Where is the best and cheapest place to buy mandrel tubing in 3" aluminum with a polish finish? Or where do you guys purchase yours from? Was looking into Vibrant's piping but I think is priced kinda high.

 

http://www.mandrelexhaustsystems.com/servlet/StoreFront

 

Looking for aluminum

 

www.mandrel-bends.com

www.globaltecheng.com


If you want a dirt cheap tube, with no deformation, no clamping or mandrel markings, and polished, believe it or not, Ebay ( Just-Intercoolers) should have what you need.

 

http://www.afiturbo.com/store/index....247b647bd2a081

 

yeah, chopping up ebay intercooler kits is a pretty economical way to go.

 

anyone know where I can get 14 gauge tight radius aluminum bends? global tech has them but not tight radius

 

Check to see if Darin has them now.. Last I talked with him he was or had aluminum "donuts" which is about as tight radius as you will find.

www.racepartsolutions.com

 

Mandrel-bends.com seems to be the best for stainless and AFI and Global are the best for Aluminum....

 

disregard

 

Those ebay chinese aluminum bends are shitty to weld, buy something else, and then polish it later.

 

why? I've welded china piping that other people claimed welded like crap and it's usually just a matter of cleaning off whatever coating they use on it.

Just-intercoolers has a listing for 3mm thick bends that look good but they don't list the bend radius and who knows if the picture is accurate. anyone used them?

 

I DO know there is a difference between bends on Ebay. I have had someone bring in one of those "intercooler kits" for welding. The tubing was paper thin, polished out, and not so easy to weld, even when cleaned properly. Sad thing was, you could crush or deform the tube fairly easy with your fingers.

On the other hand, I have had a customer bring in precut pieces of bends he purchased from "just-intercoolers" and they turned out great, were easy to weld, and were fairly thick (14g or so). It would take a great bit of effort for anyone to hand deform this tube.

The bend radius on the 3" stuff I worked with, was around 4.5 or so.

 

Please make sure you are comparing the same product if you are going to name us specifically.

Our aluminum bends are made from US aerospace grade 6061. We're talking about a material that is as expensive as US made rath stainless excluding the cost to anneal it. When I look at pricing that is under the cost of comperable stainless bends from a supplier, the first thing I think is: 1) material must be 6063 or 2) its import aluminum or 3) they are imported bends

There is nothing wrong with 6063, in fact we will be stocking 6063 additionally to our 6061 at a lower price, but it's not really comparing apples to apples.

 

How many of them have you personally welded?

I can't speak for all the chinese bends, but the stuff i've welded is slightly thicker than 16g and welds cleaner too.

 

You are right, but come on, there are maybe a total of 5 members here that know who Rath is

 

I hang out with rath.... every day Mon-Sat. Many memories together, most of them good ones. He's a shining fellow..Last name... gibson?

 

I agree... Cxracing has some good pipes and all

 

thatswhat im saying. check out there web site

 

Called global yesterday and the mandrel aluminum does not come in a high polish... but he said you can get straights in polish..