Pie Cut Tubing Opinions

[Mike T]

The fist time I saw pie cut tubing I thought it was a crappy way to make bends without a bender but after taking a closer look it is starting to grow on me. I think I may do a project with this method and was wondering how many like or dislike the look.

 

[Jerryl]

IMO, that's not pie cut, it's art!

 

[Mike T]

IMO, that's not pie cut, it's art!

I doubt that mine would look as good as these examples but it is good to know what you could do with a chop saw or a band saw.

 

[Jerryl]

I like the conical dp.

 

[Mike T]

A few pics of my downpipe project.

ATTACH=full]231709[/ATTACH]

 

[Mike T]

 

[Raeban]

Interesting! Subscribed.

 

[Red C5]

I wonder if it flows as well as mandrel bent? Seems like a ton of work.

 

[Squid4life]

Looks nice, but also looks like a ton of welding. It is different, not many will have one like it so I am all for it.

 

[Raeban]

I wonder if it flows as well as mandrel bent? Seems like a ton of work.

Well in theory it can't but I would love to see one tested in real world. A standard 3" 90 elbow has a friction coefficient of 0.54 and a mitered 90 is 1.08 (worst case). I would think the losses would be in the ball park of 10 to 20%?

 

[Mike T]

Well in theory it can't but I would love to see one tested in real world. A standard 3" 90 elbow has a friction coefficient of 0.54 and a mitered 90 is 1.08 (worst case). I would think the losses would be in the ball park of 10 to 20%?

I did not expect it to flow quite as well as a mandrel bent pipe. One advantage it may have is that the cuts were at about 4.5 degrees resulting in a very smooth radius and I built in a little wider sweep than your standard 90 bend.

 

[Raeban]

Most definitely the 4.5 degree cuts will help it flow smoother, and you could always touch up the insides a bit as well. I think the pie cut piping is a nice piece of craftsmanship so I am interested in seeing the finished product for sure. So far it looks darn nice!

 

[Jerryl]

Looks great!
I don't think this is about increased flow, its about the art of building something no one else or very few have, and the satisfaction to say that you build it with your own hands. Kudos man.

 

[Mike T]

Looks great!
I don't think this is about increased flow, its about the art of building something no one else or very few have, and the satisfaction to say that you build it with your own hands. Kudos man.

Thanks Jerryl, I wanted to build a 3.5 inch pipe to fit my stock headers and a set of atr headers that I have. I ended up doing the 3 inch because I found this "made in USA" piece in a surplus store at a great price and another benefit will be the extra room around the ac box area. Maybe I will do a 3.5 down the road and use this one as a template.

 

[Mike T]

I wonder if it flows as well as mandrel bent? Seems like a ton of work.

It hasn't been too bad so far but I always tend to do things the hard way and the stainless is tough on my cheap blades.

 

[OhioC5]

Here's the exhaust I put on my 911, I think it's a work of art too.

 

[Mike T]

Great looking system! They also did a nice job in making the radius in so few cuts.

 

[OhioC5]

Switzer Performance get's all of the credit. All I did was drive my car there and take pictures.

 

[Dusty Bradford]

It has a different look than you get using mandrel bends and it would be cheaper from a material perspective. That's a lot of rod and gas to burn through though. I can see why many shops do it. You make a ton of cuts and just keep stacking them together, twisting them as you stack them to get the pipe turned in the direction you want. I see this style used mainly in the import world. I still cut and piece together mandrel bends myself but have used an occasional pie cut if the radius is to tight for a mandrel bend to make the turn.


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[Mike T]

In my spare time I got started on the rough cutting of the flange. The flange is made from 3/4 inch 304 stainless so it's a little tough to cut with just hand tools.