Are these manifolds capable of closed cooling ?

[alesserfate]

Hi there,

I have a Volvo Penta 260A (GM 350 V8) with raw water cooling that I am converting to closed cooling, block only. (fresh water cooling however you wanna call it, I call it closed since fresh water is misleading).

As I was inspecting my engine I realized the manifolds are aftermarket made by BARR and that there is a second fitting on the back of them that's not hooked up.

My question is... are these aftermarket manifolds capable of being used for closed cooling - water goes in front fitting and out the back one... presuming I get some kind of a riser with a separate inlet fitting to dump the raw water that comes out of the heat exchanger. If they are capable then I will be integrating them into my closed cooling circuit.

Here are some pics.

Thanks in advance and hope to hear some input!

 

[dypcdiver]

The answer is yes, with a big but. You need to blank off the water passages to the riser elbow and make sure that your heat exchanger has enough cooling capacity.

 

[Scott Danforth]

in addition, your heat exchanger discharge needs to be re-routed to the volvo elbows. most of the volvo riser elbows DO NOT have an additional plumbing port or boss.

Volvo only did half systems, because the heat exchanger has to be twice as large when you do a full system.

on a separate note, Buddy Barr foundry is one of the OEM foundries that Volvo, Mercury and PCM use. The number of ports and port embossments are the same.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Yes. Needs a different riser. But you know that.
Cobe Marine in Pasadena, Md. IF?? The parts can be had??They can get you the parts.

 

[bruceb58]

Like Scott said. unless the heat exchanger is sized for it, you can't do it.

How old is this block? ever been run in salt water?

 

[alesserfate]

That confirms my suspicion that they can, thanks guys. The motor's never been in saltwater, mid 80's low hours with recent full overhaul. I'm gonna moor it in salt water for 6 months each season, I wanted to do the V104 San Juan cooling kit for block only until I saw the manifolds had ports on the back. From what I can tell a set of new manifolds is about $500, not sure if I'm better off just to replace the manifolds and risers every few years or to figure out a way to make this work. I wasn't able to find any aftermarket risers that have a raw water inlet port on the outside. If it matters I'm in the pacific northwest so the water isn't very warm here.

Feel free to post any other ideas if anyone has any..

 

[billbayliner]

sorry double post

 

[billbayliner]

The two ports in the manifolds are 1/2" TP and are not large enough for the coolant flow required for a full system.
Nor are the elbows ported for separate seawater supply.
The elbows, 95mm outlets and down angles are unique to the AQ series.

 

[alesserfate]

Thanks. That's interesting that they can't since the inlet looks like it is the same size..