pulling dents out of an exhaust pipe?

[10musketeer]

Anyone know any tricks to pull dents out of an exhaust pipe? I have a pretty good size dent where the front bend is under the engine where the p.o. met a curb. Is it possible to drill a hole and then pound the dent out using an L puller and then patch the hole, or is the metal too hard? Is this something a muffler shop can do on the car without too much difficulty?

 

[mccalebr]

I don't think the metal would be too hard, but getting filler to stay in the patch (hole) might not be easy.

I would think that any muffler shop could have the bend cut out and replaced quicker/better/cheaper than repairing the old one.

Ray

 

[Trevor Jessie]

Maybe a temp solution you could weld a bolt into the center of the dent, then pull it out with a slide hammer.

 

[regularman]

I once took the pipe off and drove something down inside it but its a real pain. This part of the pipe seems to be prone to that sort of thing.

 

[dklawson]

Two seasons ago my father-in-law ran his Formula-Vee off the track and two of the header pipes (that ran under the frame rails) were nearly flattened. We didn't have time to make new pipes that season so I rigged up a fix.

I took a 1" thick disk of scrap aluminum and bored a hole through it the size of the pipe OD. The disk was then split with a bandsaw so I had two half-disks. I clamped one in a heavy vice and rested the deformed pipe in it. I held the other half-disk by hand while I struck it with a five pound hammer. Repeated hammer blows with frequent repositioning of the pipe got it nearly round again.

While this worked... it would be harder to employ on a curved section of pipe. In your situation, cutting out the damaged section and welding in a new bend would probably be easier.

 

[10musketeer]

Thanks for the info. I think I'll just cut and weld- but I do think the idea of welding a bolt and using a slide hammer is interesting. I wonder how much getting the dent out will help. I'm probably loosing 1/2 the diameter and while I know I won't pick up 20hp, I'm sure it'll breath better.