please keep in mind I am a body guy not an engine guy.

I have kodiak exaust manifolds for a BBC and they have the water inlets on both ends of the long part of the castings.

The problem is the water outlet/inlet, with a fitting installed, on the starboard side sits right in the 3 " y pipe area not allowing me to hook up exaust for silent choice. If I remove the fitting an exaust hose will clear. So can I plug that end hole and drill and tap a hole elsewhere ? If so where would be the best location ? I see that the factory hole has what looks like a boss welded to help with strength. Is it recomended to install a boss for the new hole ? Or just tap and go ? has anyone run into this before ? couldnt excessive heat, from welding, distort the flange and cause more problems?

The pic I have put here is old and the manifolds have since been reconditioned at the machine shop so I would hate to toss them. any ideas out there I would greatly appreciate.

The other question I have is these manifolds are exact to one another. The riser bolting flat area is off-set in the same position on each manifold instead of being mirror images to eachother. This is an issue here because on the port side of the block I am ok I have plenty of room to get a exaust tube past the water fitting. If I had one that was a mirror to that one i would be fine. Is this normal? As I look at the pic of the manifold I cant understand why this even makes a difference. For some reason the manifold sits closer to the opening on the y pipe on the starboard side of the engine. Any ideas ?

ttt

is their a spot on the opposite side of the manifold as well? or maybe on the bottom?? if not their should be a boss on the opposite side you can drill and tap,start out with a small bit first in case you have to weld it up..plug the other side and if their is plastic fittings get rid of them and use brass ones..

There are fittings at both ends of the manifold. The exaust riser elbows are connected directly to the manifold fitting farthest from the transome and the fitting on the manifold closest to the transom are connected to the thermostet housing. It is hard to explain so I have put two pics as to how it was set up. As I look at the pics, and compare them to the merc manual, it looks as tho the incorrect hoses are being sent to the exaust manifolds. The hoses directly above the thermostat are supposed to go to the exaust manifolds and the hoses just in front of them are to go to the exaust riser elbows.

In the merc manual it shows a hose from the thermostat pushing water into each manifold and another hose from the thermostat pushing water into the exaust elbows. Is it possible I may be able to plug off the fittings closest to the transom and be done ? Will that be sufficient to cool the exaust manifolds?

[/IMG]

looking at the pics it looks like the boat's oe set up was a small block,if you still have the sbc y pipe in the boat the silent choice is not going to line up correctly with ot some major modification..the way the the hoses are routed looks like they are a flow through style which is good..i would be worried about over heating the rear portion of the manifold..

another way of plumbing it if theirs enough meat on the bottom of the manifold is to run a gil style manifold plumbing http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...ed=0CBYQ9QEwBQ and plug the rear one then take the front port in the manifold and run it to a y and connect both ports from the thermostat to the riser.

thanks mrfixx for your insite on this i really appreciate it big time !!!! As for the silent choice I have mocked it up and it will fit perfect !!!! I just had to reduce the length of the 3 inch down tube to get it to work and I have no idea what engine was in it before. I got it with this one and no way to contact the guy who put it in.

I looked at the gil example and I doubt there is enough there to do that without doing a bunch of welding. being that close to the flange I will for sure warp it. I think it would be easier to put a fitting just on the side of the manifold just around the corner from where it is now. I wish there was a way to tell how much space there is from the water jaket to the exhaust runner there.

The merc manual shows that the warm warm water outlets from the thermostat are supposed to go to the exhaust manifolds and cold water outlets are supposed to go to the riser elbows and that is not how it was hooked up !! any comments with respect to this ?

So you dont like just plugging it and having it set up like in the merc manual with just one water entry in the manifold ?

is their 1/8 '' pipe plugs under each runner in the manifolds ?

i need to see a better pic of all the ports in the manifolds. is their just front and rear and or is their one on the bottom?

like thease? http://www.rexmar.com/page221.html

There are no other bosses or fittings. I dont think the water jacket even goes all the way to the flange. I think the flange and the surrounding area are solid aluminum and rely on heat to be dissapated from the rest of the manifold area it is 1/4 inch thick above the flange for about 2 inches the way up the manifold

What if I instead of taping the side --- I tap the bottom as far away from the flange as possible ? That would keep the water comming in on that end and hopefully there is a big water jacket area there. i am not worried about how much " meat " there is as much as how much depth in the water jacket there is where i drill the hole. Does that sound right?

ttt