Gil Marine or Imco exhaust
 

I have a chance to get a used set of each. Is one better than the other and what would be a fair price. They come with the risers.
This will be going on a 1998 7.4l

I would get the Gils for the fact that they use a dry joint between the riser and manifold. Imcos have a wet joint.

I think I'll go with the Gills since after questioning the other pair wasn't IMCO's they were the Merc HP500 manifolds and risers.

i thought hp500 manifolds were gil from the factory

The merc is a different casting and reportedly more leak-prone. The Gil is vulnerable to heat damage right in the exhaust pocket- if you lose an impeller and run them, they'll crack/melt there. A visual inspection is paramount, a pressure test is easily accomplished.

Gil makes wedges that allow for tailpipe fitment if they're the long-pipe style.

Thanks guys for the input, but I'm about to show my inexperience. Chris when you says wedges, does that mean wedges that would go underneath the riser to change the angle? If thats the case, I don't think I'll have to worry as I am now using the stock exhaust which makes a sharp dowward angle and the back. I plan on installing 4" tips straight out the back.

Yes, those are what the wedges are for.

Remember the old carpenter's adage on those thru-hull holes...

"Measure twice, cut once"

Gils

I vote for Gils also. The dry joint is a big plus in my book.

gils

Ok I went and picked them up, but am a little confused now. The right side manifold does not say Mercruiser and the casting plugs all say Gil. The left side has Mercruiser in the side of it and also has the casting plugs that say Gil. Whats the deal here? Are these the Gil produced HP500 manifolds?
Also the risers are about 15" long which I believe will be too long. So how do you determine what the right riser length is for your boat?

Read post 7. Most likely the Merc manifold went bad and was replaced by one Gil. Gil made them but supposedly the Merc was different and failure-prone.

ok, thanks Chris I'll keep looking.

My Merc/Gils did crack at the wedge divider. They were 8 years old and had spent the first 200 hours in salt water.

if the risers are 15" long, they may have been for a TRS setup. Or dry all the wayto the tip. With the riser end going thru a boot at the transome.They can be shortened by a competent welding shop or I understand Gil will do it for you also.
I shortened my own and added a downward turn to match my tips.

So as far as riser length goes it's whatever fits between the engine and the transom/tips? I do like the long risers it looks better than the black hose.

Most manufacturers will do whatever you want with the pipes. Some come up into an elbow and mix water in, then go thru rubber to transom tips. Some go all the way out. What complicates things when looking at used exhaust is that different setups use different tails. For example, on the Gil you can get Bravo tails and you can get TRS tails. Since the TRS is longer, their pipes are too.

Ok what are tails and what are the difference between bravo and TRS tails.
It seems I really opened a can of worms here and I apologize for the 20 questions, but before I spend money I need to educate myself.
All I really want to do is get some good used manifolds with some stainless risers to angle cut short tips.
Am I making this more complicated than I need to?

Here is what I bought, TRS risers. Thesecond pics is what I changed them to, Bravo risers. The tails would be any pipes you need for getting the exhaust to the transome tips, or thru the transome, third pic.

note wedges ... long tails .... water exits end of pipes ...m

Thanks guys for all the help. After all that I tried to fit the manifolds and realized that they hit the oil filter and bracket on the left side and hit the throttle body on the right side.
My buddy has some Stainless Marine risers that he had on his stock manifold that will work so I'm going to go that route for now. When I build the big engine, I'll just have to suck it up and spend some money for good exhaust

You could do a lot worse than Stainless Marine.

I'm actually in a situation right now where my tail don't line up to go through my hull and I'm trying to find these wedges does anyone know where I can find so a link or anything I've been searching with no luck thanks

stainless marine makes good stuff. BUT the stainless marine riser that fits the stock merc manifold is no better than the stock merc riser. then manifold is the HP and flow limiter. the SM risers are prettier but that is about it. if your risers are bad, scare up a used set of stainless OEM merc risers for now. usually found on ebay.

here is 1 set. http://www.ebay.com/itm/816900-C-Sta...lYuHRF&vxp=mtr

I know I have one merc stainless riser, let me see if I can find the other one.

Are you guys answering the year 2008 posts or the one above today from Bassett03 ?

crap. didn't notice the thread date.

Ha- I didn't look at the dates either.

What size wedge do you need? I have several.

I had a set made locally at a fraction of the cost. Purchased the longer Studs from the local Fastenal.