What steel for turbo manifold?

[jimmyspeed]

Hi

I am going to make a turbo manifold for my bmw e30, i want to make it out of steam pipe elbows but im not very clued up on the types of metal they have available

I know i can weld stainless with my mig but don't want the extra cost of the gas, new wire and the metal. So i want to use mild steel

From the large retailers i have found online (http://www.fullsupply.co.uk)
i can see they have a variety of steels but i don't know which would be best to weld as well as withstanding the heat and expansion

heres the list -

Carbon Steel
A234 WPB, WPC

Low Temperature Steel
A420 WPL6, WPL3
Alloy Steel

A234 WP1, WP5, WP9, WP11, WP12, WP22, WP91
High Yield

WPHY42, 52, 60, 65, 70

Duplex & Super Duplex
A815 UNS 31803, UNS 31254, UNS S32750
UNS S32760

Nickel Alloys
200, 400, K500, 600, 625, 800, 825

Alloys
ALLOY 20
ALLOY C
ALLOY C276
ALLOY B2

Unusual Grades
Bronze, Brass, Copper
Cupro Nickel

my guess would be the carbon steel ? any help will be much appreciated

Thanks J

 

[hotrodder]

Yep the first one in the list. All the other specifications/designations on the list are either alloy steels (various flavours of chromoly etc), stainless (duplex & super duplex) or nickel alloys

 

[jimmyspeed]

thanks hotrodder - will start emailing them for quotes tonight ! hopefully the prices will be as cheap as the US equivalents

seems a lot harder to openly source here

cheers J

 

[hotrodder]

Have you called any local steel stockholders? If there's a http://www.pipecenter.co.uk/ branch near you they should stock sch 40 (std) weld fittings. Won't be a particularly cheap source* but something like a 1 1/4" long radius elbow (35ish mm ID) should be around £6 all in, short radius stuff more like double that

* min order quantities/carriage charges might make them more competitive for a handfull of weld fittings though

 

[jimmyspeed]

i did try to find a local pipe centre, and had searched about online but i just didn't know who was a trade supplier

luckily you have been very helpful and there is a pipe centre 10mins down the road !!!!

will see what they have to offer on the weekend - that ID is about perfect as my manifold gasket is 36mm diameter.

will try and avoid the tight radius ones as they will kill the flow as I'm sure you know, and also I'm tight !

Thanks again J