The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Exhaust pipe bender

I thought I'd experiment with a HF 12 ton pipe bender over the weekend to see how it would work on an exhaust system for a 261 that I am building for my '57 with a split manifold. The reviews I read on the HF website said that it doesn't work well on exhaust tubing, but I wanted to experiment anyway.

I found that it worked great! I didn't bend anything over 45 degrees, so I can't comment on bends greater than that angle. I used 2" Walker 14 gauge low carbon exhaust tubing. I used 14 gauge so that I would have more wall thickness to hopefully avoid kinks when bending and I also wanted more meat to weld to. I packed the pipe with sand and used Oatey 2" pressure test plugs at both ends (available in the plumbing department of either Home Depot or Lowes). I coated the dies with oil before bending. The 2" die was a little tight, so I ground off just a hair from the outer lip on both sides.

I am amazed at how well it worked. Glad that I decided to give it a try. Sharing just in case anyone else is interested but has been scared away by the reviews.

Attached is a picture of one section of pipe.

http://s844.photobucket.com/user/ma...xhaust/IMG_2075_zpsepfquaxl.jpg.html?o=0

Matt

That is just as good as my local discount exhaust guy can do!

I had some extra pipe, so I tried to see how far I could bend before kinking. I started to get kinks at about 65 degrees, but I found that if I stopped at 45 degrees and re-oiled the die 3 or 4 times as I bent it further, I could get good bends up to 90 degrees. The pipe always springs back a bit when the die is released, so I think the difference is letting the metal relax by releasing the die and bending in small increments when going beyond 45 degrees.

Matt