Technical exhaust pipe weld sleeves

I've got some of these exhaust pipe weld sleeves in mild steel and they work great. When you have a good fit up, you can just fuse the two pipes together and the center of the sleeve acts as a filler rod providing a good looking seem. I have been looking for these sleeves for about a year now and it seems that ****** no longer carries them, they told me that they got them from a supplier and the guy I talked to didn't no who that was. While I've got plenty of mild sreel sleeves, I would like to get some in stainless steel for a project I have coming up. I'm thinking that they would eliminate the need for purge gas on the back side of the pipe. Anyone know of a company that makes these items anymore?
http://www.hotrod.com/how-to/engine/1111phr-1968-chevy-nova-project-car/

 

When I worked at ****** as far as I know we were the only ones with those - they were made for us. Since ****** was sold to Holley, and thy threw away a lot of the company history and records I;m sure that info was lost before any of the current employees were there (I only know of one guy who still works for them from those days, and he was in marketing at that time). I had to laugh at that 2011 article where Johnny says the "New" ****** weld sleeves - we had them in the early 90's.

 

I have seen those sold don't recall where right now, but they leave an obstruction in the tub not that it makes any difference I suppose. Never the less it will come to me and when it does I'll post again.

 

I have a bag around here somewhere, shame they arent being made anymore.

 

your correct that they leave a slight obstruction in the pipe but the sleeve part that fits into the pipe is about a thick as a piece of computer paper.

 

Actually that sleeve inside the pipe is .045" wall if I remember right, a TON more than a piece of paper, but not a huge obstruction by any means

 

Go to a large Plumbing supply house. They are use in some pipe welding processes.
Go to http://www.imperialweldringcorp.com/index.html

Nick

 

I can see those trapping a lot of residual moisture and eventually causing rust thru of the pipes.
Don't see a whole lot of advantage to them when it comes to the actual welding process...although they must be really nice when you are doing the initial fitting together of parts.

 

Slice some off the drops.
Split that ring at a 45 and use that. Works great for holding alignment and backup. Tighter joints make better welding but that takes more time too.

 

Maybe were talking about another brand, the part that goes inside on the ones I got are not that thick.

 

Funny...I was just looking for these a few days ago....used to use them all the time for building bike exhausts. They work great, unfortunately I gave up trying to find them.

 

http://www.jefflilly.com/fabrication/header-fabrication/

 

I was just having a good rummage looking for an oil pressure gauge, and found these. Still havent found the gauge I need though...I need to organize my **** better...

 

There are some fellas that say that the obstruction isn't that big a deal but it looks like another place for carbon buildup and hot spots to me. if it makes it easier though and is the difference between a car getting a set of headers v not getting on the road I am all for them.

I think that they are maybe available in another industry if you look around. Anyplace where pipes of various diameters are fit up.

 

If you're worried about losing all of the power from your engine because of those little rings in there....





The rings look neat, but you can build headers without them. But if you want to get some made, try this place?

http://www.imperialweldringcorp.com/index.html



.

 

I wish I had the money that they paid that dyno guy.

 

I forgot about this thread. A couple weeks back, after you posted that, I contacted Gary ****** to talk about these. He invented them and you are right, they were thin, he said about .016"- .020" thick.
The story was kind of funny. There was a place next to us at ****** that made tin cans and other forming. Gary is an inventor type and is always intrigued by machinery and processes. He said he got the idea watching them form the tin cans and then made the tooling to make these sleeves in house. He said it was pretty tricky to keep them perfectly round due to the thin material.
He is being inducted into the SEMA Hall of Fame this year.

 

That is cool. Not the sleeves the induction.
Always good to see someone get recognition when recognition is due them.

 

110 lsa in a 400...I could comment on how that might affect the results of this test, but I wont.

 

C'mon home slice, don't be a buzz kill. I've been detached from such for so long I enjoy reviews like that. FWIW, I always knew that the occasional header dent did nothing to rob power. One of the last things I wanted to do to my car was bigger tubes (from 2" to 2 1/8") and make them equal length. My contact, who built those big engines for the "Popeye's" off shore racers, advised me that I'd be lucky to see 10-12 HP on the dyno and what did we think it would do for ET and MPH. I don't recall why other than he mentioned my cam, the old Comp .680-.714, 286-292 @ .050 on a 110. Bracket racers are about consistency rather than ultimate power, and it was consistent.

 

so comment.... come on, spit it out! you'll feel better.....

 

So did ****** use them when they built headers or was it just for sale as a part?
You know when you weld the tubes together you will have some weld through that can cause some imperfections on the inside.

 

They were occasionally used in production, but not very often. They were mostly sold for guys doing custom headers, they make it much easier to line up the tubes when you are upside down and backwards.
As for the inperfections, the outer boundary layer of a column of air is not moving very quickly compared to the center. So the little bit of obstruction is not noticeable in the real world, or even on the Dyno.

 

I totally agree that the occasional primary tube dent isnt gonna do f*ck all. Also, keep in mind that when you do flatten a tube a bit, its spreading in the other direction. That having been said, it surprises most guys, but as a general rule, getting the headers wrong hurts power below peak torque more than it hurts max. hp.
Considering that a 110 lsa is wrong to the tune of 5-6 degrees in a 400, not to mention that the wrong LSA has a HUUUUUGE effect on overlap, and the end of the exhaust pumping cycle (stop and think about that for a moment in the context of any header test), one may ask themselves if it was just a coincidence that they chose a deal with such completely out to lunch valve timing for this deal...Just sayin'.
As a general rule, exhaust tuning effects are of a much smaller magnitude of change than changes on the intake side. I will go out on a limb here, and say that if the intake side is wrong (IE totally out to lunch valve timing) the engine will show very little sensitivity to cluster f*cks on ther other side. In other words, pressure wave tuning on the exhaust side doesnt really matter much if the intake side is out to lunch. I will also mention that the headers they start with look like they are 1 5/8, again, completely out to lunch for a 550ish hp 400, how much that just by itself is skewing the results is open to speculation.
I guess bottom line is, if you really want to smash the ever-lovin' **** out of the headers on your street rod, knock yourself out. Doing it on your Comp eliminator motor or worse yet, serious circle track deal might be a different matter.

 

I was a 14:1 477 with iron Merlins. I got to thinking of this because I was intent upon buying some of the slip ring gigs to build my own. I'm going to investigate an old stock possibility...

 

See.
Once You say that you won't,
That's when to start looking for it.
You're the best !

 

well, Torana asked... besides, i just kinda skimmed over the surface and dropped a few hints...

 

Could you explain why the LSA is out of whack? Because of the built in advance?

 

I've seen those inserts used on thin wall boiler tubes and schedule 80 pipe. Called them chill rings on most jobs. Real pipe-fitters don't need them. Harley

 

32 years as a union pipefitter and I've never gotten a call out to a muffler shop yet.