mandrel bending pipes

[RXMmazdaspeed]

ok heres the scoop.. im thinkin about buying the intercooler that boostd5nva had on his car. now if i do so, im obviously going to have to go with custom piping, so i have a couple of options. 1. take the piping he had which won't work the way the pipes are shaped (because of the turbo location) and go to a shop and have them mandrel bent to fit my car, or 2. buy some piping elsewhere and have them mandrel bent to fit. what i need help with is deciding between the two option, and figuring out what the costs are. how much is it going to cost for me to go to a shop and have the pipes mandrel bent? thanks for any help/suggestions/etc.

[Velocifero]

I don't know any costs envolved, but I think it would be difficult to rebend the original pipes, they would maybe have to cut off pieces and weld knew bends on, which would be the same as buying welded pipes, when I come to this situation down the road I plan on buying all new piping and getting them bent custom, or buying a set already made for my application. My $0.02 is to buy new piping because I don't know if they can rebend the old ones.

[peepsalot]

Simply finding a shop that can do mandrel bends will be hard enough.

[peepsalot]

Probably the best thing to do would be to buy some mandrel bends and have them welded together. You can get these from summit I think, depending on the material. Or burns stainless if you have to have stainless, but that will be expensive.

[RXMmazdaspeed]

ok, so im going to try and find some mandrel bends to weld together.. i looked around summit racing (im assuming thats teh company you were referring to) but couldnt find anything. maybe ill check ebay, and ill do a google search. if anyone else could help find me some decently priced mandrel bends let me know. remember the poing of this is to keep the cost under what it would cost me to buy a fmic/hardpipe kit from a company. im getting the core for 350 i believe.. i already have an hks ssqv bov, and i need the piping.. and then ill figure out how to run a recirculating system. if i can't do this for what it would cost to buy a company's system, then its not worth it.

[ChopstickHero]

try this guy?

maybe you can order those mandrel bent pipes and then cut and weld them to what you want.

http://stores.ebay.com/Turbo-Performance

[peepsalot]

Just search google or froogle for mandrel bends. Summit racing comes up in froogle, although it is mostly exhaust pipe. Doesn't make a whole lot of difference, just depends on what material you want them made of. I guess aluminum would be good, or the cheapest would be mild steel I think. A lot of kits (Hiboost I know for one, BEGI i think) use mild steel. http://www.roadraceengineering.com/mandrelbends.htm

[RXMmazdaspeed]

ok so after running a search on ebay i found the following universal kits

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7981822739&category=33742&sspagename=WDVW

115.00 buy it now plus 25.00 shipping

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7982258863&category=33742&sspagename=WDVW

164.95 buy it now plus 35.00 shipping

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7981482385&category=33742&sspagename=WDVW

114.00 buy it now plus 13.79 shipping

id prefer the first or second cause of pricing. and if anything thinks these will work just welding and not having to bend any further please let me know as i am unfamiliar. i also need to find out the size of the intercooler im going to be buyin cause that will effect it also.

[RXMmazdaspeed]

those links you guys sent are also awesome. id have to figure out the exact lengths of the piping id need to price those out also, and to see if the ebay ones would work. as long as this is cheaper then buying a premade kit ill be satisfied. boostd5nva told me the intercooler was "huge", so i hope this means it is large but will fit without any cutting of the frame or anything. but thanks so far for the help guys i really appreciate it.

[peepsalot]

As long as you get enough bends, you shouldn't have to rebend anything. I've never heard of anyone rebending pipes anyways. You buy the bends, and have them cut down to produce the exact angles you need, then they are welded together. I don't know how you you want to run your pipes, so I can't tell how many bends you will need.

Depending on how much the welding job will cost you, it might end up being the same or more than buying a kit. I know I got raped on a welding job, just putting a bung in my exhaust. (shrug)

[RXMmazdaspeed]

i could always try welding myself.. or even putting sleeves and clamps at the bends.. but i dont think that would look too good. i want to use the same type of style as the MAM fmic kit.. so i need to make sure the kits come wtih enough of what i need.

[RXMmazdaspeed]

try this guy?

maybe you can order those mandrel bent pipes and then cut and weld them to what you want.

http://stores.ebay.com/Turbo-Performance

i may jsut buy the intercooler from them, cause 350 is a bit in the high range.

[RXMmazdaspeed]

ok so i did some figuring (can you tell im bored at work) i would buy this intercooler:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4556640127&category=6755

this intercooler piping kit:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4556642876&category=6755

id make the cuts myself, and have to pay for welding if i do go with welding and not clamping, and pay for the welding of a flange for my hks ssqv bov.

the total without the welding would be 478.90. so depending on the price of welding it could either make or break me. what does everyone think?

[msp35]

I have a link to a guy in the N.E. that makes custom kits. You make a template out of PVC wrap it and send it to him. He'll make all the necessary bends out of 6061 mandrel bent and rolled edges for the silicone to not pop off......

here was the link

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7971475886&ssPageName=ADME:B:WN:MT:1

Here's his email....veter_duet@msn.com

[RXMmazdaspeed]

how much are his kits.. that would be amazing

[msp35]

link and email posted.

[RXMmazdaspeed]

dude my brain was fried yesterday at work my bad lol i didnt even see the link

[RXMmazdaspeed]

does anyone know the largest sized intercooler i could get without having to make any cuts or anything.

[msp35]

about 28x7.5x3,