate my own T-bolts. If I were to acquire my own T-bolts there would be an additional cost of approximately $50 in my local area.

Nisei - I just took a quick photo of the hoses and T-bolts. There is actually more hardware ( bolts, washers, nutserts, extension fitting & hose for BOV re-circulation, additional worm gear clamps, etc.). But, it was getting cold and dark as you can see from the photo. So I called it a day... sorry!

As for the Nisei, we mandrel bend our kits "in house" with CNC bender to ensure the highest quality bends and production repeatability.

One more thing, I used the Nisei RED pipes so there wouldn't be any confusion of which pipes belong to whom. THIS IS NOT A STANDARD COLOR! We can do custom finishes / flanges which require 2-3 weeks lead time. Custom COLORS - SOME colors have additional cost.

NOTE : Because of the shortend pipe lengths / direct route system to promote throttle response / spool up. The Nisei Engineering pipe kit requires mini battery or relocation kit. Link for your viewing below:

http://www.nisei-evo.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=4&sid=f392127e8f521e25fba7f9038e4d26d4

Thanks Dave for the use of your CUSTOM Nisei RED PIPES!

Joined: 30 Dec 2005 Posts: 1 Location: Hawaii

very nice

Joined: 18 Jun 2006 Posts: 1

so how much do you charge for the kit?

**Nisei Team** Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 115

The pipe kit is $480. If you are looking for a special color there is a set up fee / minimum charge the powder coater / anodizer charges.

If you choose to do the custom color you can send in other items you want to match your pipe kit. In the past we've done strut bars, intake pipes, catch cans, etc.

Here is a link to our standard colors:

http://nisei-evo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40