alloy tube bending? coolant pipes need making up

[cradleyheathen]

i want to replace the coolant pipes on my metro, the existing bottom hose set-up is a rubber hose at the engine with a few branches coming off it, but it then goes into a steel pipe which is shaped like a walking stick, which then has a short coupler on the end taking it to the rad.(sorry i don't have a picture, and i cant find one on the net)

anyway, i was wondering, does anyone know somewhere in the west mids i can get alloy tube bent to replicate my rusty steel one? its about 1 1/4" maybe 1 1/2" diameter.

the alternative is getting some tube and sectioning it to create the radius and getting my mate to tig weld it up, the only reason i don't want to do that is that it wouldnt be quite so pretty i don't think

[braeburn]

Hi. Bending ally tube is a right p.i.t.a. If you try to bend it cold, it tears, and if you bend it hot, it distorts like hell. If your mate can tig weld, could you not use a couple of weld bends (elbows) and cut them of far the right angle? Or using thin walled stainless steel tube might be an option, again using elbows, as the tightest radius you can cold bend in stainless steel is about 180 mm.

[cradleyheathen]

i hadnt thought about doing it in stainless, that could be good!

i need to learnt to tig weld, it would open up a new avenue for my fabricating.

[grumpy]

I would call some of the well known ally fabricators , people who make intercoolers . You could come a cropper if you just get a general engineering firm to do it , you've got to be quite carefull not to mark it with the tooling , especially if its soft from annealing . They also preferebly need a swage in the tubes so the hose will not come off . Are you sure you can't get sillicone ones still ?

[DavidB]

Would it be bad to use copper pipes? Or is that a bit daft?

[Roy Royson]

Nothing wrong with copper I don't think just looks curse word (Not personally something I care about though).

[Anglia68]

James Lister are worth a try as they do tube manipulation as well as many other useful things and not a million miles away from you.

James Lister & Sons.

[Deleted]

could you not just cut one of these down to size?

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-1-2-Stainless-steel-180-degree-bend-/251308736508?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3a832afffc

Joe

[barty]

take the old one to your local plumber, he will bend it for you for a drink, if you were local i would do it for you, done quite a few now not on a metro but on J cars where the parts seem to be unobtainable after just a few years. Worth a try and of course it will last forever compared the the steel ones. It can always be painted if you didnt like the copper colour

[kingofthekop]

If you bent it in copper the radius would be to big for what you want,Your best option for a tight radius would be as suggested in stainless steel either tig or arc welded.

[MrSpeedy]

I tried bending some 2mm wall Aluminium tube some years back when I did the Sprintfire. Using our big Hilmor pipe bender with the correct size formers, it got halfway and just tore apart. Ended up sectioning and welding to form the bends.

Trouble with Aluminium is it has a very low tensile strength, so tears very easily.

[sparkyt]

Don't you just fill it with sand warm it up and bend it slowly

[guz]

bending springs ? if you use copper why not
use a 90 bend and solder it together ? you could
use stainless pipe and solder olives to it ?

[kingofthekop]

To bend ali tube you have to use crystals which you melt and pour in the tube and allow to solidify,Very expensive.
To bend 11/4"/11/2" copper sand load it or a large ratchet bender,No bending springs available at that size.
Stainless elbows and pipe welded each end is the only option as to the tight radius you require.
I'm an industrial plumber by trade and a metro owner.

[burnleye21]

Call Taylor bends google them