Best way to cut Cold air intake piping?

[Keyan]

Got it in the mail today, but I have to cut it for the MAF.

What's the best way / tool to do this? I Have a hacksaw and a stone cutting saw...nothing electric.

Oh, and a dremel.

I'm very picky on this so it can't be a half-assed job. The cut has to be perfectly/near perfectly straight. Gotta have all the piping line up with each other under the silicone connectors. :)

Table saw or jig saw would probably be my best bet, but I don't have those available to me.

[05xd]

I cut mine with a plain old hacksaw.Straight as a arrow.Then you can clean it up with a small file

[Seinster]

I used a hacksaw, it worked really well!
Put some tape over the area, so you get a straight cut, good luck! :)

[korai9989]

yeah, a hacksaw is as good as your going to get unless you're talented with a saw-zaw, which can be messy if done wrong.

[Vampyrate]

i used a wood saw on all my intakes ha! i win!

[soullesselantra]

a roundhouse kick from Chuck Norris should do the trick...

[clarion]

i used a dremel on all the intakes i made....plus on all the intercooler piping i had to cut

:abovelol: or Chuck Norris

[ieelantra05]

I remember reading an article in Import Tuner a while back when the bypass valve first came out, and it went into detail on how they cut the pipe. It said something about using a vacuum (or maybe a pipe cleaner? I can't remember, this was in '01), or some other method to make sure no metal chips were in the tubing, I guess engines sucking up metal chips is a bad thing.. Is this a realistic problem? Or were they being over cautious? I've held off on CAI in my last car because if I bought one I knew I would buy a BPV, thenI got paranoid that I'd cut the pipe wrong or not clean it up right and then kill my engine.

[txdproject]

I remember reading an article in Import Tuner a while back when the bypass valve first came out, and it went into detail on how they cut the pipe. It said something about using a vacuum (or maybe a pipe cleaner? I can't remember, this was in '01), or some other method to make sure no metal chips were in the tubing, I guess engines sucking up metal chips is a bad thing.. Is this a realistic problem? Or were they being over cautious? I've held off on CAI in my last car because if I bought one I knew I would buy a BPV, thenI got paranoid that I'd cut the pipe wrong or not clean it up right and then kill my engine.


hacksaw the thing and ieelantra05... that should be a big problem... since the pipe will be completly cut not just a small hole where metal by product could fall into. As well as It not a bov and its maf becomes part of the pipe. its all good...and dandy to be cautions anyway i dont think it poses a hugh problem .HACKSAW is the way to go :D

[evan938]

metal pieces in intake will damage/kill your engine with the quickness. its not hard to clean it though. use a table saw for the straightest cuts (a hacksaw will take longer and will not provide a straighter cut) and make sure to use an air compressor, blow out the tube, the it would be a good idea to use something like brakleen and a towel and just tie a string to the towel and run it thru a couple times. its not hard, you just need to make sure to clean it up well

[metalfetish]

if you want a perfectly straight cut what about maybe using a t-square or something like that to cut against to make sure it's perpendicular?? never tried, just an idea off the top of my head...

[mtlelantra]

Wrap several layers of masking tape around, leave about 1 mm where you're going to cut, and then wrap another section of masking tape around. Then just hacksaw in through the gap and it should be a straight cut. If you have a buddy to hold the pipe, even better.
When I'm bored on weekends and watch Horsepower TV, they have this hand-held, hand-operated wide diameter pipe cutter that looks like a pair of pliers with a big round clamp that they use...

[toymachine566]

i used some sand paper around the edges of where i cut mine too.....so you can get the small pieces that are kind of hanging, but not yet disconnected. You dont have to scratch up the intake piping, just smooth out the inside and the edge a bit

[peachferrari]

Wrap several layers of masking tape around, leave about 1 mm where you're going to cut, and then wrap another section of masking tape around. Then just hacksaw in through the gap and it should be a straight cut. If you have a buddy to hold the pipe, even better.
When I'm bored on weekends and watch Horsepower TV, they have this hand-held, hand-operated wide diameter pipe cutter that looks like a pair of pliers with a big round clamp that they use...

I've never cut one of these, but it seems to me a pipe cutter would work pretty well. I guess it might be hard to find one big enough for an intake pipe though.

[SnakePool]

You can cut that one of two ways for straightness...

First, you can go to home depot and use their huge pipe threader/cutter.

Second, stick a metal cutting blade on your MITER SAW. That's what I did for my 2.75" CAI.