'steam pipe' where to get, what to ask for, how much to pay

[Shifty]

hey guys

i'm making a turbo manifold soon and apparently 'steam pipe' is what i'm supposed to make it from. for the sake of the exercise let's pretend the manifold is for a 4agze.

what do i ask for
where do i get it (brisbane)
how much should i pay
how much do i need

cheers

[.T.]

pretty sure blackwoods has all the bends. otherwise try a plumbing store

T

[1JZ-Rolla]

Price varies wildly from supplier to supplier, and expect to pay almost twice as much for a 45 degree over a 90 degree at some places (easier to just cut 90's in half).

What do you ask for? Weld elbows is what most places will call them, the diameter you ask for depends on what you're trying to achieve with the manifold. 1 1/4" is pretty common on 4A/3T/3S 4 cylinder engines most commonly it seems, Depends how techical you want to get with port/runner velocities etc. The wall thickness is about 3mm

How much you will need depends also on the design of your manifold, ie: Short runner with no serious consideration for length or configuration (say 6 bends), or optimised flowpath/equal length etc (10 bends +)

Buy a metre or so of the same diameter & wall thickness in straight pipe, and that should cover it.

What sort of welder are you planning to use?

Cheers
Phil

[Shifty]

Ok so prices vary wildly... so what is a lot to pay and what is not a lot to pay? eg. if I go somewhere and ask for it is $50 a bend a lot or is that cheap... I'm sure that pri es DO vary and that's why I asked... but without an idea on what it should cost I'm just guessing!

I'm just going to tack or mark it, and get my old man to weld it. He has a variety of welders, I'm sure he knows which one is best to use. I can't weld to save myself.

I have two options, I can either cut & shut the existing exhaust to rear-mount the turbo, or else front-mount it. Front-mounting makes it stand out a lot more and is also much much harder to make a manifold for... but will provide better response.

That said, I'm expecting the bike to run a high 10 on my next trip to the drags (has run 11.3 before fitting aftermarket cams) so lag is neither here nor there.

I'll see what I decide on when I start to pull it apart.

[Duk]

I get my pieces from Onesteel Metaland but they normally have to order some or all of it in.
Industrial speek tend to call them 'Butt Weld Fitting/Elbows'.
About $9-15 for each piece. This will obviously depend on size.
Beware that there are tight radius and normal radius, or something like that. I wouldn't reccomend using the tight radius bends, they would restrict flow quite badly.

[Shifty]

Sweet.

I'll have to use whatever I need to in order to get it to fit! Being a motorbike (not sure if you looked at the pics) there isn't a lot of room to work with, and the style of bike with the frame in front of the motor makes it harder again.

Even 200hp would be insane so I'm not too worried about lag or restriction (within reason).

[.T.]

if you are doing small fabrication like a bike turbo manifold i would suggest you use stainless mandrel bends & tig weld them together - rather than steam pipe. depends on what tools etc you have on hand

T

[Shifty]

my old man has never done fine stainless stuff... that's not to say he won't be able to but I know he has never done it. that beign the case I might make up the manifold and see if I can find someone handy to tig it for me.

why would I go for stainless? I've been told it cracks over time and that's why you don't use it....

[02JZE]

Why so keen on making one, wont a off the shelf on do ?

[Shifty]

because you can buy off the shelf turbo manifolds for motorbikes anywhere.......

ps i wrote it off today anyway so this is now a non-issue...

[1JZ-Rolla]

you ok?

10char

[Disturbed1]

will add my 2 cents for others who might be interested

i just bought some 304 stainless bends to make up a turbo manifold

paid $4 for a 90 degree bend and 24 bux a meter for tube. i just made a simple j- pipe (2-1 manifold) and used about 8 beends on the manifold and scrapped 2. so if u makign a 6-1 or something - buy a shitload (esp at 4 bux each)

not sure why people dont use stainless but i gave it a shot anyway so will report back of how it lasts on the race track

[Disturbed1]

btw - didnt have a clue what i was doing - this is first manifold ive tried to make

[1JZ-Rolla]

Good on you Disturbed1 for having a go, looks like you're on your way! Did you form that collector with a die or something to match the flange?

[Disturbed1]

neg - oxy torch and hammer

bought a pretty decet (albiet old) tig welder a year or so back and so far, all i done is tacket up aluminium intercooler pipes and got a pro to weld since im not good enough to make them look mint or worthy of my daily. now i got my track supra which i dont really care how it looks - sharpening my non existent weldign and fab skills


is good fun. prob cost alot more then it would to buy one given the price of argon but owhell