I am looking to open up the U bend on a motorcycle head pipe without having to cut and weld it. There's a vid on YT showing a guy at Yoshimura heating and bending exhaust tubing with a torch so it can be done with the right tip So far I am striking out at local welding shops-they don't even know what a rosebud tip is.. Roberts Auto Service has a tubing bender but it can't do my small diameter 1.375" ID tubing Next stop would be MotoFix in Cebu I suppose..
What is the O.D. (outside diameter)of the tubing? The local welding shop by me has a bender. If I knew the O.D. I could see if they have the right adapters to bend your tubing. Could you post a link to the YT video you are referring to? I would like to see how they go about bending tubing without kinking it.
It's 1.375" OD, check out if that welding shop can bend for me when you get time Old Yoshimura way. Pipe bending. - YouTube
1.375" should be 30mm. I'll check. The shop is on one of my walking routes. Thanks for the link to the video.
That was some nice seamless stainless bending. I don't believe regular steel will bend like that because it's harder at any temp short of cherry red.
I think my header pipe is ss, but I'll have to check it later. That rosebud tip gets things pretty hot tho..
You could try one of those 500k BTU propane burners. A plumbing shop may have a turbo torch with a tip you could stick your index finger down, it's not oxy-acetalyne but it should do the trick on a pipe that small. You may have noticed that on the stainless he still capped one end to keep air from flowing through the pipe, he also went just a tiny fraction too far and was able to correct it, the guy was a pro no doubt about it. If your pipe is chromed, the chrome might flake off if you bend it, heat or no heat.
It's not chromed and it's very thin wall..I'll keep the turbo torch option in mind If all else fails I could cut it at the U bend, bend it by hand to close the gap and get it rewelded
