Exhaust manifold options

[jakwi]

I was just wondering what the consensus is.

If you had to replace your manifolds, spacers, and elbows on a 357 Mercruiser Alpha 4v raw water cooled, Mostly Brackish water usage in Central Florida, almost year round. I store on my trailer, and Flush immediately when arriving home, typically with less than 24 hours on the water, but occasionally overnight.

The price for these three options is within $200 of each other. $1100 to $1300 shipped.

I've read that aftermarket only lasts about 3 years in Salt water, if that is true even with the Dry joint then that isn't worth it to me. I'd rather get the full 5-7 years. I've seen some pictures of Aluminum castings lasting very well in Salt water, but that was a closed system, so I'm unsure if it will be the same for my situation. I've also read horror stories about aluminum, but then again my outdrive isn't disintegrating, so I'm a bit lost.

End of the day I can plan, and save for the 5 year swap, but I want to get the most longevity out of these parts possible.
he price for these three options is within $200 of each other. $1100 to $1300 shipped.

What would you choose and why?

OEM Wet joint, Ecoated
HGE Aluminum
Barr Dry joint

 

[Scott Danforth]

Oem wet joint should last over 7 years

Many aftermarket aluminum manifolds have hard anodizing for salt water. Not sure about HGE, however Stainless and EMI do

Companies such as CMI and HiTek offer stainless options

 

[achris]

Dry joint OEM... My manifolds are 12 years old, in salt, and still perfect...

 

[jakwi]

Scott, HGE offers triple anodizing. Essentially their option is an oem style cast, but in aluminum. They are made in Canada. The other brands you mentioned look great, but are well out of my price range.

​​​​​​Chris, wow, 12 years is impressive. When I shop for dry joints, all I can find is 14 degree risers. My existing setup is is 7. How hard is that to adapt? What else would I need to buy?

The Barr dry joint option with 3 inch spacer is $1285, which is just a little more than the oem set joint option. But the oem dry is closer to 2000.

Do you guys have any experience with Barr?
I'm just trying to make the best decision within my budget.

thanks

 

[achris]

To change from 7 to 14, all you need to add to the shopping list is the first aluminium tube. The one immediately aft of the elbow... Everything else is the same...

 

[jakwi]

Ok, That seems simple enough, so the heights are all the same? ie if I needed a 3 inch spacer before I will need one with the dry joint setup? Edit: Well I just spent the last 30 minutes looking for exhaust elbows. I haven't found any reference to the angle though. Typically when I can find them, which is more difficult then you would think they list options for Spacer height, but not for angle. Do you know the appropriate part number for a 3 inch spacer, and a 14 degree elbow? Edit2: ok I found a dry joint set of risers at 7 degrees, so it seems the that the elbows won't be necessary after all, unless there is some reason to convert to 14 degree. OEM parts $1982, thats about $700 more than the Barr equivalent.

Also I was just wondering what your routine is to get your manifolds to last that long? rinse, or salt away? do you store on a trailer or in the water, etc. Thanks again for the info.

 

[achris]

Just rinse, no magic money dissolving chemicals... And stored on a trailer...

 

[Scott Danforth]

Barr is one of the OEM casting houses for VP, Merc, Ilmore, PCM, etc. they are also the casting house for Edelbrock...

as far as HGE, never used them. I have however used Stainless Marine and EMI

as set of EMI thunder manifolds with stainless elbows is about what Barr wants for manifolds and elbows.

https://www.eddiemarine.com/shop/emi-thunder-exhaust/emi-thunder-exhaust-small-block-chevy

these are similar in design to the dry joint manifolds.

 

[jakwi]

Interesting, so Bar should be the same quality as oem then, unless they change their process, which seems unlikely.

I did look pretty closely at the standard riser EMI thunderhead in Black, $1270, which isn't to far from the OEM cost and they are aluminum. The only concern is the 3 inch spacer, which they don't list anywhere for their standard riser, so no idea on cost. I'd need to do some measuring to make sure it would work well.

How well do the EMI products hold up in Salt water?

 

[Scott Danforth]

if you go with EMI or other, they make any height elbow that you need. if you need +12", you get elbows that are +12" tall.

they do not have separate pieces.

here is a pic of stainless marine manifolds and elbows on my BBC. standard elbows and +6"

 

[Scott Danforth]

something like this http://www.stainlessmarine.com/shop/...with-brackets/

https://www.eddiemarine.com/shop/ex...-chc-3-tall-risers-colored-finish-emi-453cc-1

 

[jakwi]

Scott, thanks for the pictures, these manifolds do look great, but once I move from the standard riser it pushes the price up well beyond what I can afford. EMI did reply to my email and indicated that they can provide a stainless spacer for the standard riser if needed, although I'm not sure at what cost.

So many choices, I wish I had more money to throw at this, but isn't that always the case.

Thanks again for everyone's input.

 

[Scott Danforth]

FYI - look around the classifieds - I use google and searchtempest. I got my manifolds and short risers used (1 year on a boat that was in Milwaukee) for $400 and I picked up 2 sets of the tall risers - new for $200 from a boat in key west that was sunk in the hurricane and the owner of the boat no longer needed them.

I couldnt buy just one of the manifolds for what I got the whole system for and that includes what i paid the welder to weld up my custom cross-over pipe

you can even find new-take-off manifolds cheap from those upgrading their exhaust

for example, found these with a quick google search

there is a pair of EMI SBC manifolds in Denver right now for $800 https://denver.craigslist.org/bpo/d/...807061881.html

there is a pair of Stainless Marine with long elbows https://norfolk.craigslist.org/bpo/d...803484313.html