Hot side charge pipes reviewed - JBR Hot Side Charge Pipe Kit vs. CP-E 'Hotcharge' Kit
Background
Wanted to give a little backstory so this review has some more context. I made the decision to upgrade to a GTX2867 a couple months ago and I knew I wanted to upgrade my hot side charge pipe during the process to really maximize the airflow coming out of it. I didn't want to get something cheap that might fit poorly but I also didn't want to drop a mint on the Mountune/Samco setup only to drill holes in it. This left me looking at either the JBR or CP-E hot side kits.
Cost
JBR
- $179
CP-E
- $184 (with EdgeAutoSport 5% forum discount)
JBR gets this one by being $5 cheaper. However, I picked my CP-E up during EdgeAutoSports July 4th sale and was able to get mine for $155 shipped. Technically I got my CP-E pipe for substantially cheaper than I got my JBR, but in the interest of fairness I will rank this comparison off of immediately available deals.
Winner: JBR
Packaging
JBR kit came in one big box with all the accessories in an oversized plastic bag and the t-bolt clamps in USPS flat rate boxes. Pipe was packed with your standard paper packing material.
CP-E kit came in one box with all the accessories in one big vacuum-sealed bag with each part sealed in its own little section. Pipe was packed with standard paper packing material.
I think the CP-E packaging is a touch nicer here so they get this one. Like I said in my other thread, this is just packaging so it's a minor thing.
Winner: CP-E
Accessories
- JBR kit includes
--- 4x T-bolt clamps
--- 2x Silicone couplers
- CP-E kit includes
--- 4x T-bolt clamps
--- 2x Silicone couplers
--- 2x Allen key bolts w/ washers
Silicone couplers:
- JBR went with heavier, 5-ply silicone couplers that are very rigid. These are legit really nice and have a very sturdy feel to them.
- CP-E went with lighter, 4-ply silicone couplers that are slightly more flexible. They also have a very sturdy feel to them but not quite as much so as the JBR couplers.
T-Bolt clamps:
As far as I could tell, the T-Bolt clamps included in both kits are essentially identical to each other aside from being slightly different in size. I haven't had any issues with the silicone couplers popping off with either kit.
Overall I'm going to score this one a tie. The heavier couplers from JBR are nice, but they are harder to install/position due to their rigidity. The lighter silicone couplers from CP-E seem plenty thick enough but are more flexible to install and position.
Winner: Tie
JBR silicone coupler attached to my GTX2867 with an ATP boost tap installed.
CP-E silicone coupler attached to the GTX2867 with the same ATP boost tap installed.
Finish
- JBR is painted with a wrinkle coating and is 2.50" in diameter. The wrinkle coating JBR went with is honestly pretty nice, but it seems to scratch and scrape easier.
- CP-E is powder coated and 2.50" in diameter. The powder coating CP-E went with is also really nice and seems to resist scratching more effectively.
I don't really think the aesthetics of one is any better than the other, all other factors being equal, so I'm going to score this based on scratch resistance.
Winner: CP-E
Fitment
I'll break this one down into a couple subcategories.
Size:
JBR and CP-E both went for the same size with this pipe, 2.50". They both pretty much max out the all the available space around the oil pan.
Mandrel bends:
JBR could have had a better angle on some of the mandrel bends. Where the compressor housing silicone coupler connects to the charge pipe was a real struggle, it took two sets of hands to get it lined up correctly AND positioned deep enough in the coupler so that the t-bolt clamp had enough bite to keep it from popping off.
CP-E had very accurate bends that allowed the silicone elbows coming from the intercooler and compressor housing to mate up very naturally. It was not a struggle at all to get the pipe correctly situated inside the couplers and to get the T-bolt clamps fastened down where they needed to be.
Mounting bracket(s)
This was a huge one for me and was the whole reason I picked up the CP-E kit after already owning the JBR kit.
JBR uses a single mounting tab about in the middle of the pipe. This tab has a U-shaped cut-out to allow it to slide up vertically onto one of the OEM charge pipe bracket bolts coming off the transmission housing. However, because the tab is positioned vertically and is not a closed-eyelet design, the middle of the pipe is given the opportunity to sag and work its way loose. The reason this style of mounting worked on the OEM hotside but doesn't work for JBR is because the OEM hotside had a second mounting bracket positioned horizontally that gave support to the middle section of the pipe thereby preventing the sagging issue. What you also see as a result of this mounting tab design is poor lateral support for the charge pipe, meaning the charge pipe moves back and forth on its horizontal plane. The lateral movement ends up bending the tangs on the mounting tab, giving the retaining nut less material to bite into, which allows for yet more movement, and so on and so forth. It's a problem that makes itself worse over time. Of course, as all this is happening the charge pipe will be banging around and making a racket when you're pulling out. This is yet further proof of my stance that JBR is seriously lacking in the real world testing department. This should have been an easy problem to identify and take steps to prevent. If they would have added in a second mounting bracket in the same location as the OEM hotside to prevent the sagging issues I would have rated overall fitment higher. However, because of the previously mentioned issue, I'm going to rate the overall fitment of the JBR pipe as poor.
CP-E on the other hand uses TWO horizontal mounting brackets that are both closed eyelet style. The closed eyelets work to prevent lateral movement of the pipe and the fact that they are both horizontally oriented means they shouldn't work loose and sag over time. CP-E includes two allen head screws and two washers that get installed into the bottom of the transmission housing, one in an unused threaded hole and one in the OEM hotside mounting hole. I put some threadlocker on the bolts before installing them, got them nice and snug with a t-handle allen wrench, and they're not going anywhere. I shook the pipe as hard as I could and it didn't move at all. I did have a slight bit of an installation issue, the rear-most mounting bracket was positioned about 1/8" too far forward and potentially could have caused a cross-threaded bolt if I hadn't been paying attention. I had to take a screwdriver, insert it into the eyelet, and torque the bracket backward just a touch. Once this correction was done, the bracket and bolt installed without issue. If it weren't for having to tweak that bracket I would have rated fitment as excellent but because of that I'm going to settle for saying fitment was great.
Winner: CP-E
Sagging center support bracket on the JBR pipe
Wonky angle on the bend made this a real bear to get lined up and clamped in place
CP-E uses TWO mounting brackets that wont suffer from the same sagging issue
Nice, accurate mandrel bends means no wonky angles here
Summary (TL;DR)
Fortunately hotside charge pipes are a lot easier and more simple to review than cold side charge pipes. They either have accurate bends and good mounting brackets or they don't. Accessories like the silicone couplers and t-bolt clamps matter but those can all be upgraded/replaced with relative ease. Poor mounting bracket designs can't be. Based on the fitment issues with the JBR mounting tab, my advice is to steer clear of it and go with the CP-E kit instead.
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Check out my JBR Cold Side Kit vs. CP-E Exhale Kit review here!
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