Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

anybody has any experience with this system good or bad? seems pretty reasonably priced for the polished lower and cast upper. i actually think its a good looking system. not sure how big the primary's are but i only need it to support about 450-500HP BBC. as pictured its about $1195.00 list with the cast upperDana Exhaust

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

Dave, put them on my project last year and they were of good quality and worked great the runners keep the exhaust from each cylinder seperate for a long time. Would highly recommend.

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

I bought 2 sets and havent ran them yet. The ones you have pictured are an upgraded riser, I think I paid around 1800 with that riser.

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

glassdave, I just installed 2 sets on my boat. I am on my way to work right now, but I will post a full run down on it with pics tonight.

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

cool . .. good info.

KY- did it come with the water distribution tubes that go into the bottom of the runners? just curious i didnt seen any pics of that.

Blown- yea . . actually i realized it at the end of that post and didnt feel like re-typing :D are you happy with the long style riser? i was considering that option but may put on silent choice and dont know if i have the room.

Custom- get those pics up man! :drink:

so they are a pretty good exhaust huh? actually the first thing that drew me to them was the look, i like the shape of 'em. thanks all :cool:

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

Glassdave, Sorry it took so long to get back to you. Just got home from work (11:30p.m.) :eek: . Actually an early day! :rolleyes: Anyway, I have a minute to respond. To start off with, I did not buy the headers expecting to gain alot of extra H.P.. I have stock 502's and I have been around long enough to know that simply changing exhaust is not going to move me into another insurance bracket. I changed mine because I no longer trusted the stock manifolds to not rust through (internally) and prematurely destroy my engines.(I want to do that on my own :D ) However, part of why I did go with the Dana's is that if I decide to move into that next Ins. bracket with big power, all I should need to do is change the tail pipes to prevent reversion ( instead of buying a new set of headers). I bought this set with the standard risers to fit silent choice. I will also admit that I bought them because they are the best looking (factory replacement) manifolds on the market! (IMO). I do not like the square box looking manifolds! The people at Dana were very helpful with answering any and all questions that I or my mechanic had. The only real problem we had was that it took a l---o----n-----g time to get them!!! I think they had a back order problem on the risers or something. I can't get too pissed about it because (1) It was winter and I wasn't using the boat anyway. (2) I am running w----a-----y behind on the boat I am painting now too!! :eek: My mechanic said the installation went pretty smooth. He was able to use the stock oil filter bracket by relocating the drive reservoir and putting a spacer under the filter. Then he just had to do a little grinding to make the hose fit. The only thing I don't like about the set-up is the brackets I bought from Dana for the shifter. They are not made from a thick enough guage metal and are v--e--r--y flimsy. When I get a chance, I intened to go back and brace them up or use them as a pattern to make my own! All in all I am happy and would do it again (with out the brackets). I am interested to see if there will be any noticeable increases in performance although I am not banking on that much with bone stock motors. But D--a---u--m they look g--o--o--d!!!! :D Also to answer your question on the distibution hose, there is only one hose that attaches to one tube on the bottom of the headers and it distibutes internally I guess. Here are some pictures of them installed but there was not much light so they are a little dark. (Jason) I know you are reading this so the last picture explains what I was telling you about the clearance for the hatch ram. If I had not had the squares ground down, there would be no way the ram could have stayed there. There is less than a 1/8 inch space on both sides of the ram after removing the safety cover! Now I have to repaint the ram from where the safty cover rubbed it! Something eles I don't have time to paint!!!! :D

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

Here is a picture of the shifter bracket. Way to thin (IMO) but I guess it will work! Only thing I was disappointed with!

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

Jason, You can see here how close they are to they hatch ram. If you did not have yours ground down I would either have it done or plan on moving the ram. Also you can see the spacers for the oil filter.

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

Custom, the bracket is thin but I think they do that so that they can be bent to adapt differnent needs. Had to bend mine. They don't have not much load on them and they worked well for me this past summer. I bought all stainless fittings to replace the brass ones supplied. I think they look better than all but CMI's, but they should be more durable than the CMI's.

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

I agree with you 100% and you may be right about why they make the bracket thin. However I get alot of flex and movement out of mine when you shift or if you happen to touch them they bend WAY too easy for me! (No, there is not a problem with the shifters or cables :rolleyes: ) I will probably run them this summer the way they are (I am running out of winter to work on it :D ) and brace them during the next lay-up! I would recommend the headers to anyone, I just wouldn't recommend the brackets for everyone!(JMO)

David

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

Customtouch, did you buy the brackets for mounting the ECM from them as well? I am also curious of the year of your 502 MPI's?

