So on Friday last week I go to my new "turbo guy". ( You know,....the one I paid 685.00 for his expertise)
Talk migrates to his recommendation that I use a twin scroll turbo, w/ the benefit being a quicker spool response. I tell him that the only problem I have w/ a twin scroll turbo, is the fact that I'll have to use two waste gates. He tells me that if that's a problem,..we could use a standard flange turbo instead. No,...no if you're telling me that the engine will run better w/ a twin scroll turbo, then that's what we'll do.
"You know what to do w/ the exhaust header design?" he asks. "Yeah,..I gotta build two separate headers combining 3 tubes from the front 3, and the other 3 tubes from the rear 3 of the firing order."
"What are you gonna use to build it?" he asks. "Well I can't tig,..and my friend that can is 40 miles away, so I was gonna build it out of mild steel header tubing".
"Ever hear of steam pipe?" he asks. "No,..... where can I get it?"
He gives me McMaster-Carr's website. I go home and check it out.
Steam pipe comes in 3 versions; Schedule 10 304L, and 316L stainless ( which is about .100 thick) and schedule 40 mild steel ( which is .145 thick) You can get mandrel bends in a tight 90, a sweep 90, and a 45. The sweep 90 in 304L stainless was about 8.00 ea, and in mild steel it was 12.00.
I laid out my exhaust system,....and trying to keep the tubes as equal length as possible, it was gonna require 26 bends, and about 4' of tubing. If I built it out of stainless I could use my mig since it was so thick, but I was gonna need a bottle of argon gas,..and a roll of stainless wire. ( another 120.00 possible dollars)
One thing I wasn't gonna do, was try and build the header flange out of stainless. Having a mild steel header flange, and welding 304L stainless to it could be done, and it would stick,..but stainless expands like mad when heated, at a different rate than the mild steel flange I was gonna use, so again.....concerned w/ longevity, and the finished integrity of the project I decided to build the exhaust out of mild steel despite the additional cost of the bends.
But first,...I had to appease the cheap-ass in me.
On Saturday, I get up at 7AM. If there was anyplace in this city that I might find these steam pipe bends it was 5 points hardware. A hardware store like we all remember hardware stores,....w/ the big bins full of nails sold by the hand full, all kinds of stuff jammed into every possible nook that had been there for 50 years,.......ran by one of the biggest crotchedy ass holes in the city, still using a hand cranked calculator/cash register to figure up his tickets.
I enter his store at 8AM.
"I'm looking for steel steam pipe butt weld, schedule 40, 90 degree mandrel bends,...do you have such an animal?"
"Nope,.....all we have are regular black steel, and galvanized steel plumbing fittings back there". He just points in the general direction w/o any indication he intended to help me.
I wander back till I find the bins full of the assorted sizes, and bends. I look around for a tape measure to measure the actual I.D. of the fittings to see what might work. I go back up front to see if I can borrow one.
"The fittings are marked w/ the appropriate sizes". He said, "You don't need to measure them". He decides for me.
"I'm not using them as intended" I reply,..."I'm trying to build an exhaust system".
He gives me a disgusted look and tosses me a yard stick.
I needed an actual i.d. of 1.5". Plumbing sizes come starting at 1/2";3/4";1";1-1/4";1-1/2"; and 2".
None of the rated sizes actually came anywhere near the rated size.......a 1.5" 90 was closer to 2" i.d.,.....and there were those threads.......somehow I had to get rid of the threads. After spending an hour there, I determined that 1" fittings were probably gonna be close to 1.5" by the time I ground away the threads. How much were these things anyway?
I go back up front, carrying a 1" 90.
" How much are these fittings?" I ask.....He says that the prices are all on a chart above the fittings.......like I'm supposed to just know that. "Prices are subject to change though,...that chart is old". He adds.
I go back,...find the chart,..prices state that the black steel 1" 90's are $1.69 ea. I get my 26 fittings, and (3) 12" pieces of 1-1/4" pipe, and make my way up front.
Dude pecks and cranks, pecks and cranks,..until his 80 year old calculator tells him to charge me $111.98
"111.98"? I ask......"How's that?" He spins his hand written invoice around to show me that his math was correct.....
26 1" Black steel 90's..................@ $2.69...= 69.94
3 12" 1-1/4" threaded pipe nipples @ 8.29.= 24.87
1 Gallon muriatic acid (to get rid of rust) = 6.99
10% tax..........................................................=10.18
TOTAL 111.98
"But the price on the chart says that the fittings are 1.69,...not 2.69" I point out ( Never mind that I completely blow off contesting the $8.29 PER FOOT charge on the 1-1/4 pipe)
"He reminds me that he told me that the prices were "subject to change".
I give him my credit card.
On my way home,..I stop in an Bluff park hardware just to be sure they didn't have the steam pipe fittings. The guy that works there is the polar opposite of grump ass downtown.
"No,...but you can get them at M&R pipe,...or American pipe,...but they're not open today" helpful dude informs me.
That brings me to this morning. Promptly at 8AM,...I call the guy at M&R pipe. I tell him what I need.
I also add that if he has the CHINESE or MALAYSIAN castings, and if they are significantly cheaper than the domestic castings,..that's what I want.
He does,...and they are,.......he quotes me $ 4.00 ea. I'm there within 30 minutes.
Immediately after that,..I pay a visit to the hardware troll.
Everything in the exact same box he put them in when I put them back on his counter...
"What do we have here?" he scowls. " I was able to find the actual steam pipe fittings I was looking for on Saturday".
I replied. I hand him my credit card.
He says nothing from there on.....except to tell me that the transaction was cancelled.
Serves him right,..........$8.29 a foot for steel plumbing pipe......hope he chokes on them.