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Bending cast iron bar - how??
Wingnut - 22/1/08 at 12:48 PM

I have an anti roll bar which i believe is cast.. It may have come off a sierra/granada.

I'd like to re-shape it slightly, can i do thi with a blow torch or will I need something more powerfull??

Thanks in advance!


02GF74 - 22/1/08 at 12:52 PM

whilst I am not a metallurgist, I'd be very sruprised if it was made from cast iron. Cast iron is dead hard and does not like to bend, and if you try to bend it, it will snap so not much use as anti-roll bar.


skydivepaul - 22/1/08 at 12:53 PM

geoff capes's neck

didnt think you can bend cast iron?

anti roll bar should be made of steel of some kind, heat it up with welding torch and give it a try

[Edited on 22/1/08 by skydivepaul]


Aico - 22/1/08 at 12:53 PM

I'd use something more powerfull. I'm building muscles so I'd use my hands to bend it.


BenB - 22/1/08 at 12:56 PM

Most ARBs are high carbon spring steel. If you heat it you'll likely effect it's springiness!!! You might either end up with a nicely tempered easily-bendy (non springy) anti-roll bar or a rock solid ARB that snaps on the first hard corner....


Davey D - 22/1/08 at 01:37 PM

I bought a set of uprated ARB's for my 200sx. they were Whiteline ones. you could see the bends were heated in the manufacturing process by how the surface of the steel had gone. only problem with doing it yourself is knowing how hot they got the steel, and how they cooled it so that the bar keeps its springiness, and doesnt become hardened from the process


JAG - 22/1/08 at 01:37 PM

^^^^ what BenB said. Don't use heat.


mad-butcher - 22/1/08 at 06:58 PM

I would have thought the give away was in the name CAST Iron.
Tony


NS Dev - 22/1/08 at 09:07 PM

gosh lots of info above, a lot of it right but of no help to you.

It will be steel, not cast iron. It my be a "spring" steel, but could be a million and one grades to be honest, anything vagueley hardenable, but then i have made several arb's from seamless mild steel tubing, and indeed rally design sell a sierra arb kit which uses mild steel tube.

Any steel will do as long as you don't stretch it past its yield point.

In the real world that means that as long as the bar is wide and fairly beefy, it will be fine in a DECENT mild steel.

You can heat and rebend the ends of the bar, but to ensure that they don't take a set when you do it, its best to heat it to dull red, let it cool so it is JUST back to black, then rebend it as it cools further which will re-work harden it.


Wingnut - 23/1/08 at 12:02 AM

OK thanks for all the replies.. In hindsight perhaps it's not cast... heres a picture of the end, looks like it might be stamped???


Wingnut - 23/1/08 at 12:05 AM

Picture...[img]http://locostbuilders.co.uk/upload/a680765-IMGP6681[0].JPG[/img]


Alan B - 23/1/08 at 12:15 AM

quote:
Originally posted by 02GF74
......Cast iron is dead hard.....


Not true.

It can have a hard skin caused by chilling the surface when it's poured, but as rule cast iron is actually pretty soft...once through the skin it files pretty easily.


MikeRJ - 23/1/08 at 11:05 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Wingnut
Picture...


The ends of the bar will most likely have been forged to form the flattened eyes for the bushes.