Cast Iron vs. Aluminum Exhaust Manifolds and Center Elbows/Risers and best brands?

[Darin Jordan]

Re: Cast Iron vs. Aluminum Exhaust Manifolds and Center Elbows/Risers and best brands

So far so good. No leaks. One thing I do notice is that the boat now sits about 3" higher out of the water at the stern due to the lower weight.

Question for you -- did you add pencil zincs to your manifolds? Looking at that other link I sent you and they absolutely require them for their 5 year warranty. They are super easy to add by removing the two drain plugs from the side of each manifold. Think I will put them on as my boat is in salt year round.

Mine has them in the heat exchanger, but I'm not sure if they are in the manifolds or risers. Where would I get a set of them. Certainly not opposed to adding them if it would help with longevity. We don't go around salt water currently, but have been contemplating it.

 

[Darin Jordan]

Re: Cast Iron vs. Aluminum Exhaust Manifolds and Center Elbows/Risers and best brands

Also... mine is a full-closed system. Are you putting these in the manifolds AND the risers?? My manifolds have antifreeze coursing through them. Seawater is only in the risers...

 

[tenmile]

Re: Cast Iron vs. Aluminum Exhaust Manifolds and Center Elbows/Risers and best brands

Mine is the half system so raw water running through the manifolds.

You can get the pencil anodes at places like Westmarine. They are made by Martyr and screw into a threaded hole on the inside of the replacement plug.

 

[Darin Jordan]

Re: Cast Iron vs. Aluminum Exhaust Manifolds and Center Elbows/Risers and best brands

Took the boat out with the new manifolds for a test this weekend... FINALLY!!

Boat ran really well. Didn't notice any drop in power... Had 3/4 of a tank of fuel, 2-adults/2-kids, and all our stuff, and she would still do 57mph without trying too hard... Getting her back up to 60 (top speed normally) shouldn't be a problem once the fuel get's below 1/2 tank...

No leaks, and everything seems to be have worked out well.

I'll give a long-term update once some time has passed.

 

[j_cizzo]

Re: Cast Iron vs. Aluminum Exhaust Manifolds and Center Elbows/Risers and best brands

did you have to plane the mating surfaces that much? I just received my hge's yesterday (cast iron).

everyone complains how glm is "made in china" but the first thing i noticed on my hge boxes was "made in china" and if that wasn't enough, they put a tab on the manifolds just to reiterate "made in china" so i'm very disheartened by that.

I bought them from perfpro whatever .com. i'm not all too impressed with them. i think they're very expensive and not very knowlegable when i asked certain questions.

i woulda LOVED to use aluminum manifolds, but i run in saltwater and while my manifolds are freshwater cooled, the risers are on the raw water side. besides, the aluminums are twice the price and i figure over the winter i might just for the hell of it try my hand at making my own headers.

We'll see. hope these hge's are all they're cracked up to be...