My rearset bent into the collector mid-pipe on my SV. worth filling it with water and hoping it expands out a little? ...or just run it with the big dent? Havent priced the mid pipe to replace it.
I had good luck fixing a dented dirt bike header in the freezer. Don't cap the ends and make sure that the pipe can't tip over (duh). As long as you have enough water covering the dent and then some you are good. And you can seal the ends with something that isn't air tight, but if you put an air tight cover on the pipe, then it will split when it freezes. It might take a couple of attempts, but it does a decent job (in my experience).
I tried that with an akra mid... no success. Was going to cap both ends and put some air pressure in... do you think it would crack?
Air pressure and in the freezer? Yes it will crack. I repaired my old dirt bike 2T expansion pipe with two plugs, heat and a torch. Did an admirable job. I have no idea where my pictures went, but you can search for 2t pipe repair with a torch. I will say to make sure that you are out of the line of fire of the plugs because when (not "if") they pop, you don't want to be in the way. I can take a picture of my garage door from that afternoon 10 years ago. If your mid pipe is Titanium, you can simply place a piece of dry ice against the dent and it should pop out, as I've been told by several reputable sources. Ti has a memory when formed, the dry ice is cold enough to "remind the pipe" of its original shape.
unfortunately its stainless... Even when the pipe is filled well beyond the dent the ice just pushes out the ends so thats why I wanted to cap it to add more expansion on the dent. If it cracked theres enough material to get a decent patch on it.
If you are willing to cap the ends, use a pressure washer instead of air. Water doesn’t compress and won’t explode when something gives way.
How bad of a dent? Trying with water won't hurt. Cold enough outside to try it. Maybe push a big ball bearing through it? A little bit of blue wrench and hammer it past.
This. Plugs on both ends, heat slowly, apply pressure slowly and works like a charm. I’ve become quite good at it and not too proud of the reason why
I tried the freezing trick on a Ti mid pipe last year and didn’t have any luck. Planned on trying the pressure washer, but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
Can the old bodyshop trick work where you heat it up then cool it down quickly to "pop" the dent out?