Enough sitting around ... time to get started on the "hot" side:

It all starts with a T3 turbine inlet flange. In this case, a .500" thick 304L SS tapped unit from ATP Turbo.


After about 30 minutes of careful "smashing" in the vise and massaging with a 5 lb. small sledge, you can make a 2.5" 304SS tube to look something like this:


However, it still needs to be "swedged". This is taken after it was tacked on opposing side.


After swedging.


I then flip it over and tack the nicely reshapped side. This leaves one more side to do ... so, how exactly do you swedge a pipe? With some heat of course!



Here we go again on the opposite side ... before:


Heat that puppy up ...


She is ready to start massaging with a 3/8" extension and the 5 lb. sledge when she is glowing bright cherry red ... this picture was take 5 seconds after and she was already starting to cool to a nice dull orange:


After the "massage":


I then tacked the corners to keep them in place. At this point, I have 8 tacks ... 1 on each side and 1 on each corner. Time to start connecting the tacks:



Not the prettiest I know, but she will hold no problem. Now, on the techincal welding stuff ... butt welding a pipe to a VERY thick flange ... aim the wire at the flange and let it creap up the wall









Now, regardless of the fact that the flange was thick as hell, she still warped pretty badly. So, I decided to heat up the flange for a few minutes and then bolt her to the turbo. I then reheated and let cool twice more to stress releave the built up pressure. I will see how well it worked tomorrow night.









My favorite picture of all:

For Sale: 1997 Explorer XLT V8 AWD