Turbo hose autopsy

The photos below show the inside of the turbo hose coupler after a bit more than 2 hours of vigorous flying.

A couple of cracks can be seen, but these occurred as a result of my having to spread the casing open to see the inner surface. The cracks appeared only in the section that was exposed to hot exhaust gases - which means the heat did degrade the material somewhat - however it can be seen in the cross-section photo that there was little if any penetration of the inner surface. Also, the hose was equally firm-but-supple in the "burned" area as in the end areas covered by the header and pipe. I have no doubts that this coupler would last 60 flights (Rendegade's conservative estimate) and perhaps even 100, as is, with zero modification. However, the JB Weld lip on the ES pipe is mandatory to eliminate slippage.

A fresh piece of turbo hose was installed, using the aluminum spacer that I mentioned earlier, which is simply a 1-inch long piece of 7/8" OD wing tube. The entire coupler assembly weighs 48 grams. It was easy to get the aluminum spacer into the hose by wetting the inside of the hose with isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol and using the remainder of the wing tube as a ramrod to push the spacer into position.

I am fairly confident that this arrangement will last for an entire season of flying, and possibly a lot more.