Wait are you going larger then 3" exhaust?

I have never been happy with the several v-bands and clamps I have found on eBay. My favorite are from Mandrel Bending Solutions.

 

I think i'm going to try 3.5"

We've (SADFab) had good luck with this guy:

3 5'' Stainless 304 V Band Flange Clamp Kit Male Female Turbo Exhaust Downpipe | eBay

Quick shipping. Seems like good quality stuff.

Responsive.

 

The thing I started looking for on v-band flanges was how long back the part was that goes over the pipe. It allowed me to keep the actual flange part cooler while welding.

 

I'll measure when I get home. I plan to weld it all clamped down. Probably weld in patches too. Who knows yet.

They are the male female type.

 

Only issue is finding 3.5" mandrel bend tubing. If it doesn't show up in b-stock its not easy to find. I've found a bit on ebay. 180* for like $50. I bet I can get away with a single 180* bend.

Cut the pipe at an angle to get it pointed at the diff. 45* up. 45* flat. 45* towards the middle, 45* out the back.

I'll get the tape measure out tonight.

 

I also need to leave a spot to put a cat at some point.

 

Fuckit. 3.5 is out. A friend offered to go in halvsies on a box of 3" b stock. So it makes it even cheaper. And i think i have enough straight 3" to finish the exhaust.

I'll do 3.5 later.

 

I have the same question. What WHP are you aiming for? I don't think you need 3.5" personally...

If you're considering a catalytic converter, that's going to be way worse than 3" vs 3.5".

What shuiend said about the back end of the v-band length is spot on BTW. Ever V-band I've used (ebay) warped when welded, so I had to surface them flat, which sucks big time. It was very short though, so heat of weld was going right into the machined flat surface that was about 1/4" away from the weld.

 

Save the 3.5 for the truck

 

Cat is for every other year emissions. And only that.

Both sean and deezums had good luck with the v-bands linked. I will see how it goes for me.

Truck doesn't need any less restriction. The exhaust all exits the leaky headers and barely goes down the exhaust

Cool thing about the ford 9". It has a pinion carrier so I can replace the pinion bearings and seals without changing backlash.

Just need all the part numbers and find a shop to press the bearings on and off.

 

My miata were the first major welding project I ever did and I used the short cheap v-band collars. I didn't even clamp them down, face down on the concrete floor. They didn't warp, and I didn't need to surface them.

You won't be able to surface M/F v-bands, obviously. I tacked mine all around at high amps with lots of wire, no more than 1/4" at a time.

 

So low amps, lots of filler. On my (soon to be picked up) new 1/2" steel welding table

 

FWIW you can bolt a steel rod to the thickest, stiffest table ever to weld on, it'll still curl up like a pretzel when you release the clamps if you weld a long straight bead down one side.

Milling out of cold rolled stock is similar, if you mill 1/4" into only one face of a square bar, it will flex and hard. If you skim both sides equal amounts, it stays much straighter in the end.

Go check youtube for old dudes straightening sheets of steel with a tiny torch applied in exactly the right location, cool ****.

 

I can't bolt a m/f flange down. But I can keep from burning up the table and filling my welds with carbon

 

Piping clamped in a vise with the v bands just haging out in the air. No warpage. I did 2 spots, about an 1", at a time, 180 degrees apart with 5-10 minutes in between.

They are short though, one of the reasons I made my own for my vband turbo outlet thingy.

 

Well ****.

 

Pinion guide thingy in my ford rear end. Wonder how long its been broken.




Junkyard time.

Tires came in too. I can finally get the death traps of my car.

So sex

 

What tires did you end up getting?

 

Sentury UHP or something. Cheapest 205s on ebay. $186 to my door.

 

How do you get them for 186?