exhaust mandrel bends

there's a number of automotive minded folk here, where are you guys buying mandrel bends from?

http://www.mandrel-bends.com/catalog/ has decent pricing, I keep an eye on their weekly B-Stock list.

this place is the cheapest I've found so far for stainless, I have no idea if it's any good. http://www.frozenboost.com/index.php...5125365719cd5d

I think I might buy some bends and some -AN fittings and hose, because at those prices, even if it's junk, it's worth it to find out. for reference, a straight 12-AN fitting from summit/jegs/speedway is $15. (running coolant lines).


I was just curious if anyone had a good reliable source for exhaust tubing (preferably stainless, but I like sources for anything :)

id like some canadian sources too. my friend is opening up a shop and he wants me to start making exhausts and intakes and all sorts of crap for him. ill soon be in need of exhaust tubing

You can buy mandrel bent exhaust turns with one end expanded (slip fit) from many automotive part stores that have fleet service. Carquest stocks them in my area.

how are they on price? columbia runs $12-15 for 3" bends in mild, depending on angle. I'm assuming they don't stock stainless.

Got a local exhaust shop? I had a friend ran one, they'd make up bends for folks working on their own stuff (I always just had them make mine in place). Might see what some local shops can make up, establish a relationship and go from there. Helpful if you need that really odd angle that just no one has...

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Originally Posted by ogorir

how are they on price? columbia runs $12-15 for 3" bends in mild, depending on angle. I'm assuming they don't stock stainless.

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That's about the same price last time I purchased from them. I doubt they stock stainless.

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Originally Posted by Trip59

Got a local exhaust shop? I had a friend ran one, they'd make up bends for folks working on their own stuff (I always just had them make mine in place). Might see what some local shops can make up, establish a relationship and go from there. Helpful if you need that really odd angle that just no one has...

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Most exhaust shops don't do mandrel bends, they usually just have a crush bender.

Didn't think about that... ok, got a local high end exhaust shop... :)

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Originally Posted by ogorir

there's a number of automotive minded folk here, where are you guys buying mandrel bends from?

http://www.mandrel-bends.com/catalog/ has decent pricing, I keep an eye on their weekly B-Stock list.

this place is the cheapest I've found so far for stainless, I have no idea if it's any good. http://www.frozenboost.com/index.php...5125365719cd5d

I think I might buy some bends and some -AN fittings and hose, because at those prices, even if it's junk, it's worth it to find out. for reference, a straight 12-AN fitting from summit/jegs/speedway is $15. (running coolant lines).


I was just curious if anyone had a good reliable source for exhaust tubing (preferably stainless, but I like sources for anything :)

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I don't know if it's any good or not but that is polished 304 stainless for that price! DIRT CHEAP. only issue I see is that for exhaust usage it has a bead rolled at the end and it is a little thinner than standard exhaust tubing. that page lists it as 50 thou thick. standard exhaust tubing is 16 gage which is usually 60-65 thou thick. I don't know if you would end up with cracking issues because of the thinner material, but at that price and being polished I might give it a try!

I just went back and looked some more at the page, looks like they have alot more to choose from than just the lipped intake pipe. still all .050 thick, but they have lots of interesting things like the clamp setups. I'm definitely bookmarking this page for when I do the exhaust on my hot rod!

I'm not sure how thick it is, to be honest. if you read the dimension chart, which lists ID and OD, you get a wall thickness of .065"

To be honest, I forgot about the local angle. I might have a lead on that that I forgot about (guy who owns a local muffler shop hangs out at the mechanic shop that redid the brakes on by truck when I got down here, took 'em a week and a half and I was unemployed, so I was there in the afternoons shootin the #### frequently.)

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Originally Posted by ogorir

I'm not sure how thick it is, to be honest. if you read the dimension chart, which lists ID and OD, you get a wall thickness of .065"

To be honest, I forgot about the local angle. I might have a lead on that that I forgot about (guy who owns a local muffler shop hangs out at the mechanic shop that redid the brakes on by truck when I got down here, took 'em a week and a half and I was unemployed, so I was there in the afternoons shootin the #### frequently.)

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seems there's conflicting information on the site. description of the tubing states it's .050 wall thickness. would have to call and find out. either way, I think it's worth buying some to try.

I've used www.burnsstainless.com for stainless steel mandrel bent pieces. It's extremely good quality, but not that low of a price especially nowadays that new low cost competitors are around. They seem to have filled out some niche higher end products nowadays. You will find the ends cut very square, perfectly deburred, bends very accurate.

I've gotten aluminum mandrel bent tubing from I think www.racepartsolutions.com. It was OK, but a really soft alloy. I never did learn what alloy it was but that stuff was soft! But it was cheap. I don't know if they are so competitive any more, but I could order from them again. But, I think they used to be cheaper, I think they raised their prices.

www.hrpworld.com has some interesting products, like tube donuts. They have a wide variety of parts for real race cars, some pretty cool, many at very reasonable prices. I think aluminum mandrel bends are available from them in smaller sizes for radiators at reasonable prices.

I've used www.mandrelbends.com (Columbia city mandrel bends) multiple times; they seem to be very low cost and have a variety of products. And nowadays, would be probably the first place I would look. They don't do everything though - no 18 gauge stainless tubing for example, only thicker 16 gauge. Expect to get some globs of wax inside your tube that should be cleaned out. The mandrel bend will not be quite as accurate as a burns bend, but pretty good.

There is a mandrel bend exhaust supplier somewhat close to me that does high end custom work - lots of thick, larger stuff. RVs and Diesel trucks. www.stansheaders.com They initially did not offer stainless but I think they now do in 409 grade. Most shops are just crush-bend though.

Got to give a shout out to http://www.stainlessheaders.com/mandrelbends since they have such great stainless TIG welding videos.

And finally, don't forget Ebay.

wow, holy sources, batman! the two racing sites will definitely come in handy. burns looks a bit high for what I'm currently doing(putting big exhaust on my pissin nissan pickup), but for headers, I'll keep 'em in mind.

HRP world has some meziere 2-outlet water pumps I'm looking at real hard for these things. I've been having a time trying to suss out how to split the water flow to the lower block inlet and the lower radiator inlet.

Thanks a ton, Jake!

O
I have been running a Frozen Boost water to air inter-cooler and flex coupling on our drag car for a couple of years and have had no issues whatsoever But then we only run 37 pounds of Boost.

only 37 pounds, that's just a little bit of boost there. speaks well for their quality, though. we're looking at going air-water for space considerations in the bullnose V4, but I doubt we'll be over 15psi.

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Originally Posted by jakeru

I've gotten aluminum mandrel bent tubing from I think www.racepartsolutions.com.

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I've used Race Parts Solutions quite a bit. John Kerr is the owner, and has (had) a Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle. If folks are interested, I can likely get a code to use to get a percentage off of purchases from them for online orders.

John

If you look back a little ways at my name, you will find an exhaust I built from scratch that is stainless mandrel bent. The bends in that system are from columbia and I actually thought they were fine. They didn't take long to get them to me either.