Enter your username:
Do you want to login or register?
  • Forgot your password?

    Login / Register



    Results 1 to 15 of 15
    1. #1
      Join Date
      Jun 2017
      Location
      Idaho
      Posts
      171
      Country Flag: United States

      Question for those that build your own exhaust....

      Greetings, I have a Ben Pearson Muffler shop tubing bender. I have owned it for several years now and for the first time tried bending some 3" aluminized for my LS swap project and it's crushing the pipe. I have tried different back pressure adjustments and still doing it
      Name:  IMG_20190503_134345488.jpg
Views: 3363
Size:  173.9 KB

    2. #2
      Join Date
      Oct 2004
      Location
      Pflugerville, TX
      Posts
      57
      Country Flag: United States
      Yep, it is almost impossible to bend 3” that far without crushing it some unless you have a mandrel bender. However, new sticks of tubing do tend to bend better than old ones... don’t know why. Perhaps it stretches better. With 3” you are almost better off buying a couple pieces of mandrel prebent chunks and welding them together to get over the axle.

    3. #3
      Join Date
      Jun 2001
      Location
      Orlando, FL
      Posts
      10,603
      Country Flag: United States
      Right. Buy mandrel bent pieces and weld them together. A typical dual exhaust to the tailpipe takes 40-60 hours.
      John Parsons

      UnRivaled Rides -- Modern upgrades for your ride.

      UnRivaled Rides recent project -- LS9-powered 69 Camaro

    4. #4
      Join Date
      Jun 2017
      Location
      Idaho
      Posts
      171
      Country Flag: United States
      I get what you are saying, but I don't have a five thousand dollar bender sitting in my shop to go out and buy pre-bent pipe and scab together an exhaust. I know this machine can make these bends without kinking the pipe...I am looking for someone who knows how to make the necessary adjustments to get it tuned up. BEN Pearson would never be able to sell these if they just simply couldn't bend pipe without ruining it.

    5. #5
      Join Date
      Sep 2010
      Location
      Beach Park IL
      Posts
      2,838
      Country Flag: United States
      Talk to Ben Pearson?
      Donny

      Support your local hot rod shop!

    6. #6
      Join Date
      Aug 2007
      Posts
      641
      I've never seen a "typical" pipe bender that didn't crush the pipe to some extent no matter the pipe diameter. There are mandrel bend pipe benders available. I have no idea the price. There's a muffler shop in central MN that has both. I suspect a mandrel bend fabbed exhaust is more money than a standard pipe bender exhaust.

      I build my exhaust out of mandrel bend pieces because I don't care for the crushed tube look. My hand fabbed exhaust does not look scabbed together. I buy the bends from Summit and the straight sections from the local muffler shop.

      The last one I did was my 68 C10. I didn't take 40 hours but I would guess at least 30 hours.

    7. #7
      Join Date
      Jun 2017
      Location
      Idaho
      Posts
      171
      Country Flag: United States
      Quote Originally Posted by 79 Camaro View Post
      I've never seen a "typical" pipe bender that didn't crush the pipe to some extent no matter the pipe diameter. There are mandrel bend pipe benders available. I have no idea the price. There's a muffler shop in central MN that has both. I suspect a mandrel bend fabbed exhaust is more money than a standard pipe bender exhaust.

      I build my exhaust out of mandrel bend pieces because I don't care for the crushed tube look. My hand fabbed exhaust does not look scabbed together. I buy the bends from Summit and the straight sections from the local muffler shop.

      The last one I did was my 68 C10. I didn't take 40 hours but I would guess at least 30 hours.
      You are correct that the bends are slightly reduced...more egg shaped but I much prefer that to an exhaust with a bunch of weld joints. This thing bends 2-1/2" stainless great. Manufacturer claims it will do 3" up to 90° without wrinkling. It's only doing it in the upper left corner so I know it must be an adjustment. And please don't think I'm trying to insult anyone about the scab together comment...my apologies.

    8. #8
      Join Date
      Jun 2017
      Location
      Idaho
      Posts
      171
      Country Flag: United States
      Name:  IMG_20190504_125527789.jpg
Views: 1459
Size:  242.4 KB
      This is 2-1/2" stainless...

    9. #9
      Join Date
      Nov 2006
      Location
      Mountain Springs, Texas
      Posts
      4,488
      Country Flag: United States
      Same wall thickness and stainless type? I would have figured the larger diameter pipe would require a larger radius bend.

      Don
      1969 Camaro - LSA 6L90E AME sub/IRS
      1957 Buick Estate Wagon
      1959 El Camino - Ironworks frame
      1956 Cameo - full C5 suspension/drivetrain
      1959 Apache Fleetside

    10. #10
      Join Date
      Aug 2008
      Location
      jacksonville,fl
      Posts
      970
      Country Flag: United States
      I went dumpster diving at a muffler shop a few days ago. FREE Had some nice take off in there, though 3" was scarce. Got some factory low grade stainless & aluminumized pipe to use for my triple x -pipe setup I'm trying & for tailpipe. Got one section of traditional bend stuff I may not use ( too much crush for me) & one new 90 degree bend that had almost as bad of a crease as yours, so may be a difficulty for that size & traditional equipment..
      Just to mention, many are now doing under the axle tailpipes again. Less bends.