Thanks,
Don

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

I wanted to buy them for the Donzi, but I called Dana, and they are 16.25 inches tall, and I only have 15.25 inches of clearance. :(

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

Thanks for the pictures. I'm headding out to the pond now to do mine. Should be on tonight if I don't have too many beers.

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

The ECM is the same bracket as the shifter. We bought an extra set and just drilled new holes to hold the ECM. The motors are 98 model with serpentine belt.

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

thanks for all the info Custom. thats exactly what i wanted to hear. it makes sense that they are internally distributed being that they are cast. i guess the shape threw me a bit and i automatically thought they had the external tubes like the CMI's. sounds like you are keeping the same hours i am, happens every year for us in this biz. march is crunch time for all those projects i let go long :rolleyes: :D got a shop FULL of boats that need to be gone very soon so i can get to the important stuff . . . my boat :drink: . . . an it aint gonna fit in there right now. i think i will order up a couple of sets of these manifolds pretty soon. doing the motors next winter and want to have everything ahead of time :cool:

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

Hey Custom,
Glad to see you got them installed? I didn't hear from you so I guess your guy was able to get the bolts out OK?
Bob

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

Thanks Bob, Yes, they were not as quite bad as we originally thought however he said it was not a cake walk either. I gotta give it to you boat mechanics, you EARN you money :drink: . How is the new shop coming along? When are you planning on moving in?

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

So, what was the final outcome of the boat swapping deal? Are you keeping the 34 Scarab or did you get the 38 or something else? It was kinda hard to keep up with all your wheelin & dealin there for a while :D . Also, what is the secret to being able to work on your own boat? Hell, I have had mine for 5 years and it's STILL solid white :eek: . I would put it in line and run it through with the others, but I CAN'T AFFORD ME :evilb: !!!!!!

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

Yeh, we got moved in this week. Now to get unpacked and organized. At least we are working again. It's been about 4 weeks since we worked on any baots.. :mad:

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

Wow, I got one side installed today. I didn't work very hard at it, but I think I would have gotten way further if I could have quit dropping bolts into the bilge.
Installing these manifolds.....not a weekend project. More like a week long project. :eek: Well mabey if a guy worked really hard at it he could get it done in a weekend.
Custom, what did you end upo doing on the oill filter bracket & the drive resivor? I'm thinking of cutting the stock bracket & welding the cut off part back on in the front. What a pain in the ass that is going to be. :rolleyes:
I sure hope it is worth it......I mean they look good, so that is one on the plus side, but man, these f*ckers fit tight!

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

I thought you were being just a little optimistic here! :D What he did for the oil filter on mine was (1) remove drive reservoir (2) grind off excess of mount that was in the way (3) add spacers to the oil filter to raise the oil lines up enough to clear the headers (you also have to enlarge the hole in the bracket that the oil line goes through to compensate for raising the filter) (4) relocate drive reservoir which I decided to do myself because I wasn't sure what my best option would be at the time. I am going to mount mine on the front of the filter bracket. Since there are already holes drilled in the reservoir bracket, I will just drill some in the filter bracket to match and just bolt mine on. There will be plenty of room to do this. Here is the picture of the spacer used for the oil filter (I have not had time to mount the drive reservoir yet). Hope this helps.

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

ended up keeping the 34 it actually fits my boating style better and it just seemed to work out that way for now. hmmmm . . .the seceret to working on my own boat? . . . .well . . . i set aside march and early april for my boat. that an basically i have no life during that time. i'm talkin late nighters 24/7 till im done. prolly why im still relativly single (till boating season that is) :drink: and its gonna be a while before the new boat gets any kinda graphics if any. . . yep . . ya dont make nuthin workin on your own stuff. not only am i expensive to but im a picky SOB :rolleyes: :D right now i'm just going to bring the new boat in and go through it mechanically and make sure everything is working proper also do a major detail/buff job. next winter is new power and maybe paint if i can swing it. if not that can wait because this boat shows well. :cool:

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

hey! . . .look at this informative thread i just found :D :D http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...=112704&page=1

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

Yes, did you note the date on that? I told you a L--O--N--G time. :eek:

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

well . . .if its any consolation i probably wont be putting a set on for 6 months either :D . but i am definetly going with the DANA's . . . even if GarySmith dosent like it :drink: :drink:

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

I will be glad to try the boat out and see if there is any performance increases. It definatly sounds better and seems to have slightly quicker throttle response (running it on the ear muffs) Glassdave, you ever make it to any of the Poker Runs in the midwest?

