chrsgrain
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| posted on 31/7/06 at 04:46 PM |
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Making a mild exhaust then camcoating it...??
Hi all...
about to start learning to weld - and will be getting a MIG welder (yeah - I know I should have learnt earlier and then built a locost, but I
didn't know then what I now do!)
My question is, can I fabricate an exhust out of mild steel, then get it camcoated and expect it to last as long (or at least nearly) as a stainless
one? Or is the whole thing a silly idea? I know I could get a TIG machine, but lots of beer tokens and I think I ought to start on something slightly
easier!
Could also go and buy one - but want to make it!
Chris
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suparuss
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| posted on 31/7/06 at 07:02 PM |
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dont think there is anything wrong with mild steel as long as the outside is coated. the inside shouldnt rust cos itll be constantly covered in
carbon. as for welding, only problem is the thin gauge material but is quite easy with practice. just get the settings right and then tack round
waiting for the previous weld to cool before doing the next one and try to over lap the weld onto the last one too to get a good seal.
also, i have a magazine article somewhere on how to sand bend the tubes with oxy/acetyline if yo uare interested ill dig it out.
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UncleFista
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| posted on 31/7/06 at 07:24 PM |
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You could always MIG a stainless exhaust up, won't be as neat as TIG but would last longer than mild steel one ?
Tony Bond / UncleFista
Love is like a snowmobile, speeding across the frozen tundra.
Which suddenly flips, pinning you underneath.
At night the ice-weasels come...
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froggy
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| posted on 31/7/06 at 07:37 PM |
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dont let me put you off but its a non starter unless you have a tube bender and i dont think there is a machine that will do tight radius bends for
less than 15k
i picked up an old fashioned conduit bender which will do up to 1 1/2 od 1.2 wall tube but over a 10" radius which is ok for my middy bec as the
exhausts are inside the car and not getting wet but on a seven you would end up with what looked like a tuba sticking out of the side of your car .
a few people on here have had full systems done for a fair price and if its on show its worth the money to save all the grief making your own system.
i dont doubt that some of you out there have gone your own way but for me its one job i would gladly pay to have done
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mark chandler
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| posted on 31/7/06 at 08:15 PM |
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I have to disagree, get some mandrel bends from Ebay, some straight tube and you can end up with a decent system for 20% of the price.
As for rusting away, I would expect even a mild steel system to last at least 10 years, its not going to be treated like a cars exhaust, out all
weathers.
Mine worked out at £130 with GSX 1000 can in stainless. Once polished up it will look much better.
Regards MarkImage deleted by owner
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Wadders
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| posted on 31/7/06 at 08:32 PM |
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Tony law exhausts, very well respected performance exhaust fabrication company, work in nothing but mild steel, as for lasting, you should be looking
at years, lighter than stainless in to the bargain, providing you dont make it from steam pipe Go on have a bash you know you want to.
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C10CoryM
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| posted on 1/8/06 at 12:36 AM |
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A lot of coating places are able to coat the inside of the exhaust as well.
"Our watchword evermore shall be: The Maple Leaf Forever!"
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NS Dev
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| posted on 1/8/06 at 12:04 PM |
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Posted this pic many times so you are all sick of seeing it, but this is £100 worth of materials (all from SDW Light Fabrications in Banbury) plus my
own TIG work, but there is no reason not to buy a small roll of stainless mig wire and a hobby bottle of argon and mig it, just won't look quite
as neat. To be honest the cost of the material is all in the bending, mild steel bends would have been pretty much the same price as stainless (I
actually bought £200 worth but that is enough to do another manifold as well)
PS as you are using the XE as well, if you are going for a bonnet exit version like mine (much easier to do) I can give you some guidance on the bends
you are likely to need and quantities of straight tube etc. plus how to make the tubular collectors, worth buying a cheap clarke belt sander
(linisher) for making those!!
 
exhaust 2
 
exhaust 1
[Edited on 1/8/06 by NS Dev]
Retro RWD is the way forward...........automotive fabrication, car restoration, sheetmetal work, engine conversion
retro car restoration and tuning
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chrsgrain
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| posted on 1/8/06 at 04:24 PM |
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Nat,
Any advice would be gratefully received - as you say I will be aiming for a 'bonnet exit' job so would hope to have something roughly the
same as yours.... Any tips on where to get things and what I might need would be very much appreciated....
Thought mild would be cheaper to cock up (!) and easier to do to begin with and then I could get it coated to hide any of the less nice looking joins
(??all of them!).. maybe not?
I've been quoted £800 for stainless from a jig (ie Dax!) and don't want to trailer the car away for someone to put a scratch one together,
and I feel like giving it a go - so I will!
Thanks for all the advice guys.
Chris
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NS Dev
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| posted on 1/8/06 at 05:29 PM |
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All sounds about right.
The dax price is at the expensive end of the scale but not untypical.
If you get the right sources stainless is almost as cheap as mild steel to cock up, and remember you can reuse a "cocked up" bend as a
shorter bend somewhere else on the manifold.
I assumed the same as you are, that I would need loads of spare pipe so I had a load done (14 x 90deg 1-3/4", 2 x 150deg 1-3/4", 2 x
180deg 1-3/4", 4 x 30deg 1-3/4", 4 x 25deg 1-3/4", 4 x 30deg 2", 4 x 45" 2", plus 1m of 2.5", 2m of 2"
and 2.5m of 1-3/4" .................
i.e. lots and lots of tube! in the end I used around half of it (only used 3 of the small 90 deg bends in the end!!) In terms of "cocking it
up", yes I assumed I would, but done methodically and "measure twice cut once" approach applied, I scrapped the grand total of 0
bends and around 250mm of bend trimmings!!
The bill for all of the tube above was £200 cash from SDW light fabrications, an awesome place in banbury run by true enthusiasts, here's a link
to their website, give them a call......
SDW Light Fab
You will find that the price I bought the stainless at is a little over half what demon tweeks charge for mild steel bends from custom chrome in
nuneaton.....................as I said, check the price of doing the job in stainless first!
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