bending 1.5"x.095" tubing? - Third Generation F-Body Message Boards

customblackbird · 10-06-2009, 09:12 PM

any way of bending 1.5"x.095" mild steel tubing without a tubing bender? i want to make my STB for my HSR and i need to make 2 slight bends to connect to the strut towers but i dont have a bender... and i dont kno anyone around here who does. dont think exhaust compaines with benders would be able to? like midas or sunoco?

what about heating the pipe and wrapping it around a pole lol?

This ad is not displayed to registered members.
Register your free account today and become a member on ThirdGen!

//<86TA>\\ · 10-06-2009, 09:25 PM

if you try to bend it without a tubing bender, the tubing will flatten out at the bends. There is something called sand bending, which i think is supposed to help this issue, but thats all i know about it. If you heat the pipe, it will kink as soon as you try to bend it.

Exhaust machines will not bend that tubing, maybe look up a local speedshop and see if they know anybody local with a bender

customblackbird · 10-06-2009, 11:29 PM

yea ive heard of that as well... should be interesting if i try it lol. i dont want sand all in my STB lol.

prob is there are very little speed shops up here in North NJ. just annoying since its just 2 slight bends.

customblackbird · 10-07-2009, 02:08 AM

maybe i'll try to pack it with sand and try to bend it... hmmm.

would anyone have a prob with strength if i cut the round tubing and welded in a bend :P

Drumer919 · 10-07-2009, 02:28 AM

Saw this on one of the horsepower TV shows a while back.

You will need a sturdy wooden table or plywood secured to sawhorses and weighted down well.

Then you construct the angle you need to bend out of wood (I'll call this piece of wood the jig, just for lack of a better term), you can use several sheets of plywood screwed together so its at least as tall as the pipe diameter. Use a sawzall or a skill saw to get the shape you need. Now attach this piece to the work surface. Next put the tube/pipe up next to the jig and attach a 2X4 to the work surface to hold the pipe from just pivoting around the jig.

Once both the jig and 2x4 are secure you can use a torch to heat the pipe where you need the bend and apply pressure to the pipe, pushing tward the bend, from the opposite end that the 2x4 is on.

I'm drawing a pic in paint, I'll post it when I'm done.

customblackbird · 10-07-2009, 04:00 AM

yea ive heard of that way as well... prob with that is that the only type of torch that i got is a stupid hand held propane torch lol.

i do have a 12ton press... but no dies. the bends on the stb arent tight... wouldnt even say 45 degrees. other way of doing it would be to cut out triangle wedges and bend tubing and then weld the cuts. anyone kno if this would weaken the tubing too much? or is the tubing still too strong for the welded joints to affect the STB and the pressure it see's during cornering?

captbarbosa · 10-07-2009, 02:26 PM

Drumer919's drawing is a good cheap way of making your bends. I used to use that set up back in the day when I built my own bike frames.
The sand trick works, but you need to seal the ends to make sure your sand doesn't push out, defeating the purpose.
I have also made el cheapo dies by splitting a heavy wall piece of pipe and spreading the second half just enuff to fit over the first half. But this works better on sheet metal, than on tubing.
Are you looking to get an arc or a definite angle? I've done the cut, form, and weld a lot of times on round and square tubing, and not had any issues with it.

customblackbird · 10-07-2009, 02:59 PM

i would def go with drumers idea but i dont have a torch that will get my tubing hot enough to bend... which is my issue.

im def thinking of the cut and weld now but i like the look of a continuous flowing tube. im trying to mimic the UMI STB but mount directly to the strut tower with 2 3/8" grade 8 bolts on each side. im gona notch the tubing and everything to fit over the HSR.

i would just buy the UMI one but i hate how it looks and how it attaches at the strut tower. and also my HSR 383 sits a bunch higher than the stock TPI, HSR alone is taller but the poly mounts def raised it up a bit more. my MAf was hitting the underside of the hood and i have a Ram Air II hood with 2" extra clearance.

the bends are really slight like in the pic attached

Drumer919 · 10-07-2009, 03:18 PM

This isnt going to go over well but have you thought about doing one that way they are on mustangs? How it comes from each strut tower and both go back and join together at the firewall, also attaching there?

customblackbird · 10-07-2009, 03:34 PM

well the new mustangs run them just like ours. but the older ones... 2005 and later run them that funky way... problem with that is that my HSRand intake pluming gets in the way. i have to run it over the top and them i'll prob fab up a 3/4pt setup to go to the firewall.

my car has been on stands for about a yr... and now the windsheild has a 5" crack at the base of the pass side on the windshield. im very hessitant on attaching to the windshield base (even tho ppl say its strong) our 86 TA cracked in the same place while on stands.

pic shows u how little room i have besides goin right above. i checked with modeling clay... and i have 1.5" of clearance right behind the TB, thats 1.5" clearance from the intake to the underside of the hood. which is why id knotch the tubing .5" to 3/4" and weld in a reinforcement for the clearance i want

//<86TA>\\ · 10-07-2009, 07:51 PM

i dont know how far north you live, but im pretty sure TTP does custom cages and bending. People have their opinions of TTP, so i will leave it at that.

iroc a 86 berli · 10-08-2009, 08:51 PM

damn, thats a nice lookin mill CBB.

customblackbird · 10-08-2009, 11:05 PM

thanks guys, i ended up doing the cut a knotch out and weld up the bend kinda thing. tried bending it but i was lifting the bench off the ground lol trying to bend it.

i finished it up last nite and installed it today and took it out after my first tune... i got alot of work to do. im making a thread on it now

i kno it looks sexy right iroc a 86 berli? lol its my baby

EDIT

heres the finished product. thanks again guys
http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/fa...rut-tower.html (my HSR strut tower brace)