Technical Update: Great product, poor customer service from Columbia Tubing

Stahl headers is sadly out of business. Looking for some recommendations where to get quality steel mandrel-bent J's, U's and straights to make headers.

There is a place called www.mandrelbends.com, but I've never dealt with them.

Thanks,

 

I know it is not very inventive, and is like shopping at Walmart, but I have always just ordered the bends that I need from Summit or Jeg's. Wide selection, and the pipes are almost always in stock.

 

Woolf Aircraft products. Top quality stuff at a top shelf price! When I worked for Roush we used their products for all of our exhaust jobs.
http://www.woolfaircraft.com/index.html

 

Here are a couple....

http://www.coneeng.com/

http://www.mandrelbends.com/

 

I've found Speedway to be my friend for this. They list a lot of sizes too. I use only mild steel because most of it goes into bumpers on or dirt race car. I can duplicate almost every bend with a band saw and a mig welder without a tubing bender. Sounds hokey but works for me as most is repairs. For exhaust I use their 16 gauge.

 

http://www.headersbyed.com/_mandrelbend.htm

Found this place. Looks like good selection.

 

There's bunches of places that sell them, be aware there is both 18 & 16gauge. Like 'Jimmy Six' advised, you'll want the 16ga. So beware of a lesser expensive bend it'll likely be 18ga.

 

If you want made in the USA quality then go here. https://gbemandrel.com/
All Speedway will sell you will be tissue paper thin Chinese junk.

 

Good info.

 

Ed's Headers no longer makes equal length headers but, they have kits for the do-it-yourselfer. They have a selection of mandrel bent J's & U's. Google friendly. I just checked.

 

They are plenty thick enough ........ on the inside of the bend.

 

Thanks all.

Yep. Looked like nice stuff and decent price.

 

SPD exhaust (Rancho Cordova CA)
Performance Tube Bending (Irwindale CA)
Patriot Exhaust (San Dimas CA )
Jegs they also sell Patriot bends
I use all 4 suppliers because some sizes are not always available from one source

 

Bought one of jegs weld up kits for 129 dollars. Even came with collectors. Just cut them to fit my needs. Aluminized 16 ga. tubing.

 

Thanks.

These are going to be flathead headers. 1 5/8's ends with 1 3/4" centers into a 2" straight into a '36 driveshaft cut in have. Going to use 16g to hopefully avoid that tinny sound thinner metal can give you.

@ Zach Suhr is my metal wizard/fab man. I'm sure they are going to come out great.

 

Its quite a step to get into the end of the driveshaft, we'd all be interested to see how Zach does it.

 

I've been using Columbia Mandrel, the Mandrelbends.com posted in the first post, and have had really good experiences. I was a little worried the first time after having read of some people having to wait weeks for something to ship, but I've always gotten my stuff within a week. happy enough with the price and packaging of the parts and when I've bought multiples of the same piece, they've always been identical.

https://www.aceraceparts.com/collections/mandrel-bends I've only ordered from Ace Race parts once, but had a good experience and would use them again, I just haven't had the need to. Good prices and some different stuff than some of the other bend sites.

 

Hopefully, I'll have some detailed picts. of the finished car soon. '28 Roadster on '32 rails.

 

I second Columbia Mandrel, I have used them several times and never been dissapointed.

 

Yep, Columbia gets my vote too. You can get some pretty short radius bends in 16 gauge from them.

 

Thanks all!

 

After dealing with a few already mentioned this has been my one and only source for years. www.spdexhaust.com Outstanding quality!

The Wizzard

 

Another vote for Woolf in Romulus MI.
Do it in stainless steel and never worry about rusting, paint issues, or breakage. My personal preference is polished, then "heat aged" to a golden-straw-to-inky-blue color.

 

I've used Cone engineering a few times, sorta local to me and nice people.....plus you get a Hamb discount.

http://www.coneeng.com/

 

Vibrant performance , Patriot exhaust , Headman headers to name a some that I use

 

Ordered from Columbia. I'll report back on their quality.

 

Does anyone have another contact # for Columbia Tubing?

I got my order, but it was short one piece. Their email bounces back and the number is a recording that goes to voice mail every time. I've been calling 2-3X's a day for a week. I leave a message, but nobody has called back.

Phone number on the receipt is 800-615-8823.

Thanks,

Tim

 

Update: I ordered my pieces for Columbia Tubing; Mandrelbends.com

The quality was great, but their customer service is the worst. They shipped the straights in the wrong size (should have been 3' and they shipped 2'. I order two straights and only got one.)

I called them multiple times a day for weeks, left messages, etc. and no one ever got back to me. They have an email address for customer service and it bounced back immediately.

The online order came quickly, but they were no help when I needed them to send the the two correct pieces I paid for.

Buyer beware.

 

I have used both SPD and Colombia River. I have also had difficulty with Colombia lately. My last order took close to a month to get and I couldn't get any info from them about the delay. Previously, I was able to talk to them by phone. I will probably go back to SPD for my parts. They also have a much better selection of sizes, and you can talk to a person.

 

I used Schoenfeld Headers. Good prices and parts. All headers they sell are available in kit form and they'll sell a box of straight sections and various bends as a Universal Kit.

https://www.schoenfeldheaders.com/new-products.html

- EM