Header Dent removed by freezing, it really worked!

snb73

Member
Nov 30, 2003
770
0
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.
 
Last edited:

jackflack44

Member
May 3, 2008
490
0
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
 

snb73

Member
Nov 30, 2003
770
0
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

Member
May 25, 2006
207
1
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..
 
May 10, 2007
957
0
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

Member
Jun 4, 2008
97
0
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

Old MX Racer
~SPONSOR~
Oct 19, 2006
8,129
2
Merrillville,Indiana
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

Member
Jun 11, 2008
32
0
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?
 
May 10, 2007
957
0
racer09 said:
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.
 
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