Header Dent removed by freezing, it really worked!

[snb73]

I dented the header on my 07RMZ450, about 5 inches from the head, on the apex of the curve. Removed the header and poured about 2 cups of water in. Put enough water in to cover the dent but still enought to fill the diameter of the tube. Into the freezer it went.

Woke up this morning to check and 95% of the dent is gone. A bit cheaper than buying a new header.

Thought I'd pass this along, Steve.



Follow-Up;

I thawed and refroze the pipe a second time. This removed almost all evidence of the dent. I'd say I removed 98-99% of the dent for free.

 

[jackflack44]

smart thinking ;)

 

[btm1948]

you guys think this would work on a expansion chamber my cr125's expansion chamber has a couple of dents in it nothing to bad

 

[jackflack44]

I dont see why not but you would want to be very careful how much you put in there because too much you will have an outward dent not nearly as easy to fix

 

[btm1948]

ya i will do it little by little till i get the right amount

 

[digifox]

I thought everyone knew About the Freezing water trick?

 

[mmz77]

Wouldn't this trick expand the pipe where it isn't bent too?

 

[digifox]

Thats why you leave room for it to expand so you dont Rip or pop out the pipe...

 

[snb73]

I have heard about it for some time but never had any personal experience with it. I was concerned about over expansion or bursting, so I inspected the pipe every hour and used as little water as possible to allow for expansion.

If you take your time and are careful, the method works.

 

[digifox]

Yes it works wonderfully!

I learned about that a few years back with my RC cars(they use an expansion muffler)
And they get beat up really easy and instead of buying new ones($40-125+)
just put some water in`em and freeze`em, after they where done you could barely tell a dent was there..

 

[flyingfuzzball]

you can also plug up the pipe and fill it with compressed air and then with a torch heat the dent. this makes the metal more maleable (i know i spelled that wrong i tried but couldnt get it to look right) and also makes the air inside expand.

***this method is also more dangerous. it has a higher chance of bursting! ***

 

[btm1948]

how long does it normaly take for the water to freeze and pop the dents out i just put my expansion pipe in like 30 min ago i am shure its going to take an hour or two but i want to know from some one who has tried it

 

[whenfoxforks-ruled]

If you use duct tape, the ice will push the tape off before splitting the pipe. If you want to split the pipe, seal it off better. But really, 10 wraps or so, both across and around it, stretched and tight. You are attempting to seal water with duct tape, NEVER works in plumbing, but it could leak out into the freezer! A header pipe, could freeze in 5 hours, an expansion chamber 8. Check it every once in a while. Normal freezers are around 0 degrees fahrenheit. Deep freezers may differ. One word of caution with stamped pipes, be real careful with them. Titanium, stainless and welded pipes are pretty strong. Stronger than duct tape!

 

[bigzuMER]

I am still confused on how much water to fill it up with. I have about a egg size dent on the fat part of my pipe on my yz125. Also do i need to cover up the ends?

 

[racer09]

wat? how does water take out the dent if you freeze it?

 

[snb73]

Freezing works well for the small diameter of a four-stroke head pipe.

Heat and compressed air works good for a two-stroke pipe.

http://www.dirtrider.net/forums3/showthread.php?t=166297

 

[flyingfuzzball]

wat? how does water take out the dent if you freeze it?

water expands when it freezes. if you put the water in the pipe by the dent and the water expands. when it expands it has to mold the pipe in some way. the trick is to get it to remove the dent and the split the piple.

if you want to see just buy some bottled water and put one in the freezer. the bottle will be deformed because of the water expanding.