New Zealand Datsun Club

I am looking at buying a cheap hydraulic pipe bender like the folllowing:
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Business-farmi ... 443991.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

However I have read in a couple of places (including on that auction) that they aren't suitable for exhaust pipe because the wall is too thin.

Has anyone had any experience with these and can confirm whether or not they are suitable for bending exhaust pipe? This is pretty much all I want it for.

From memory the exhaust pipe I have has a 1.6mm wall thickness

No these pipe benders are no use for thin wall pipe

to bend thin wall pipe you need to capture both sides of the tube and pull it around
a die

the pipe benders in the auction will just crinkle up the inside of the bend and then squash it

to buy a bender to bend exhaust tube you will probably be looking at thousands
instead of hundreds

Hope this helps

exactly...

those push type benders just fold exhaust tubing up instead of rolling it round the bend..

agreed, most factory cars have a press bent exhaust system as they are cheap and easy to make, but they are restrictive and just shit in general. have a look at your everyday family car and compare the bends to a mandrel exhaust. you will find that the madrel has not been crushed in on the bends and will be able to flow more

Thanks for the replies.

To clarify, I'm not expecting mandrel style bends from one of these. What I want to understand is whether they will do crush bends similar to a factory car, or if they aren't even capble of that e.g. they just totally wreck the pipe.

So will they even do a factory style crush bend or do you just end up with totally mangled pipe?

for slight bends they may be fine, maybe up to 45degrees but anything past that i reckon it would just be a waste of time and tubing. mandrel bends arent that dear if you look around, and will be better in the long run, both looks and performance wise. if you really dont wanna buy mandrel bends you could maybe try making a lobster back exhaust like so



obviously this is an intake pipe, but it should give you a decent idea. its a lot more involved and time consuming, but just using straight pipe will cut costs down, and you wont have to spend money on a bender you will only use once

Trying to find some mild steel mandrel bends in AKL for a good price now.

we have one of those benders at work and they are good for heavy wall but terrible for light wall you will just stuff the pipe.


p.s dirtyleppa wow someone has some spare time!!!!

agree jasper, i would hate to know how long that took, either way, it looks dead sexy

think thats nice check out this!!!!!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?op=1& ... =584201521" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;