The leak we recently found was a hole in the collector , which was in turn sending water down the #8 cylinder.

Earlier in the season, We found a crack on the port side after blowing a motor in the Daytona race. I dont recall exactly where the crack was, but it was repaired and reinstalled and lasted most of the season.

I am still learning about issues with stainless and salt water. Ever hear of crevice corrosion? Look it up. I may never put a boat in salt water again after seeing some of the pictures!!!!

The chlorides in the salt water will eat pinholes, etc in the stainless. I have seen pictures of stainless hardware that looked like worms ate holes in the metal. Definitely flush ASAP and wash all exposed stainless.

I am checking on the possibility of attaching brass to the headers. Brass acts as a sacrificial anode to stainless and may help extend their life. I may also see if there is an anti corrosive (Salt away?) I can treat the system with also.

Bulldog

When flushing the motors, I try to always squirt soap/salt away etc... into the hose before turning it on. Not sure how much it helps/helped considering my CMI's looked like a sprinkler system after 4.5 yrs!!

It seems the headders seem to fail mostly at the welds from my experience. I also think the headders take a bigger hit with vibrations than Aluminum headders. I have had Stainless marine since 1995 and the mannifolds are fine but the pipes had to be welded once.

the headders can be repaired a few times before they are junk.

In the end, that is why I went with keith eickert aluminum headers. Ever see the movement in tube headers during a hard romp?

BT