sciff5

iTrader: (1)

I was searching on e-bay the other day and came across this stuff

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FLEX-...4951QQtcZphoto

I was kinda curious about it because it looks like it would be a good to use on mild/medium builds as intercooler piping where space is tight.

Obviously its not perfect because its not mandrel bent but most of the guys on this board are running pretty mild setups as far as FI is concerned. Obviously there would be losses over normal setups with mandrel bends but I dont think these would be as substantial as most would think.

Curious about it I sent the guy an email asking him about its thickness and he said he has 2 thicknesses, .04" for the standard stuff and .095 for the double thick stuff. Both of which are pretty darn thick. I think .04 is close to 18ga.

I asked him if it was airtight and he said it was. He said that he mainly uses it on the town trucks for their exhaust and that it should be air tight and meets Ohio DOT standards (whatever that meens) and that hes used it on turbo setups but mainly for down pipes not intercooler piping.

Anyway I thought I'de get your input on this guys. Seems like you could use the double thick stuff as your hotside too.. Deff not as good as building your own mandrel bent stuff but a lot of guys dont have the skill/ability to do that. I'm sure if this stuff is airtight it would still perform quite well and make custom turbo setups idiot proof.

jsteele90

iTrader: (13)

i wouldnt use that crap for my ic pipes. exhaust on a ricer civic maybe.

sciff5

iTrader: (1)

If it holds air pressure why not. I am planning on getting a foot of it and pressure testing it and seeing how much pressure it can take, my air pump goes up to 150psi, if it even holds 20psi without leaking.. I think it would be a great/cheap alternative for those guys who want solid gains but are on a strict budget and can go without that extra 15-20whp when they're already making 600+.

I think this stuff would be even better as a downpipe. You'de prob be able to go with a larger diameter donpipe because you'de be able to better form it to the space of your engine bay.

koolaid_kid

iTrader: (21)

DOT stands for Department Of Transportation. If a vehicle is DOT certified, it must meet their standards. Most likely, diesel trucks.

ttranssam

iTrader: (10)

ha that **** is a joke...i only use it on semi exhausts (under cab) and trust me your not going to test it, cus if you were or had the ability to test it then you wouldnt have to worry about gettho **** like this cus you would kno how much easyer it would be to buy pre-bends/cut/cuple them together...you cant weld on them either....

code4

iTrader: (30)

I built my aluminum pipes cheaper than that. I used aluminum bends from ebay. I had a hell of a time welding them up, cheap crap but they work.

sciff5

iTrader: (1)

really?? I cant test it?

Whats stopping someone from taking a foot of 2" diameter section of this stuff, getting 2 silicone couplers and some 2" plumbing pipe from home depot with screw on end caps. Put the foot of flex tubing in the middle and drill a hole in middle of the metal endcap, put valvestem in there with some rtv to seal it up, fill it with air with a bike pump and put it under water and look for bubbles.. doesnt ****** sound hard to me and again my pump goes up to 150psi.. so I should be able to test it to much higher pressures than anything seen in this application

sciff5

iTrader: (1)

I know what dot is.. but I didnt the Department of transportation has any real qualifications for exhaust pipe, other than it cant make excessive noise.

ttranssam

iTrader: (10)

it wouldnt seal around the coupler too good, andd for the time you spent doing this you can already have most the tube cut and mocked up...then you have the problem of sealing it to the turbo and i/c this stuff sucks to work loves to leak and it LOVES rust. im just saying if someone wants to use this junk you minus well use pvc...you ever see thaat import moron that built his header with this ****...hahaha its a joke just do it right. + id bet it cost within a couple bucks of just buying the bends

sciff5

iTrader: (1)

Its stainless.. I dont think it will rust.. again pressure testing it should tell me everything I need to know.. you do bring up another good point. It may not seal with the silicone couplers, but the same pressure test should tell me that.

I do think this stuff is usually used for diesel rigs. I have found this type of flexed tubing elsewhere but the thickness of it was half, only about .02 and it was made of galvenized steel... which would attribute to the rusting and why most people think its junk

ttranssam

iTrader: (10)

ha, ill send you the two four foot sections i just removed (stainless) that corroded and like bubble rusted...it does work well for exhaust but trust me its junk. im just saying that for the effort and for the sake of any f-body atleast just build it autozone exhaust bends. i dont see reason to skimp....test it, but toss the bike pump cus id bet 30psi max lol and use a compressor...also dont think stainless dont rust