      It is a much slower process tig welding mandrel parts together, but for a horsepower application, mandrel is always considered better.

    11. #11
      Join Date
      Jun 2006
      Posts
      167
      Quote Originally Posted by parsonsj View Post
      Right. Buy mandrel bent pieces and weld them together. A typical dual exhaust to the tailpipe takes 40-60 hours.
      40-60 hours? Does that include the headers?

    12. #12
      Join Date
      Jan 2019
      Location
      Colorado
      Posts
      53
      Country Flag: United States
      My exhaust guy took 9 hours working alone. Arrived around 9am and he was done before 6pm. Mandrel bent sections fully tig welded from my full length headers to the very back of the car. Duals with cross pipe. I was there the entire time watching. edit: Forgot to mention it was 3 inch end to end.

    13. #13
      Join Date
      Aug 2007
      Posts
      641
      No insult taken in regards to "scabbed" together mandrel bends. If your customer wants mandrel bends there are many kits out there for various cars. Yes they do require welding. I typically buy the universal kits because I don't have anything stock. When I do mine I start at the header flange and use 45 degree bends to get to the x-crossover. All are slip joints so welding even with a mig is a piece of cake. Then as needed for easy disassembly I use band clamps at the inlet and outlet of the muffler. I cut slots in the inlet and outlet of the muffler tubes so the band clamps tighten down nicely. Just like late model cars. Also to eliminate leaks the tubes going down stream always go into the pipe or muffler inside not over the down stream pipe.

    14. #14
      Join Date
      Jun 2001
      Location
      Newbury Park, CA
      Posts
      5,821
      Country Flag: United States
      If you're not a pro, yep. Mine took longer, but it's all 3", X-pipe, flex joints, over the axle, after tire exit. 10lbs in a 10lb hole.
      VaporWorx. We Give You Gas http://www.vaporworx.com

    15. #15
      Join Date
      Sep 2006
      Location
      Southern Indiana
      Posts
      4,699
      Country Flag: United States
      Quote Originally Posted by Snowcatter View Post
      I get what you are saying, but I don't have a five thousand dollar bender sitting in my shop to go out and buy pre-bent pipe and scab together an exhaust. I know this machine can make these bends without kinking the pipe...I am looking for someone who knows how to make the necessary adjustments to get it tuned up. BEN Pearson would never be able to sell these if they just simply couldn't bend pipe without ruining it.
      No this machine will NOT mandrel bend any pipe without doing just as it is doing. And that pipe is not ruined. Just not up to your expected standards.
      That is normal bends any well timed pipe bender does for exhaust. Mandrel bending takes a much different design set up.
      Take it from a guy who has done miles of tubing for exhaust! 30yrs+ of and on
      And while it looks bad your honestly never gonna see a serious performance issue.
      I work in a Midas and had a guy come in with his record holding twin turbo GTO(newer LS) and his high dollar stainless system was corroding away.
      So I offered to rebuild it for his next race and then have him bring me some extra mandrel section I would recreate his smooth looking exhaust.
      So I took 2-3 hrs and rebuilt his exhaust and honestly if you didnt look hard it wasnt bad.
      So he takes off for a race, same track he set record at before. I got a call and he tells me "dont worry about saving old exhaust" .
      He went with it in same tune as before, 10 degrees hotter, higher humidity and less track prep and he went .09 FASTER.
      And I hate to say it but that ribbes push shoe did a nice job, you only have one deep ripple on left side. Had ciustomer who paid me to cut it out and flatten it and weld it back in "to get rid of the turbulence". Dont get me wrong, I love being able to install pretty pipes on cars but in the real world I ve seen much worse.
      For tight bends just order up a few mandrel bent turns and make sure you can get clean straight cuts(friend is working on a protractor head for Dewalt sawzalls right now) that you can butt weld cleanly.
      If you practice you can weld in the pieces for the hard turns and just use bender for slighter curves. A roloc cookie and angle grinder smooths welds and some scotchbrite can make pipe "look"like stainless.



      For mild steel pipe check page 1153 on from this catalog http://sales.apexhaust.com/uploads/c...newerap85n.pdf
      Lee Abel
      AFTERMARKET PERFORMANCE

      1977 Chevy Monza 2+2:Project "Cheap Trick"
      1978 C10 Long bed , On air and trailer puller
      2006 Buell Blast ,Just a bike to ride and for mileage
      1966 Caprice 4dr Sports Roof fact.327/now 350/SOON 454???? Project "II Old,,,ZERO BUDGET OR LESS CAPRICE!"






    Advertise on Pro-Touring.com