What do you know about hydroforming?, Exhaust tubes Options

[ChrisFoley]

I'm sick and tired of buying from Hooker (Holley). They have had substantial price increases two years running. NO one else makes the tube bends I need in 16ga. They form them in Mexico, ship them to Cali, then to a parts wholesaler in Rhode Island, before I get them. It takes about 10 weeks unles I place a special order and pay shipping on top of their already high price. Then they screw me over by only shipping partial orders. After forcing me to order box quantities they ship half boxes sometimes.

I wonder if I could come up with a piece of equipment to form the complex bends I need for my headers, if I were to use hydro technology instead of the traditional method.
Everything I've seen so far using hydroforming is diffferent and even more complex than what I want to do.

[Brad Roberts]

I spent a lot of time investigating this path. It is something SSI wanted to do in the very near future. Nearly ALL OEM exhaust manufacturers utilize this method of forming the steel. The smallest least expensive machines where 500,000 dollars (used). This was a big chunk to bite off for something that would take 1-2 years to build tooling for. I think you have the right idea, but I'm going to guess your volume isnt high enough to warrant the purchase of your own equipment.

I would suggest however that you look into attending auctions on the east coast for a used Eaton Leonard tube bending machine.

If all had gone well with SSI.. I would have supplied you with the pieces for labor+material costs..


B