Vinny P |
12-18-2008 08:10 PM |
Corrossion Protection?
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!!! :eek::eek: 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.
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