mercruiser 165 closed cooling?putting together a kit from individual components!

[jimmwaller]

Hi All,

I got inspired to add freshwater cooling to my 165 by another post here on iBoats. I looked at new kits, and they are expensive. However, after reading, it looks like the huge expense on these guys is the heat exchanger.

I've managed to find a few used heat exchangers on locally and/or on eBay, so I'm good to go there. But before I pull the trigger, I want to make sure that it's even possible to throw together the rest of the kit.

Been looking at some kits, look like they contains:


Heat exchanger
mounts
gaskets
Thermostat / housing
hose clamps
hose fittings
fasteners


So here are my initial questions:

1. Regarding the mounts, what exactly are these? Does this just mean the bracket that holds the heat exchanger and/or thermostat housing in place?

2. Gaskets: This would be a full system, so I need block-off gaskets? Are those the only gaskets?

3. I found used thermostat housings, and I assume I can get the actual thermostat locally. But is there a special setup for freshwater cooling systems? My gut tells me that it just goes inline and so it doesn't really matter, but is this accurate? Will any used "mercruiser 165 thermostat housing" work? If not, what kind of housing should I be looking for?

4. What exactly are hose fittings? This just means the hoses? I assume I can get these locally, or are these specialty somehow?

5. fasteners... These should be pretty universal, right?

6. What about an expansion tank? The list doesn't include one, but I also think I see one in the photos. But this is also something that looks like it should be able to be pretty universal, right?


7. If I'm understanding this list and the photos I'm seeing and the general closed cooling systems, the only real specialty item is the heat exchanger. Everything else should be fairly cheap and available at an auto parts store, Is this accurate?

Thank you so much. Looking forward to taking on this project!

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,..... I assume this is an I-6 165,..??

Freebetony did this conversion Years ago,....

 

[seanagel]

I've been doing some digging and haven't found freebee Tony's posts on that system. I already have most of the components for my twins, so we're working on the same project. if anybody has some pics that would be the best!
FYI the upper t-stat housing I went with has 2 ports so the manifold can get cooled... no sense in letting it rot away! you definitely need the SS blocking plate.

hit me up if you want to see what I've done so far

 

[Sean Lyster]

I've been doing some digging and haven't found freebee Tony's posts on that system. I already have most of the components for my twins, so we're working on the same project. if anybody has some pics that would be the best!
FYI the upper t-stat housing I went with has 2 ports so the manifold can get cooled... no sense in letting it rot away! you definitely need the SS blocking plate.

hit me up if you want to see what I've done so far

I see your post was from a long time ago so understand if you can’t help but am Looking to do the same so would like to know what thermostat housing you bought and what’s the go with the ss blocking plate. Any advice appreciated

 

[achris]

Please start your own thread. Posting to threads more than 90 days old is strongly discouraged.