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has this ever been done before ? Just curious if someone has a build I could look at? Obviously there would be a pretty substantial weight disadvantage but I'm guessing for a high powered street car in a budget , you can always negate it with More boost . Very interested in fabricating my own setup
Last edited by Dennis5374; Feb 28, 2017 at 12:01 AM.
Like both , hot and cold side .i don't see why it couldn't be done and make your own kit from scratch . Just coat the hot side and make sure it's wrapped and insulated very well. Save thousands if it could be pulled off . I have a mig and can weld steel all day . I think it'd be nice to see exactly how much money you would save as well as the performance aspect . The cold side is marginally cheaper than a hot side made from stainless . It'd be nice to make your own log manifolds as well.
16gauge mild steel. I used a pipe expander so I could slip fit for strength and ease of placement and fitment. Slip fitting the pipes allows for easy placement and slight error adjustment of locating. Plus with the expander, I'm able to place the tube into all the flanges and expand it into the flange for a nice tight fit and easy clean weld.
Not to mention, it's way easier to weld a lap joint with a MIG, than a butt joint.
Just some 2.25" OD 16g mild steel, 90° and 45° bends from Columbia River mandrel bends. I'm using a MIG, I have a TIG but I'm not as comfortable with it. Only time I will have to change wire (309L .030" solid wire) is when I weld the 304ss wastegate flanges onto the 1.88 and 1.75" mild steel tube.
Many years ago i built a hot and cold side out of steel for my LT1. It worked very well and with the intercooler i didnt notice any extremely hight IATs. Car made 586hp/609 tq on 12 psi with a small 67mm turbo. Pretty decent numbers for an LT1.
That's exactly what I was looking for , seems like it would save a ton, if coated properly it wouldn't rust , the main disadvantages would be weight , possibly heat and the time it takes to build and fabricate it .
After the fab is done, a galvanized or aluminized coating followed by a titanium wrap I'd think would be ideal for mild steel corrosion protection and heat retention.
The weight difference (negligible) can easily be overcome.
Yes sir , I'll be attempting this in the near future . My biggest issue is I have no patience whatsoever . That may end up costing me an extra 2k lol as I will probably just got ahead and purchase a v3 twin kit . But it still won't stop me from building one for my 3rd gen roller ! May start with a single then work up too a twin setup. I also intend on doing a remote setup for my 2006 4.6 f150, and steel expanded and ran through the bed of the truck would be perfect ! Thanks again for the in depth pictures etc man , very helpful stuff
I may invest in a tig as well as a Pearson/Huth bender in the near future. I got offered a Huth bender a few years back for a 99 mustang gt I had and passed it up, boy do I regret it now lol
The cool thing about expanding the pipe for a slip fit joint is the ability to extend and retract the joints, as well as twist them as needed, all while it's held in position to get the best location possible. Slip fit provides built in error adjustment without tacking and re-doing everything a hundred times like a with a butt joint.
Personally I wish I could have found some 12g or 14g steel for more piece of mind.
For anyone looking, I used Lisle 17350 pipe stretcher kit off of amazon. It's a good kit and does up to 3.5" tube.
Oh and hot-dip galvanizing is only good for about 380°F before it flakes off completely. Aluminizing is good for almost 1500°F.
Wipe the piping down with Ospho after each event, you'll get a thin film of rust which will turn black (Oxide) with the Ospho wipe down. It hold up surprisingly well under red hot pipes.. (Old dune buggy trick... )
I've always tig welded my mild steel hotsides together. I also buy slip fit sections from the autoparts store to use for mockup, then they get welded solid.
I buy mild steel V bands for all of the connections.
I also coat and bake the parts for corrosion.
I changed setups so often a few years ago that i couldn't justify buying stainless and chopping it up a lot...also, unless you go with a high grade stainless, 304 and even 321 is more prone to cracking than plain ole' mild steel.
Like both , hot and cold side .i don't see why it couldn't be done and make your own kit from scratch . Just coat the hot side and make sure it's wrapped and insulated very well. Save thousands if it could be pulled off . I have a mig and can weld steel all day . I think it'd be nice to see exactly how much money you would save as well as the performance aspect . The cold side is marginally cheaper than a hot side made from stainless . It'd be nice to make your own log manifolds as well.
I'm curious to see what you think people normally make their hot sides out of....
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Building a twin setup from MILD steel? 
