I'm looking to get real creative here trying to run some Hooker long tubes with my T56 and spohn cross memeber. So I was lookin' at something like this to try and fab something up for myself
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=35336
I was also lookin' at getting a welder also to complete the project. But as far as the bender goes...I've heard that if you fill the pipe up with sand before you bend it, the sand will keep the tubing that lays inside of the bending die from collapsing on itself therefore leaving a mandrel or close to it bend.. Heard that from serveral people so I was wondering if there might be any truth in that. Any of you guys know?

 

I did this... the problem is trying to find the dies that the bottle jack would push against, and trying to fab up the rollers for the top bolts. Hey; where's that camera of mine?

Got it! The steel is 1/8th inch thick, 2" wide strip stock from Home Depot's hardware aisle. I welded that with flux core wire (didn't have the gas bottle yet), and it's pretty strong. Tried to use it to push out bushings when I rebuilt my front suspension... I was leaning on the jack so hard that the damn bender was tipping over! I didn't feel like drilling it and the workbench just to mount it, so I threw the bender back in the corner.

I heard that too, about filling the pipe with sand. I had planned on using this for making a strut tower brace for my car, but when I couldn't figure out how to make a decent die, I lost interest. Maybe I'll get back to it one day... you can tell how long it's been unused by the amount of rust on it!

 

i bought one from harbor freight, around 100 dollars. a larger beam mounted condit bender would be my choice. you can also buy prebent pieces for headers. way back when i was building racing karts i'd fill the tube with shot to keep it from crushing as it bent.

 

I have the same bender and the only major problem is with it crushing the pipe. It works really well with exhaust but not so well for roll cage which is why I bought it. I ended up buying an old hydraulic bender from a fab shop that went our of buz.

It works fine for $100 compared to the $1200 I spent on the hydraulic

 

It's my understanding that JD2 benders are the way to go. Both in quality and price.

Might want to look into their benders.

 

We recently got the harbor freight one, I'm gonna play with it tomorrow if it rains. I'll post back with some pics of what it can (or can't) do.

When you guys say to cap off the ends of the pipe once you fill it, are you talking with tape, or tack weld sheet metal to the ends?

 

That would be excellent

 

4 different bends in this one. First piece I did, has some kinks in it. Nothing horrible though.

 

Seems to work much better with mild radii bends. This one and the previous pic are done without sand.

 

Right when I was getting good, I ran out of scrap

This one was sand filled, but I tried to take to much at one time and put a small kink in it. Other than that, it's near perfect. Notice that there is almost no ribbing other than the kink.

Basically it seems like with alot of patience and practice, you can make some really nice bends. It will not do the tight radius stuff though, from what I can tell. If you plan on getting alot of use from it, it seems like a worthwhile investment. We play alot in the garage, so it's a good addition to our tool collection.

 

Thanks for the pictures!! Those bends came out pretty good! Hey, how well did the dies fit the pipes?

I wonder... would it bend better if it was heated with a propane torch? What's the heat that turns sand into glass, anyway? Could propane get that hot?

 

You guys need to keep in mind that a pipe bender and a tube bender are two different things. Pipe is measured differently from tubing. I can never remember without looking it up, but I think Pipe is measured by outter diameter, and tube is measured by inner, so keeping in mind that wall thicknesses vary, using a pipe bender with a 2" die, could very well ruin your 2" tubing.

TomP. Heating tube with pipe would make it bend easier, but it will also weaken the metal some.

Mathius

 

Yeppers, a 2" die fit the 2.5" pipe perfectly. Just had to lightly pry the pipe out of the die with a crow bar after bending. No biggie.

Not sure on the melting temp of sand, but I remember either Ede or RB saying that they use steel shot instead of sand and it worked well.

My parents happen to be doing some landscaping right now, so we have a couple thousand pounds of sand here for fill. So that was more convenient than buying the shot

 

EDIT: This was using steel 16awg sidewall exhaust tubing.

 

i plan on popping my head under my car this weekend and to start getting creative too.

ive decided on one of two solutions.

i know i need some shape other then a round tube... im either going to make two odd shaped "tubes" and have the exhaust go ABOVE the T56 crossmember between the floorpan, trans and crossmember.... or im going to make a very flat oval tube that will accept both exhaust pipes and exit to the catback...


the plan for my exhaust is to have 3" cutouts behind the headers. the cutouts are going to be low profile, high clearance, custom deals.... after that, i want to keep the exhaust as quiet and high as possible.
if that means making my own pipe, so be it.

my basic idea is somthing like this:
take a plywood board and cut it to fit inbetween the "rails" of the T56 crossmember... then, using some scrap and some screws, attach two mock inlets from the headers, and the exit tube.
i'll then cut some paperboard and bend it over my mockup until i get it cut to the correct shape.
then using my template, i'll cut some sheetmetal, bend it over my mockup, and tack it together.

with any luck, it will give me a nice exhaust that doesnt scrape.