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pipe bender to bend exhaust

big83chevy4x4

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anyone ever used one of these to bend up exhaust. i need to put exhaust on my k20 and don't want to spend $180 for some one to do it for me.
 
for now im just going with some cheap bendable tubing..(not flex pipe..but the plain bendable tube) i to dont feel like spending much money on my exhuast ..and also dont feel like spending 160 bucks for the stock pipes!!! so i came up with this sollution.
 
I dont see why it wouldent work... looks about like the hydralic set up they use in exuast shops... If you already have the pipe bender go get a stick of tubing(its not to expensive) and try a few bends btw when you do your exuasat get aluminized tubing /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
i don't have it but my friend has one that i could borrow as long as i want /forums/images/graemlins/rotfl.gif i forgot all about that aluminiumized pipe /forums/images/graemlins/1zhelp.gif, thanks TJ
 
No it will not work. That bender will smash the thin walled pipe before it even acts like its going to bend. That thing will smash heavy walled schedule 40 too. I made two bumpers using one of those and wasted about 5 times as much pipe as I was able to get a decent bend and that was with schedule 40. There is NO WAY it will bend thin walled exhaust pipe... DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!
 
If you pack the pipe with sand and cap the ends it will work then. That is welded caps and dry sand, old pipe fitters trick.
 
Pipe and tubing are two different things. Their inside and outside diameters are different. I have one of the benders in the picture and it is a pipe bender not a tubing bender. It bends 3/4, and 1 inch pipe OK, but will dimple the larger sizes. I made 2 pieces that hold the pipe on the outside of the bend from pipe 1/4" larger (bending 1 1/2" pipe, the pieces should be made from 1 3/4" pipe) than the pipe I need to bend. The pieces are about 3 inches long, and are split right down the middle, a sawzall works OK for this. Make a backbone for the split pieces of pipe out of 1/2 X 1" bar stock and drill a hole for the pin and weld the backbone in place. Install these pieces in place of the rollers and your bender for less than 100 bucks works fine. You will need to make a fairly smooth surface on these pieces where they contact the pipe being bent because any rough edges will basicly print on the pipe being bent. Hope this helps, I don't know how to put a drawing here but you are simply making a surface larger than the two rollers on your bender for the pipe being bent to push against. Thanks Nike
 
I have tried the sand trick and it does help but will not eliminate deforming the pipe. My best "trick" was to use another smaller diameter pipe inside the pipe I was bending. This seemed to work a little better than the sand. Anyway - both ways basically suck. You use a lot of time, energy, and extra materials trying to get the thing to make a decent bend. I am very anal about what something is supposed to look like. If you compare a bend with the HF bender and one with a real bender, there is really no comparison! That being said, the HF bender will make a decent bend on the smaller stuff, maybe up to 1.5" schedule 40. Anything larger and you "might" get a good bend 1 out of 5 tries.
 
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No it will not work. That bender will smash the thin walled pipe before it even acts like its going to bend. That thing will smash heavy walled schedule 40 too. I made two bumpers using one of those and wasted about 5 times as much pipe as I was able to get a decent bend and that was with schedule 40. There is NO WAY it will bend thin walled exhaust pipe... DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!


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i agree completly. i tried to bend 3" exuast tubing for a buddy with that very same pipe bender and it just mashed it.
 
well he has the small one (only goes to 2" and im going to be running 2 1/2") is there any other way to bend to pipe my self? i would really like to do this my self. there is an autoparts store that will bend it for $1.50 per bend, but i have to come up with a way to mock it up so thay can bend it. any ideas?
 
$1.5 is cheap to bend that stuff. Kyle Pope had a good idea when mocking up tube. Go down to the hardware store and buy some PVC and a different angle fittings. Or you can get some heavy guage wire, maybe even a clothes hanger, but likely somthing heavier that will hold the bend and bend away. Good Luck! /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
My brother and I just put a new motor in his K10 and put flowtech headers on. Went to the local chevy garage and the guy bent the tubes for us for free. I figured the bends and used an no.9 wire to show the guy what I needed and away he went. We routed the pipes up and over the crossmembers and around the tcase just like factory and it was free from a chevy garage. GO FIGURE>>>
 
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