Can anyone do Mandral Bending for me?

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We are currently working on a project car on a somewhat limited budget I am wondering if there is someone who can bend 1.75" steel tubing for me so I can make my headers has they will have to be fabbed as there are not bolt on headers for this swap on the market yet.  (LS1 in Nissan 240sx)  If anyone can do this let me know.
Reply:When it comes to mandrel bends your best bet is to buy a box of pre bent tubes. Ussualy you can get header kits that consist of U bends and J bends in which you can chop to make what you need. To find someone to accualy bend every angle that you need for a custom header would cost a ton. When you see these bike shows where they make custom exhaust. They acctualy just get boxes of bent tubes from header manufactures. They are miss-bend tube that would be otherwise discarded. Look around, there are plenty of universal header parts in mags like jegs and summit. Good LuckPatriot Performance AutoLincoln Power Mig 255CLincoln AC-225 StickVictor Journeyman O/AQuincy QT-5 Compressor
Reply:Most of the manufactures of headers will sell you a box of assorted bends. For the odd angle bends you cut a section out a 45,90 or 180 degree bend. Tack all sections tegether until you make the header that fits then weld the joints. Often times you'll have to cut the tacked tubes off the flanges and weld each tube seperately and then reassemble the tubes and flanges and finish welding. If you look at photos of racecars being mocked up you'll see that even the pros have to weld headers up 1 bend at a time. Not all tubes can made from 1 unwelded section.
Reply:^^^ what they said..I've had good results with Hookers weld-up kits..have fun!...zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:from what i've heard you can do it at home. all you'd need is to pack the pipe with sand, use plastic bags filled with newspapers to stuff the ends keeping the sand in or any thing you can think of, heat the area you're going to bend with a torch, and very slowly bend it with a press. the heat and packed sand is supposed to help keep the pipes shape. never done it but i've heard others do it like this.IdealArc 250 AC/DC Roundtop225 AC/DC TombstoneSP175TO/A Linc-Harris Port a TorchTitan Vapor 90 5x Lincoln Helmets  CH105 Mig21g comp, drills, grinders, buff/polishers, hvlp guns, etc.
Reply:Originally Posted by wazazzlefrom what i've heard you can do it at home. all you'd need is to pack the pipe with sand, use plastic bags filled with newspapers to stuff the ends keeping the sand in or any thing you can think of, heat the area you're going to bend with a torch, and very slowly bend it with a press. the heat and packed sand is supposed to help keep the pipes shape. never done it but i've heard others do it like this.
Reply:you could always buy mandral bends on ebay, about $20.IdealArc 250 AC/DC Roundtop225 AC/DC TombstoneSP175TO/A Linc-Harris Port a TorchTitan Vapor 90 5x Lincoln Helmets  CH105 Mig21g comp, drills, grinders, buff/polishers, hvlp guns, etc.
Reply:Yeah I understand all of that I was just hoping maybe someone on here worked somewhere or owned a shop or something that had a mandrel bender.  The Weld kits are way over priced at close to $400 seeing as they give you maybe 20ft of pipe and you can buy the same pipe for $15 for 4ft sections... just my thought.  I will prob end up buyig a set of headers for a camaro using an LS1 and modify them.  I am going to try putting sand inside some pipe and having my local muffler shop bend it using their expensive bender and see how the end results come out.  I have done LOTS of reading tonight on pipe bending and have seen the sand trick mentioned multiple places and I had heard it once before a long time ago somewhere too.  We shall see how it works out.
Reply:Try Speedway Motors. http://www.speedwaymotors.comA kit is about $80 and if you check their catalog you can buy individual U- bends so you don't have to buy another kit if your a couple of bends short. Granted you'll probably have $200 or so in making a set of headers but you could end up spending more trying to make a set of off the shelf headers fit.Last edited by tresi; 01-14-2007 at 06:47 PM.
Reply:Where are you located at.I live in Michigan there are about two pipe companys that bend tubing by me and, I build alot of headers for vehicles with different engines and can get parts.The cheapest way is to buy the flanges from hooker or there are other companys that sell flanges.Put the engine in the car and see what you need for bends and start building.The company with the best prices I deal with is Wolfe aircraft in MI.I would call them up and ask for the tubing size I need, and then ask them about bends that did not meet there specs. .They are and aircraft company and there bends have to meet a very tight spec. but for what you need they are better than, what you get from hooker, and cheaper.If you need any advise send me a email I have built hundreds of different headers.
Reply:If you're looking for someone from this site that can do Mandrel bending, try and contact TubularFab.I haven't seen Jason posting on here in about a month or so but he just started his own business and has probably just been busy.Here is a link to his web site.He does great work and used to work for Panoz Engineering.Tubular Fab- Paulhttp://all-a-cart.comWelding Cart Kits and accessories
Reply:Originally Posted by ZTFabIf you're looking for someone from this site that can do Mandrel bending, try and contact TubularFab.I haven't seen Jason posting on here in about a month or so but he just started his own business and has probably just been busy.Here is a link to his web site.He does great work and used to work for Panoz Engineering.Tubular Fab- Paul
Reply:Mayday0017       Just find a friendly auto repair shop that has a tubing bender. For a small fee you can get tubing bent like you say. But you must keep in mind once it's bent it's can't be un bent. To get the right bends might take a few feet of tube.Lincoln AC Tombstone   Lincoln AC\DC   Miller TIG   OxyAcet   Many Many Tools
Reply:No typical auto repair or muffler shop is going to have a mandrel bender to bend tubing.They will have a pressure bender like a BendPak which will not get the correct radius bends for header tubing. Nor will the bends that a pressure bender does flow correctly for proper scavenging of the cylinders.Either get a bunch of mandrel bends and piece the header together or make some templates and try to have the pieces bent in one shot (which will probably need some cutting and turning either way for clearances, etc.)I'm building a set of headers for a customer right now for a small block Chevy in a Toyota Truck. I'm using a bunch of individual bends and piecing the tubes together. It's the fastest and most effective way.http://all-a-cart.comWelding Cart Kits and accessories