ORIGINAL: LCHelilover
Bob,
I have found with my gas OS 160 conversion that standard teflon tubing type connections burn through quickly. I have have had much better luck with machined teflon couplers which are holding up very well. Other alternatives are: 1.rolling your own coupler with beer can aluminum and RTV silicone ( I made one but haven't used it yet, cause the machined teflon is holding up so well). 2. Using teflon/fiberglass/silicon imbedded tape to roll your own or reinforce an existing coupler as metnioned from McMCarr. ( I got some of this but haven't needed it yet either).
George.
Okay, thanks George, I'll definitely keep that in mind.
However, I was in Home Depot with a honey-do list early this morning and picked up the bernzomatic propane torch as suggested by Matt. I don't have a vise, so I used a couple of strong C-clamps to anchor the header flanges to my outdoor grill, then heated with the torch and used a piece of metal rod to bend the header pipe. Miraculously, I got the left-right bend (perpendicular to the mount flange) perfect on the first try. It took about 3 tries to get the outward bend (away from the fuse) correct, but it is right on the money now. Bolted it to the SAP 180 (after drilling out the flange holes a bit!) and it exits dead center in the pipe channel.
I know at some point I will have to use a Teflon-type coupler, but for now this is excellent. Adds no weight and doesn't introduce another point of potential failure. Using the tape you mentioned for the header/pipe coupler.