also mr. griff... my old head gaskets had provisions for some sort of windage tray or baffle under the intake manifold. i got new marine application gaskets that matched to a T besides the provision to retain that baffle. should i just leave it out? i imagine it is an attempt to keep the bottom of the intake cooler. i had the factory 502 mag. and now i have the dart off of a 500hp. i just dont want to set that thing in there and have it come loose.

nevermind..... it kinda pinches itself in between the heads. im dumb

I put a little silicone on both sides of the tabs on mine. Ensures no annoying rattle starts. Also, my tailpipes inner and outer are cut to the same length, no problem. I run the blaster coils with the Tbolt 4, no improvement noted over merc. On the 1.36, I've heard it said you want prop speed around 5000rpm for max efficiency. 1.36 gets you closer to that than the 1.5s will. I never tested that theory myself, just fwiw to you.

BT

thought id share my work so far. i upgraded my membership so im gonna shoot pictures everywhere

Fixxer,
Years ago, I had a set of Gil headers that had the riser pipes that were way tall because they came off a tripple engine setup and it was the middle motor.
Anyway, I fired the motor up on the test stand and it filled the crank case with water. You could see the water creeping up the ID of the pipe while it was idling..
The inner pipe was swedged to mate up with the outer pipe's ID and it ened at the same length. There were three holes (3/8") evenly spaced around the pipe. They were positioned right at the swedge part where it got bigger to mate up with the outer pipe.
I ened up shortening the risers so they didnt sit 14" or so high. I then extended the inner pipe about an inch or so past the outter pipe. I used steel rod to make a circle around the inner pipe and cut three slots in it, about 3/8" wide, @ 12, 4, 8 oclock. I had rubber hose slid over the ends that attached to my tail pipes.. Worked good till I stepped up the CMI's. Which you will do at some point.. Speed is a necessity in the boating world.
Hope this helps.. and may you have a decent carbon foot print!!
Dick

also i have noticed on all riser sets that are not gil dry pipes. they have a fitting that is smaller on the bottom side... what is this for? my manifolds have the provisions for the main water supply from the manifolds to the risers. but on the side that is beneath the risers it just has solid thread in plugs i could remove them and drill a hole in the riser and make a fitting like the normal risers but does it really matter? does the smaller fitting on the rear side of the maifold ensure coolant flow through the whole manifold? mabye this is why one of them cracked. it wont take much to do but if i do i need to know what size the hose is that is ran to the bottom side of the riser. also why on earth do i have thwo different temp senders on each side of my t-stat housing? i will take some pictures today and post them. but i had to use an elbow to hook up my water pump bypass to the intake without drilling the manifold. and now of course the sender will not fit against the elbow. but i have an empty hole in the crossover of the manifold now so can i run one in the housing and one in the manifold. or just one. they are hooked to the same wire. seems to me they may have conflicting resistances.

my 32 thunder w/ 500 hps carb have a 1" spacer

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see my handy work... but this is what im talking about. i can plug this side of the t-stat housing and just use one sender right? and the exhaust? i have my questions above. anyone have any ideas? Mr. Griff?