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Wtd: Pipe Bender (Buy or Borrow)
MakeEverything - 8/11/09 at 11:30 PM

As title to make new exhaust for the kit car in 2" steel.

To borrow one would be better, as trying something different with the kit at the moment.

Anyone have on they can lend me or sell me for beer tokens please?

blakep82 - 9/11/09 at 01:31 AM

i'd suggest working out what you need, then either get an engineering firm to bend them for you (on a proper mandrel exhaust bender) or buy pre made mandrel bends.

i bought one of the hydraulic types, and it was the worst thing i've ever bought. was over £100 (150 maybe) and just creases/kinks anything except really thick wall gas pipe.

unless its just to make a non working design, then work away

speedyxjs - 9/11/09 at 07:09 AM

Problem is, i heard that places like that charge £15 per bend Normal 4 pot system has 6 bends? £90 just for the bends

MakeEverything - 9/11/09 at 07:54 AM

quote:
Originally posted by speedyxjs
Problem is, i heard that places like that charge £15 per bend Normal 4 pot system has 6 bends? £90 just for the bends


Exactly why i want to bend them myself.

There are expanders on ebay at the moment for around £20, so making male and female connections should be tidy.

minitici - 9/11/09 at 09:01 AM

Those cheap expanders will not be able to form a female end on pipe.
They are really for taking out dents in the ends of tube.
You can expand a 3/8" ring of thin wall exhaust tube to use as reinforcement for a pipe to pipe weld - but that is all.

zilspeed - 9/11/09 at 09:11 AM

quote:
Originally posted by minitici
Those cheap expanders will not be able to form a female end on pipe.
They are really for taking out dents in the ends of tube.
You can expand a 3/8" ring of thin wall exhaust tube to use as reinforcement for a pipe to pipe weld - but that is all.


What he said.

Against all good advice, I tried one on stainless and whilst it worked a little bit, it didn't form a useable sleeve joint unless you had pre formed slits in the pipe which would then need welding up.
Eventually, I just cut the existing bike pipes up and re fabricated it to the right shape.

speedyxjs - 9/11/09 at 09:39 AM

You could always do what i did. I used the second manifold that came with my third engine and cut the bends out of that and the bends on my old tintop scrap exhaust and welded them on. If you know what diameter you need, go round the scrappies with a tape measure and come out with a load of exhaust. You can then sell the straight bits left over and make some money back

mangogrooveworkshop - 9/11/09 at 12:23 PM

To use one of those pipe benders you have to pack the tube with sand and water hammering the sand to get a hard pack.
That is the basic old school way of achieving a bend. Twas the way it was done before fancy tools where invented