looks like your almost done,,i see you have the longer jumper hoses ,we had to cut and add a hose adapter to mine. i didnt have to deal with the reservior its in a different area.i think making brackets andgetting things to fit are just part of our sport,,they look great

Knock on wood....I have a 2005 model 525 w/180 hrs. and so far so good. I did the bypass hose recall and drain them after every use.

I have a 6-8" rubber exhaust hose between the tails and the tips.

Thanks twin. Actually the starboard side is the same so I had to use the stock jumper but the port side needed the longer one

Hey Sippy I installed the same headers as you last year and have the same power steering reservoir as you. I ran across the same problem and modified the bracket buy cutting off the ears and welding a small corner to the rear part of the bracket and drilling a new hole in that corner. If you need to ask me any questions give me a call 631-457-0117 Joe

lol here i go "over thinkin it" again!!

i ran my boat and hurricanes on the muffs for the first time today and i noticed a couple things. i seemed to have more water coming out of the starboard side than the port side. i would say about twice as much. also my #1 cylinder pipe was really hot and every other pipe was cool. the starboard side was also cooler than the port side. Do i have an issue here? do i need to restrict the starboard side?

i think i remember reading somewhere about a cmi modification that restricts the crossover hole on the starboard side tailpipe. is this necessary on the hurricanes? here is a link to a short video and you can see the difference in water coming out of the exhaust. sorry for the poor quality.

i know it could be the fresh water pump so i will change that but you would think it would effect the flow all around. the main question is, why is my #1 cylinder pipe too hot to touch?

Sippy, that doesn't look right or sound right. There would be some differential between the starboard and port side because the exit out of the freshwater heat exchanger has one more pass thru the cooler on the port side than the starboard side before it exits the exchanger and you could see enough higher volume of water on the starboard side to require you restrict it with an smaller orfice insert at the header water entrance manifold to balance the two sides. You would have to watch the water pressure especially at high rpms to make sure it does not get to high from this restriction procedure. The added restriction here on one side should also be sized carefully as it will tend to send an increased volume of water to the other side and will more quickly balance the volume of the two sides.

We see this same condition on the Merc 496's that have the same heat exchanger plumbing setup.

As for #1 cylinder exhaust tube exterior getting too hot to touch , especially after the water volumes to each side are equal would be a no- no and might indicate a restriction in the feed to that particular tube or the inner tube is to close or touching the outer tube and not allowing enough water to pass that point and cool the tube. The feed point at the bottom of that tube where it transitions from the water manifold could be restricted or clogged also, so check that.

You might want to also be talking here to Hardin (and they to Lightning) if there is an actual problem with the header and they might also want to input on some checks and fixes. This is how they learn and improve also. Feedback!

You are not overthinking here just being careful and getting it right! good observations and thinking!
Good Luck, hope you get all your bugs worked out!

Best Regards,
Ray @ Raylar

The difference in flow does not look good but the hot #1 tube could just be the limited water volume through the hose. I'd put it in the water and see if either or both of your problems go away.

Thanks raylar and thirdchild. I questioned the garden hose as well and some others suggest that part of the problem may also be from the boat sitting un-level. In my drive starboard side is much lower than the port.

I have sent a pm to hardin.

I will test it in the water this weekend before I get too worked up.

My port side header gets pretty warm when flushing on the hose but the water volume out the tips looks pretty equal. I don't have that problem when the boat is in the water. I try to limit my flush to just a few minutes and do not go above 1000 rpms.

Again, anybody with a Merc HP525efi, 600sci, 700sci or a Merc 496 needs to remember and study the diagram if needed for the FRESHWATER COOLING HEAT EXCHANGER and you will see that the raw cooling water leaving the exchanger and going to the exhaust manifolds or headers is taking one additional pass thru the exchanger before it goes to the PORT side exhaust and there fore there can be automatically more flow that will go to the starboard side exhaust because it has less distance and resistance to get there. 4 passes thru cooler for Port side, 3 passes thru cooler for Starboard side.

This differential can be adjusted with some orfice type careful restriction of the starboard flow volume and that will balance the two sides. Fluid flows seek the path of least resistance to flow.

Flow and heating issues beyond or in addition to this can come from low feed flow to the raw water pump (muffs, hose feeds, etc.) or from a weak or poor raw water pump output, from impellor or housing issues, or from restrictions in lines, hoses, fittings and coolers (oil, PS & fuel) leading to or from the engine in the raw water paths.

Low flow or uneven cooling or overheating can come from restricted flows of exiting raw water to and through the headers or manifolds as well as in the case of double wall tubular headers inner tubes or fittings that are up against the outer tube, blocking or choking off raw water cooling flows around the tubes or through internal header passages.

Sorry, not trying to run a class in exhaust cooling 101 here, but the freshwater cooled engines listed above have some slightly unique design and actions that owners of these engines should understand when they see variations or potential problems like these.

Hope these explanations make sense and are useable.

Best Regards,
Ray @ Raylar