Vinny P

I am very far into one of my winter projects of rebuilding a pair of Mercury 575SCI engies. Yesterday, I ran into another obstacle. Through my carelessness, when I tore the engines down, I didnt take the time to closely inspect the intake manifolds. They came off with the gaskets stuck to them, so all I did was put them aside until I was ready to bolt them back on the engines. I am ready to bolt them back on. Yesterday, came time to clean off the intakes. To my surprise, the water crossovers were rotting out. Almost to where the rot undermined the gasket and poured saltwater into an expensive engine, turning it to an expensive P.O.S.
The intakes are original Mercury cast iron. Merc gets almost $1400 for new ones!!! We have found that Weiand makes direct replacements for considerably less $$. However, they are aluminum. The intakes are currently at a machine shop. The hope is that the rotted areas can be welded, then the gasket surfaces milled flat, taking off the absolute minimum from the surfaces. If the repair is unsuccessful, new aluminum Weiands would go on. My concern is the longevity of aluminum manifolds with salt water pouring through the crossovers. I have seen manifolds rot rather quickly in salt water. In an effort to increase the life of the new manifolds, I got to wondering about having them ceramic coated. I called a local coating company I have used in the past. They claim they have ceramic coated many aluminum intakes successfully, for salt water corrosion resistance.
So, after all my rambling, my question is ... Has anyone coated their manifolds with success? If so, how long have you had them on your engine?

P.S. I love the ocean, but why does it have to have salt in it? Thats why I run closed cooling on my engine.

jdub

iTrader: (1)

Never had one coated but have had one welded and milled...worked fine. Just make sure all the salt is out before welding! Take the money saved from having to buy new intakes and get some closed cooling.

James

You can never be sure that all the chlorides have been removed from the pitted aluminum surfaces. Salt away or Chlorride can help as a per-treatment but are not 100% effective in this application. Trapped salts will continue to corrode, even after having been carefully dried and top coated. If you want to get a year out of the manifolds anything will work - Spend the money for an aluminum manifold with a bronze cross over and minimize your risk. A tank of fuel cost what two after market manifolds cost. New maniolds can also be hard anodized, powder coated or painted to help the exterior of the manifolds.

ezstriper

Vinny, I deal with eddie marine a lot..have a commercial account with them, but anyway they have a proceedure they use for intakes used in salt water...might give them a call...Rob

CPPerformance

We suggest hard annodizing. We can order the intakes and have them coated for you for one price. This is your best bet at protecting those intakes from the saltwater. Most coatings are only exterior thus not fully protecting the manifold. Give me a call and I'll work you up a quote.
Brian

Ateco

Bio Kleen Has Just Released A New Product For Salt Water Protection Call Tim @ Bio Kleen

Vinny P

Thanks for the information. The machine said they will be able to repair them. But, its nice to have a back up plan in place.