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

customtouch, Looks nice

I had to make the same modifications as you when I installed my SM exhaust. 1/2" spacers under the oil filter pad, and grind clearance in the front bracket for the now raised oil line to run thru. I also had to cut off the flange for the drive bottle mount that hung down because it held the manifold down an 1". I welded a flat peice of steel to the back side of the drive bottle bracket in a 'T' config. and mounted that to my ECM bracket on the risor. My risors brackets had 2 extra holes up fornt for just thaat purpose I assume. Basically the drive bottle just got moved up and over a couple inches from original location. The other manifold bolted right up with no problem.

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

KYElimEagle, I have a question for you since you have been running yours for a season or so. How often do you have to go back and re-torque the bolts for the headers? I have run it once (up to operating temp on the ear muffs) and re-torqued them and plan on doing it again after the first trip out but I am wondering how often it is necessary to do it after that. I have heard alot of complaints about other aluminun manifolds leaking and constantly having the bolts back out! Have you found this to be an issue with the Dana's? Also, did you use the paper gasket that was supplied or did you use a Merc manifold gasket?
Thanks, David

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

I had aluminum heads, ran lots of hours with some good pounding, used the supplied gaskets. Did not loosen. Eric

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

Thanks for the feed back! That was the only thing that made me a little nervous about aluminum exhaust. After I put the gen back in the boat, it would be a hassle to keep pulling it out to get access to the manifolds.

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

Just finished my dana exhaust. I dont like the upside down oil filter,so we moved it. The ecu brackets from dana didnt fit well so we made some. Check this out.

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

BB looks good. Just as tight as my Eliminator. Thats a tough job. Do you still have depressions in your chest from the top of the motor? Did you run out of curse words from dropping bolts?

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

Ya,you are right about that, I fasted for 3 weeks just so I would fit and the dipstick still left a hole in my chest! Maybe with the exhaust and nosecones it will make some difference! Check out these nose cones. They are low water pick ups so it made it a pain!

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

Well, I just got back from the first test run of the boat since the Dana's were installed. Now I am REALLY happy with them. I really did not expect any noticeable performance increases but they seem to have brought back the 2 or so mph and rpm that I had lost over the years (since it was new). It even sounds alot better and seem to have a little better mid-range response (could just be the sound :D ) If I had known this, I probably would have done it sooner! I may be an exception, but there WAS a NOTICABLE gain (in my boat at least) BONUS :drink:

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

SWEET, I will be running mine on monday and I will get back to you!

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

I did 2 runs yesterday before I broke a shift cable clamp. I gained at least 3 MPH overall. I also changed my rocker arms out for some Comp Cams roller rockers.
It was about 78*F zero wind so the water was glass smooth (bummer) I had 3/4 tank of fuel & 4- 200 lbs ea men on including me. Best speed before was 69-70 & now I am hitting 73 against the rev limiters.
Dana's are a pain in the a$$ to install for me, but all-in-all they seem to be worth the hassle.
I fully expect 75 out of it when I get it dialed in.

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

i just orderd a set on friday with the stainless tube risers. i cant wait to try them out. :drink:

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

Don't be in a hurry to get them installed. Lots of modifying for me :mad: . Hope you have better luck, or at least an easier time. I'm happy with the end result for sure, but sure was a ***** to get them done.
Marine mechanics should make $500k a year if this is what they have to put up with daily.

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

what was the hard part? was the clearance problom the hard part? i have a single engine boat so hopefully i wont have a clearance problom.plus the motor is out of the boat right now i was thinking of puting them on then droping it in the boat.

Re: Dana Flow Torque exhaust
 

Out of the boat is much easier, but still have to deal with accessory problems, like oil reservoir, shifter bracket, clearance to structures in the boat, the new tails lining up with the exhaust tips. Fun to me, work to others! Take a look at what I found when I put the exhaust on before I pulled the motors. Dana custom made tails to fit. I've never upgraded anything that I didn't run into things like this.