Can you bend rubber or silicone intake hoses with a heat gun?
03-04-2012, 07:22 PM
#1
Can you bend rubber or silicone intake hoses with a heat gun? I am trying to piece together an intake setup... when I say intake, I mean everything between the throttle body and the air cleaner. I have used large rubber intake hose (4" ID) in the past and it worked well. With my new setup, I need some weird bends, which would require modifying a couple rubber pieces.
Has anyone ever successfully used a heat gun (or any other method) to permanently bend a rubber intake hose? Here is the kind of thing I am talking about:
I would start with this 90 degree bend and add about 20 degrees to it (flatten the bend by 20 degrees so it is a little straighter.) Also, I want to flatten the big end out to more of an oval shape, too.
Is this something you can do with rubber hose? How about silicone hoses?
Has anyone ever successfully used a heat gun (or any other method) to permanently bend a rubber intake hose? Here is the kind of thing I am talking about:
I would start with this 90 degree bend and add about 20 degrees to it (flatten the bend by 20 degrees so it is a little straighter.) Also, I want to flatten the big end out to more of an oval shape, too.
Is this something you can do with rubber hose? How about silicone hoses?
03-04-2012, 09:50 PM
#3
Hey Dave,
My plan would be to insert about 2ft of 4in(OD) pipe into each end of the molded elbow. The 2ft pipes will act as a fulcrum to bend the heated elbow. There must be a person holding each pipe.
A third person heats the perimeter of the corner on the elbow.
If the two holding the pipes keep pressure on the elbow bend, when the elbow is hot enough, the two people can control the amount of bend required.
I think this might work on the plastic, but I don't believe the rubber can be manipulated.
My plan would be to insert about 2ft of 4in(OD) pipe into each end of the molded elbow. The 2ft pipes will act as a fulcrum to bend the heated elbow. There must be a person holding each pipe.
A third person heats the perimeter of the corner on the elbow.
If the two holding the pipes keep pressure on the elbow bend, when the elbow is hot enough, the two people can control the amount of bend required.
I think this might work on the plastic, but I don't believe the rubber can be manipulated.
Last edited by gMAG; 03-04-2012 at 09:55 PM.
03-04-2012, 09:57 PM
#4
Thanks for the info guys. I am skeptical myself. I like the suggestion from Glenn in almost building a jig for it - I was thinking the same thing. However, I want to know how the rubber behaves as it approaches the temperature at which it can be manipulated. The advertised max temperature for most rubber intake hoses is 250-275*. Further, I don't know if heating and cooling the hose will effect its strength, appearance, etc. I was hoping someone already tried this!
03-04-2012, 10:07 PM
#5
A metal coil can be inserted within the rubber elbow. Bend the inserted metal coil within the elbow until the rubber conforms to the proper degree.
The expectation would be that by pouring boiling water over the elbow, that the elbow would retain the desired shape.
Remove the metal coil.
The expectation would be that by pouring boiling water over the elbow, that the elbow would retain the desired shape.
Remove the metal coil.
Last edited by gMAG; 03-04-2012 at 10:29 PM.
03-05-2012, 05:56 AM
#6
TECH Fanatic
Most of the hoses you are talking about are built like a tire, laid up in layers. You will most likely have little to no luck altering the shape. If you have the room you can use your steel/alum tubing in pie cut sections with short couplers or just cut and weld the metal.
