Krause
New member
Got around to making some bellowed up pipes for the truck. I believe mine are still functional at this point, but its always nice to build things when your not under pressure to get it back on the road. So picked up a spare pair of OBS up-pipes & collector, and built a set. Big thanks to Jim, we got together at his shop to do this, in addition to all his nice tools, he had a spare OBS motor to make mock up a breeze.
My thing was I didnt want ANYTHING to do with donuts or gaskets or anything. I know you can install bellows and it takes the movement away from the donuts and helps the seal again, but I wanted them gone completely. So this is going to be a one piece unit all the way up to the collector, similar to a t4 mount, only using stock parts.
First pic is in stock form.
Second pic is them cut and stainless bellow going on.
Third pic is them being mocked and tacked while on the engine. The bellows are a bit girthier than the stock pipes, (and thicker than the bellows on the international pipes as well i believe), so its a bit snug against the block & were the tranny bell-housing will be. But with a couple small tweaks, I think they fit well. Having an engine out to do this made it very enjoyable.
Fourth pick is the finished pipes tacked up. A friend is welding the cast flanges at the collector all up so it will be solid at the collector, and also tig-ing the bellows in to make it look nice. The bellows could easily be done without a tig welder though.... the cast... maybe not so much, but they took a tac fairly well.
The fifth pic is them installed on the motor.
Thanks again Jim! We will be making some more for his truck soon. Ill post a pic of the one piece finished product all welded with results of the cast welding job as soon as I get them back. All and all, a really achievable job (especially if you have an engine on the stand), and Im in it for 60 bucks in bellows along with a spare set of up pipes and collector<--- but you wouldnt need these if you just pulled your existing ones.
-Krause
My thing was I didnt want ANYTHING to do with donuts or gaskets or anything. I know you can install bellows and it takes the movement away from the donuts and helps the seal again, but I wanted them gone completely. So this is going to be a one piece unit all the way up to the collector, similar to a t4 mount, only using stock parts.
First pic is in stock form.
Second pic is them cut and stainless bellow going on.
Third pic is them being mocked and tacked while on the engine. The bellows are a bit girthier than the stock pipes, (and thicker than the bellows on the international pipes as well i believe), so its a bit snug against the block & were the tranny bell-housing will be. But with a couple small tweaks, I think they fit well. Having an engine out to do this made it very enjoyable.
Fourth pick is the finished pipes tacked up. A friend is welding the cast flanges at the collector all up so it will be solid at the collector, and also tig-ing the bellows in to make it look nice. The bellows could easily be done without a tig welder though.... the cast... maybe not so much, but they took a tac fairly well.
The fifth pic is them installed on the motor.
Thanks again Jim! We will be making some more for his truck soon. Ill post a pic of the one piece finished product all welded with results of the cast welding job as soon as I get them back. All and all, a really achievable job (especially if you have an engine on the stand), and Im in it for 60 bucks in bellows along with a spare set of up pipes and collector<--- but you wouldnt need these if you just pulled your existing ones.
-Krause
with a gasket.
