Td5 D2 engine - Fitting the ProVent (3)

More problems with the plumbing.

Waiting around for the 90° hose reducer to arrive proved to be a real hassle. I mentioned earlier how I bought everything off the Internet as trying to procure what I needed in the local stores was a complete waste of time.

Thinking that I had everything needed, I was thwarted at the last moment by the unforeseen need for a 90° elbow that would also reduce its internal diameter (ID) from 25mm to 19mm. A fairly specific bit of kit but readily available online. 

The supplier I choose to order from had already supplied the clear hose I used for the install. They also included two hose clips in the purchase price which is what caught my eye.

After waiting over a week thinking it's got lost in the post, an e-mail arrived from the suppliers informing me that what I ordered in black was not in stock and would I accept one in red or blue? I should have asked for the money back there and then but instead I opted for a 'blue' alternative. It too failed to arrive and I had to open a 'dispute' through e-bay to get the money back. The money was repaid the next day, but it was close to the 30-day limit..

The whole experience just made me feel taken advantage of. I started to research the seller and found out they use multiple identities all linked by the same address in Mirfield. The feedback ratings over all the sites told their own story.. 'avoid'. I ended up feeling that they were just playing it out for time to defeat the 30 day e-bay dispute ruling. It wasn't the money issue (£8.67) but rather the thought of having been 'lured-in' by them, the waiting around and the paranoia!

I turned to another supplier 'Demon Motorsport' who restored the faith delivering within two days... I had earlier ordered the 'straight' reducers from them and would happily go back there again.

At the time of ordering, they only had the elbow reducer in 'blue' silicone. I am personally averse to all that 'boy racer' colourred silicone hose scene but things here are getting a bit desperate!

The workbench spread of plumbing bits.

Showing the two 25/19mm reducers ready to assemble onto the ProVent.

The ProVent body is already mounted on the engine bay bulkhead so all I needed to do was attach the hoses and route them around the engine.

And that's where the problems began. It quickly became apparent that the new hose will not bend to the shape needed and more elbow connectors will have to be used...

I decided to use the original Td5 rocker cover hose as it has the 's' bend already moulded into it and sits nicely under the acoustic cover.

I had also decided to remove the fitted Depression Control Valve (DCV) mounted on the turbo intake. 

The ProVent unit comes complete with its own depression valve to control the intake vacumn and removing the fitted DCV would help free-up space to route the connecting hoses.

Began to bark up the wrong tree.....   After staring at the problem of the hose routing, I decided to hunt down some old spare shaped hoses and came accross this elbow section that was 19mm ID at one end and reducing to 16mm at the other.

This spare hose was originally about 2 foot long with only the elbow section being 19mm ID. Luckily that was all I needed. The above photo shows the reduction in diameter at the horizontal end.

That was trimmed off and the 19mm straight connector was a tight push fit ..

A rather neat solution I thought, but it turned out to be not suitable as the 'elbow' was too tight an angle, a 45 degree bend would be more appropriate.  

I could have simply ordered a 45 deg hose bend, but I was now mindful of the increasing costs of this install, - never mind the length of time taken to complete it!

Thoughts turned to adapting what had already been bought. This meant having a go at shaping the clear hose with heat to get it to take on a more useful shape.

The technique was simple and easily controlled...

I placed a15mm pipe bending spring into the 19mm hose to give some internal support and then tied the end with some garden wire just to hold the shape. 

The hose was then placed into a saucepan and hot water poured in. The curve of the saucepan aided the 'moulding' of the hose and it was left there for about 15 min with top-ups of hot water along the way. 

When removed, it was noted how the metal spring itself was warm to the touch. The hose clearly showed an increase in its 'bend' and although it relaxed a little I felt confident sections of it would now be usable and indeed save the cost of a 45 deg silicone hose..

This is the plastic hose after the heat treatment and at rest showing the tighter curve that it now has. This proved to be ideal.

Had the heat treatment failed, another trick I could have used was to fabricate a wire spring to support the hose bending. I got the idea from the bracket found at the back of washing machines to 'shape' the outlet hose. When I looked on line I found these...

They are called 'unicoil' and are not to be confused with 'helicoil'. They are commercially available in various sizes, but could easily be fabricated from thin wire..

Above photo shows the heat treated hose during fitting. The curve in the hose is its natural state (after the heating) and it's under no tension whatsoever... a much better fit. 

Visible on the hose are two pieces of masking tape I used to mark where to cut the hose to get the best fit.