Ben_W
Member
I can't take credit for the idea but I recently made this handy and cheap homemade tool and it works a treat. There are quite a few examples of this on the net as well as a blurry video on you tube but I thought I may as well share the idea here.
I've had my DIY top mount intercooler on for a few months now. Originally I just used silicone hoses for the piping, with a couple of pieces of straight ally pipe clamped in as joiners. It worked ok but one of the hoses did blow off once coming home from fishing. So I decided to do away with one of the silicone elbows and put in a proper aluminium elbow instead, with beads rolled on the ends, which I ordered off ebay. However, it turned out that the elbow was too big & I would have to cut about 95mm off each end including the beads!
So I thought I would give this method a go.
It's actually more of a 'bead crimper' than a roller. Costs bugger all and takes less than 1/2 an hour to make.
You need a pair of vise grips that you are willing to sacrifice, an exhaust clamp of the appropriate size (2 1/2 inch in this case) and a big washer.
Just weld the clamp to the top jaws of the vise grips and the washer to the bottom, so that when the grips are closed, the washer is positioned evenly between the two walls of the clamp. Then place the clamp over the outside of the pipe and adjust the vise grips so that as they clamp shut, the aluminium is slightly deformed by the washer pushing out inside the clamp. Just work your way slowly around the pipe, forming a nice even bead.
I've had my DIY top mount intercooler on for a few months now. Originally I just used silicone hoses for the piping, with a couple of pieces of straight ally pipe clamped in as joiners. It worked ok but one of the hoses did blow off once coming home from fishing. So I decided to do away with one of the silicone elbows and put in a proper aluminium elbow instead, with beads rolled on the ends, which I ordered off ebay. However, it turned out that the elbow was too big & I would have to cut about 95mm off each end including the beads!
So I thought I would give this method a go.
It's actually more of a 'bead crimper' than a roller. Costs bugger all and takes less than 1/2 an hour to make.
You need a pair of vise grips that you are willing to sacrifice, an exhaust clamp of the appropriate size (2 1/2 inch in this case) and a big washer.
Just weld the clamp to the top jaws of the vise grips and the washer to the bottom, so that when the grips are closed, the washer is positioned evenly between the two walls of the clamp. Then place the clamp over the outside of the pipe and adjust the vise grips so that as they clamp shut, the aluminium is slightly deformed by the washer pushing out inside the clamp. Just work your way slowly around the pipe, forming a nice even bead.