Anyone ever use ice to pop dents out of tubing?

The dents are gone - fabulous.

One of the pipes has a crack in it now, on the outside bend of the 90 degree elbow. Perhaps next time it would be better to avoid so much putting water in it - the dent wasn't in that part.

Oh well, after it melts the crack can be welded shut again - easier to fix than the dents would have been.

great - out of interest did you cap the ends in any way?

No - capping was something I read about, but people also said they had done this without, so as that was easier I tried it first. Apparently what happens is the ends of the water tube freeze first, forming caps in situ.

Brazing the crack might be a tidier fix - will the plater be able to put chrome on a brazed joint?

That makes sense.

I don't know, but brass is often plated - the gurus here will know.....

I imagine MIG/TIG and grindback & anneal may be better in terms of strength & longevity.

I've heard that brazed muffler repairs rot out quickly from condensation and acids, which was true the only time I tried it. Headers may warm up quickly enough to avoid it.

Butt-brazed pieces of sheet metal tend to crack like crazy. Welding is much better.

Have you checked the general condition of the pipes to make sure that they're not already rotted out? Exhaust gases tend to be nasty...

I know a blacksmith who makes shapes out of 16 ga sheet steel. Like a banana, for instance. When he welds the sides (the "peels") together and grinds down the welds, the thing looks kinda flat, not "fat". So, he welds a 1/8" pipe coupling to the end, fills it absolutely FULL of water and caps it. Puts it in the freezer and it comes out looking beautifully "fattened". He then removes the pipe plug, cuts off the coupling and welds on a stem. The thing is, you have to have it FULL and the end sealed up Tight for this to work, I think.

Pete Stanaitis

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