I'm interested in fabricating my own custom 3" cold air intake. I believe that the standard cold air and short ram aftermarket intakes are constructed from aluminum piping. I have never built anything with metal, but I would imagine aluminum piping would be too thin to put through a regular pipe bender. Do I have to buy all the different angles and piping separately and weld them together that way? Would I heat the aluminum and slowly try to bend it with my hands? It's all about making ****.

Peter

 

Trying to bend your own bends is just a waste of time. the benders that bend the thin wall tubing that intakes are made of cost of tens thousands of dollers.

http://www.mandrel-bends.com/catalog/

go to that place and order up the bends you will need. there great.

 

this place is a bit cheaper and awesome to deal with

www.globaltecheng.com

 

Awesome thank you, and then I would need to Tig weld the aluminum together correct? Or can it be Migged? How are aftermarket intakes made? In a mold or something? I'm disappointed I can't bend up a solid piece.

 

if you want to bend it yourself go look on the metalmeet forum. you might find something there.

 

If you grind the welds clean it will look like one piece.

 

I was always told that grinding the welds down isnt good, could be wrong though

 

i'm also curious about this, does anyone know?
not that it really matters for this application.

 

Not to be a dick, but if you don't know how to weld aluminium, thin walled tube is probably not the best place to start. Most Honda intakes are pretty easy to make for someone who already knows how to weld and make straight cuts, you might find someone who can make one for you and save yourself a lot of time and probably some money on wasted materials as well.

 

A company here where I live and used to work deals with them.

Great quality aluminum. Mandrels in any thing you want!

 

Well grinding the welds down may make the conections weak if you didnt penetrate into the parent metal. in other words if the welds are cold and just on the surface. And that probably will be the case if you dont know how to weld. but if the welding was done right I dont think grinding the welds clean on an intake would be too bad since the intake isn't under a huge load or stress.