I picked up a Caterham manifold for my duratec install but I'm going to have to put a small bend (5-10 degrees) in the pipes to make it clear the chassis rail.
Is there a diy way of bending these?
Pipes are individual so hopefully that makes life a little easier.

If you can block both ends of the tube/tubes, fill the with dry sand and with a blow torch get them cherry red and pull push them into a new angle just over do it a little as they might spring back a little.

Good luck

Tony.....

Well I'm sort of half getting there.

I've managed to bend 3 of my pipes using long planks and blocks of wood as they only needed an existing bend easing, but the fourth and final one is a problem.
It needs bending between the tape that you can see in the picture below and the flange that fixes to the engine. From a bit of research on the web it seems to suggest that a mandrel bender is the only way else I will kink the tube. I've practised with sand filled pieces of pipe and all types of formers, but it just crushes.
I've contacted several companies that say they have mandrel bend machines, but it appears this pipe will not fit on their machines as one end needs to be straight. I've also contacted specialist exhaust companies, but they tend not to have bending facilities at all.

So before I give it up as a bad job and send them off for scrap are there any last suggestions?

Cheers

How close is it to the chassis? Could be simpler to chop a notch out of the chassis and plate it?

Nooo - don't scrap - send them my way if you don't want them

Two thoughts, first is how about heating one side of the bends to a nice cherry red and then letting them cool, you may find the bends will contract a bit.

Second option is to cut off the pipe at the manifold plate you can then get to it to striaghten the bends out, then get it welded back to the plate.

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Originally posted by TrophyJem

So before I give it up as a bad job and send them off for scrap are there any last suggestions?

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Originally posted by Paul Turner
Get someone to cut and weld it. very few pipes are actually made out of one piece of pipe, mine have been on the car for over 12 years now with no issues.

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I would chop off on the flange as well, trim and fit.

You just need someone with a TIG to weld up, happy to help if you send it to me.

It could also be MIG welded but will rust on the flange unless the welder has stainless wire and argon.

That might just about go in our rotary bender, bit of a roadtrip though.

Cheers for the offers guys but I would prefer to try and get it done locally if I can.

I've just modified a stainless link pipe for my bike which I had to add several bends to. I bought some suitable stainless bends (actually a couple of s/h link pipes from eBay), spent several hours cutting the bends up to make the correct shape and then tacked it together with some stainless wire in my MIG. A local engineering company then TIGed it for me and made a lovely job.

Lobster back bends?


Could that work?

You could try TigArt Wisbech or possibly Icon engineering - Nick is into cars and bikes (son has an awesome Tango Mini which has featured in a few mini magazines)

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Originally posted by wombat
You could try TigArt Wisbech or possibly Icon engineering - Nick is into cars and bikes (son has an awesome Tango Mini which has featured in a few mini magazines)

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