Muzikp's Sometimes Driveable Build

I have tried to use that HF pipe bender and failed. I made my exhaust by buying a bunch of random bent tubes from a closed down header company and TIG welding it all up. Turned out real good.

 

Yeh I've seen a lot of mixed results with this bender. Did you try the sand method to keep it from collapsing the pipe at the bend? I need to go get some sand and pack it in my pipe real good. I also need to grind the shoe a bit, it doesn't fit my pipe very well.

Buying a bunch of mandrels is my next option if this doesn't work. Unfortunately I don't have a TIG welder, which is kinda why I was hoping to get the bender to work well. I'm sure your TIG version turned out awesome, you do some nice work.

 

+ 1 on that bender sucking. No offense.

It works great on pipe for handrails, but it's worthless for tubing. (Tubing is measured by outside diameter and pipe is measured by inside diameter. That's why the 1 1/2" die actually measures close to 2"wide.) Tubing, especially thin-wall stuff needs to be drawn over a die, rather than having the die pushed into it.

I'm not saying the sand trick won't work, or it's not worth a shot; just be prepared if it doesn't.

I'm with Chris on ordering some straights and elbows and piecing a system together that way. Your MIG will work just fine for that job.

Good luck!

 

I used the sand method right off the bat and kinked the tube immediately. You can buy a bunch of bends from speedway or Jegs or similar. I used a big pipe cutter to make perfect cuts on the tube and worked better than I expected. Your Mig welder will do a fine job welding the tubing together. Maybe you can get that bender to work. good luck!

 

180 mandrel bends,bandsaw,mig welder straight pipe.

 

I built my exhaust with a bunch of bends and straight pipe from summit.

 

Well that pipe bender kinda sucks...

I modified the shoe so the tubing would fit inside correctly. That grinder is soooo heavy.



And I filled with sand



It didn't flatten out real bad which was nice





But it did kink some

Passenger side


Driver side (has more bend than the passenger side)


That's as good as I could do with it. I think I'll go with it since this tubing is so much bigger than the manifold outlet, I don't think the kinks will affect it any. What do you think?

 

Lots of pre-bent Exhaust U-bends and other various bends on the internet.....................https://www.summitracing.com/search/part-type/exhaust-pipes-individual-bends.............also Speedway.

 

So I should take that as a "no don't go with it"?

I have some of the bends that I'm going to use after the mufflers, was just hoping I could make these two sections from manifolds to mufflers as 1 piece.

 

Run em if they don't kink any worse than that.

 

Hey.......... if it's just a couple of pieces no big deal.

 

I used an assortment of pre bend tube to make my wrap around exhaust pipe. Only regret is I should have used stainless steel tube instead of plain steel.

.

 

That looks nice? I wonder if the high temp paint would help the mild steel hold up longer? is that a flex coupler in the middle?

The bends that I bought for the rear half are aluminized, not as nice as stainless but should hold up pretty well.

 

Yes a flexible coupler from Summit Racing to make installation and removal of the assembly easier. I actually did try some high dollar Eastwood high temp header paint on the exhaust pipe but it flaked off in about a minute.

Aluminized tube would have been another good option.

 

I'm all for doing things myself and am guilty of tackling things I have no business with, but when it comes to exhaust my vote is always take it to an exhaust shop and let somebody else figure out the details.

I had a nice aluminized exhaust built with dual 2 chamber flow masters all tucked up between the frame rails and out the back corners quite a few years ago and it's been better than anything I could have attempted and I still feel it was money well spent.

 

I don't know if they still make this, but I have been using the same can of this stuff for 10 years. I painted the headers on my dump truck 10 years ago, and they still look almost new.

 

This is the product I used with disappointing results even after following the application directions to the letter.

 

i have used the high heat duplicolor paint available at the local auto stores and i am not pleased. It says do not prime and don't because it will burn the primer off. The paint shows rust on the plain steel tubing after less than a year. No satifiied with mine.

 

Winning!!!

Got one side done.





Maybe one of the hardest things I've ever done.

Was trying to get my axle to hit the bump stop in the rear to see how much clearance I had but I could never really get it to hit.



Anyway it all seems to clear fine and it's really solid.







That was the hard side since there wasn't any wiggle room for that muffler to go forward or back, it is in the only place it will fit. I expect the other side to be easier but dang this is difficult.

Not like I wasn't warned

 

Got the other side done. Now I just need to pull the manifolds off and put the new gaskets on and the Calyx rub stuff. I'll be really happy to check exhaust off my list, this was hard for me.