Could you put a set of race car headers on a boat if you added water jackets?

Hooker back in the day did just that...

since car headers are all mild steel, if you put them in water jackets, especially in salt, they would rot through in no time. if hooker made stainless headers, it might be worth considering. except for the shape. car headers are designed to fit DOWN between the frame rails and to clear the steering. boat exhaust have to go up and hook back over the engine with a specific angle and distance down to go through the transom. you wanna take off engine hatch and put them on upside-down hanging over the transom? i suggested this as a somewhat insulting joke to a guy and a buncha people tore me a new one cuz they thought i was serious. the exhaust is the biggest area where marine and automotive engine design are different from each other.

I don't think the Hooker boat headers were water jacket so much as water injected (ran dry at idle and got water injected into exhaust stream while under speed), Smitty

i did not know hooker made a water injected header,but 2 companys that still make them are bassett and rewarder.rewarder also makes a water jacket header out of mild steel,and coat them inside and outside with a ceramic coating,they do not recomend useing them in salt water.

+1
ya beat me to it!

bassett is also making headers for I/o's also..

http://www.bassettracing.com/photos1.htm

BUT, none of them are pass. car headers. they are all made to fit and work in a marine environment.

To answer your question, in short, NO.

You will be money and time ahead to just buy a pair of jacketed marine headers, made of stainless.

I just happen to have a pair for sale, very reasonably priced.

What is the difference between water jackets and water injection?

Water jacketed headers have a inside tube, that the exhaust gas goes thru. Then they add a outer tube. Between the inner and outer tubes, water flows. This keeps them cool.

Water injected, I believe have just one tube, and water gets injected to them at a certain rpm, because at idle, it would flood the engine with water. I think. I don't really know much about them. Mainly used on jet boats and what not with open/exposed engines.

In a typical I/O inboard, water jacketed is what you need. The headers stay cool, won't cause fires or melting things in a enclosed engine compartment.