The cooling kits are black,should I paint them blue like the block? the exhaust manifolds from SM are already black as you see in the pic,any opinions?I am also considering painting the the covers in blue.any thoughts ?

Reversion probs dont get solved with closed cooling.

The closed system still dumps water into the header/manifold rails which (unless you run a dry tail) still mix at the collar or at the back of the tail.

The further back you mix the better off you will be as far as reversion goes.

I suspect with Madera picking your sticks you'll be fine unless the exhaust is already underwater and you back up a lot.

Looking good sir!

Uncle Dave

I would call SM before I did anything.

They design those manifolds to wear in a way that when they ultimately leak (They will give you excellent life) they leak on the outside not the inside. This means the outer walls are thinner than the inner walls.

This would make me weary about sanding them down, but maybe if you just paint over the outside you'll be ok.

I think their product looks like crap - but they work very well no doubt.

Like I said- call SM.

UD

Yeah they look terrible ;) Ok Ok I'll admit, they are a little plain, but that's the look I went for. I almost went with blue paint but decided with these manifold to go more understated. Though I really like the blue look too.

What are ugly, are my connectors...

http://i1268.photobucket.com/albums/...ps95144561.jpg

http://i1268.photobucket.com/albums/...ps31d2f248.jpg

BBC lib- do you boat in salt water?

Uncle Dave

Nope. Why?

EDIT: I know the boat was used in salt for some of it's life, that was evident when I rebuilt it, and the boat and trailer have flush system installed, which I eliminated from the block when the engine was out. The fitting is still on the swim platform in case I ever end up there for some reason...I can install the rest of it pretty easy.

The joker I bought it from used to run it on the hose with just the flush, moron, you would not believe the amount of impeller carnage I pulled out of it... He did tell me it seemed to eat impellers and I figured that out why when he started it for me. Some people just aren't that bright. That's part of the reason I got it so cheap I think.

Wasn't sure if there were a heat exchanger hiding under there somewhere for closed cooling.

If you aren't running closed cooling why run a recirculating pump at all?

You can pull a bunch of weight off, simplify the plumbing gain room to work on stuff, and put about 10-14 HP back to your mill by pulling of the recirc pump.

UD

Because if it ain't broke don't fix it. If I was worried about 10 horse, I would've put some rebuild the top end every 200 hours cam in it ;)

And more honestly, with an OMC drive I couldn't get a good answer if it worked ok.

yeahh.. I totally get the aint broke dont fix it...
...but youve fixed a good amount that wasnt broke already..

exhaust, Intake manifold, ignition, carb

OMC eh? ..uh yeah.... agreed there!

UD

I only fixed it since one of those silly main bearings failed, and I couldn't call myself a man if I didn't do something while it was out :)

In fact the OMC impellers are so hard to come by most people are putting engine driven pumps on. I'm not changing anything until I run out of parts, 72 mph is fast enough in the old girl!