Working with tubing

[Quick GMC]

I have never worked with tubing before. I bought a few pieces. I want to make my own exhaust and stuff.

Two things I am really wondering about;

1. Bending tubes. I know they make small tube benders. Are there different sizes, what should I be looking for? Like a little hand-squeezed bender.

2. Flaring tips. Some of the side exhaust tubes are flared on the end. I used to help a guy flair brake lines for custom cars back in the day, but it's been 10 years and I can't remember what the tool is. Does anyone do this?

[Casey]

I have never worked with tubing before. I bought a few pieces. I want to make my own exhaust and stuff.

Two things I am really wondering about;

1. Bending tubes. I know they make small tube benders. Are there different sizes, what should I be looking for? Like a little hand-squeezed bender.

These work well for basic, 90* or less bends:

2. Flaring tips. Some of the side exhaust tubes are flared on the end. I used to help a guy flair brake lines for custom cars back in the day, but it's been 10 years and I can't remember what the tool is. Does anyone do this?

It's called a flaring tool, and they come on different varieties, based upon the hardness of metal you wish to flare. The kind made for use with softer metals, like brass an aluminum are $30 or so.

[Harry P.]

I have never worked with tubing before. I bought a few pieces. I want to make my own exhaust and stuff.

Save yourself the aggravation of trying to bend tubing, and use rod instead... I like aluminum rod because it's softer than brass, so it's easier to cut and bend, yet still holds its shape. Easier yet, and better for making small, intricate bends (like making your own headers or for exhaust systems with a lot of bends), try solid-core solder, which is even softer and easier to bend than aluminum rod, yet will still hold its shape once glued into place. And of course, with solid rod you never have to worry about it collapsing when you bend it. Much easier to deal with than tubing, IMO.

The only place you really need tubing is at the ends (or if you want to make funny car "zoomie" type headers). For a typical street exhaust, to make the tips, just get some aluminum tubing the next size up from the aluminum rod you used for the pipes themselves, cut the tips to length and slip them onto the ends of the exhaust pipe rods. A dab of CA will hold them in place.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Harry's right about using rod instead of tubing for pipes where the end doesn't show. it doesn't collapse no matter how tight you bend it (If you try to make a header primary pipe in one of those K&S benders, good luck getting it out).

I've been getting very good experimental results with 4043 aluminum TIG rod of the appropriate diameter. It will also polish up like chrome, or can be scuffed to look like brushed stainless.

If you want to make flared tubing tips, I recommend using a hard, conical mandrel lightly tapped into the end of the tube to rough it, then twist and rotate it by hand to get the look you want. File and sand the end square, then polish.

[VW Dave]

I'm a fan of aluminum rod over tubing too....no kinks, and minimal fancy tools needed for bending(you can do a lot of it by hand). Polishing after bending is a snap too.

Here's the low-tech jig I made for bending Meyers Manx roll bars out of K&S 1/8" aluminum rod:

And the bent & polished bar in a buggy body:

[crazyjim]

Michaels and/or Hobby Lobby carry aluminum rod in the floral section. K&S aluminum tubing, in a few different sizes, can be used to make tube type mufflers and also for the exhaust tips. Muffler clamps can easily be made from pop cans.