Lets talk manifolds

[bens250ex]

Took out one of the drain plugs and found a crap ton of rust particles basically had the drain clogged on the manifold. How can you flush these cooling systems? I'm afraid of what I can't see in the block. Anyone dealt with this?

[michael hunter]

Has your boat been in salt water?

[bens250ex]

I have no clue hell I got to drive the boat once. I'm pretty sure it's been a freshwater boat but maintenance was neglected on the whole boat it seems.

[docdrs]

Hey, post your boat in your signature, helps to know which motor. I hope ya poked your block plugs as well as you will find rust in there as well. These 2 places are a must when winterizing to prevent cracked blocks and manifolds

[bens250ex]

It's a 85 ts6m comp . The one I'm doing stringers on right now. I guess I will also have to do some engine work now....

[Salty87]

i wouldn't worry about them just because of finding that. mine do that too. fish a short piece of wire or straightened paper clip around. pull the risers if you want to inspect the passages (you'll need new gaskets to replace them). on an 85, if yours are original which i wouldn't be surprised to hear, you're on borrowed time. mine are original. they aren't supposed to last this long by the book but they still work fine. replace after 5 years if raw water cooled in salt.

[bens250ex]

I think I will replace them I took the risers off and it didn't look to good ill get some pics when I can. What brand is best to replace with?

[lively]

ben - yeah i would replace them too .. don't wanna risk hydro - locking the motor while underway , mine have 4" cracks under the bend so i bought new ones ...

[jet]

A cool lil trick is to add a drain hose. Heres a picture (green hose) of the back of my engine. You can take the plugs out of your minifolds and replace them with a brass fitting from homedepot ($180 ea) that goes from a threaded side to a garden hose side. Screw them in and add the 2-ends of a hose you have laying around (they make blk high pressure hose somewhere?) and hook them up. Now you can drain your mainifolds after every use, so water doesnt sit in there while your not using your boat. Simple and a great add-on. Jet 8382

[lively]

jet - hey man thanks for that !!.. great idea ... but what does the thermos cooler do ? lol you hiding Nitrogen oxide ? ha ha

[bens250ex]

Good idea deff doin that on the new ones

[jet]

Actually it kinda is! Before the 4-blade prop change I was way under powered with 1600lbs and a small prop (I dont like the way that sounds,lol). So I remembered a drag racing trick we use to do on the street was Cool-Cans (CARB ONLY). You have 15' of copper tubing circling around in a coil and in a thermos and you run the gas thru there with ice-water and it cools the gas and makes it more dense so you get more hp out of it. The ones you buy dont work very well so I made my own. WORKS GREAT!! It really helps as the more you drive the hotter everything gets and you can feel your hp going away, but with the cool can my lil-Nissan truck with 400sm blk/400 trans/narrowed rearend ran cool the whole time and didnt heat up. There would be frost on the front of the carb it was so cold and it helped to keep my engine running cooler too. Its a fun DIY project. Jet

[lively]

Jet - Lol i figured so , I have one i made on my old Oldsmobile , it works great on anything with a carb ... looks cool !

[Blackntan90]

I have the same issue with the manifolds getting rusted at the drains, Like Salty said, poke it out with some wire(I think I used a coathanger) and then clean the threads with a wire brush, so you can get the plugs back in-I have not seen any rust in the block when draining it though. I am shopping for new manifolds this year. I saw some at Eddie Marine that were very nice, but I may still go stock.