Recommendations for sources to purchase new manifolds/risers/etc?

YeOldeStonecat

YeOldeStonecat

Active Member
Jun 10, 2018
332
Waterford, CT, boat in Deep River, CT
Boat Info
'97 300 DA "Me-Shell"
Engines
Twin 5.7 V-Drive
Our marina gave me a pick list for replacing the mani's/risers/space blocks/elbow assembly. Came to ~3,600 bucks.
Manifold assembly..~330 each..need 4
Riser Kit 3 inches...~370 each...need 2 (assuming each kit includes 2?)
Elbow Assembly...~285 each...need 4

He added smaller items..gasket kit, and a couple of oil hoses which he said the prior owner extended his oil hosts with push-lock fittings which their mechanic does not like..said I should replace. 95 bucks each hose...2 of 'em.
And a starboard engine oil filter bracket, said the original engine had stainless manifolds (so why are they gone?) and brackets were supposed to be changed...so 190 bucks for that.

Just looking for any input on good online parts warehouses that people like. I see some out there doing some Google searches of the part numbers. Some are close to 25-40% lower in price but charge shipping. Some others..free shipping..still around 25% less.
Michigan Motorz
NuWaveMarine
Marine Engine Parts...they seem straight up MSRP..and the marinas shop we got the quote from lines up dead on with these prices....MSRP.
 
+1 on Nuwave Marine. I used them last year to replace risers on our previous 320. Very knowledgeable and the parts were oem.
 
Sounds good..Nuwave it shall be. They are quite a bit below MSRP, and I noticed they had a suggestion for other part numbers with even lower prices...after comparing details, I notice the lower priced ones (still OEM Merc) are not ceramic coated. After spending some time reading up on ceramic coated versus E-Tech coating of the lower priced ones, I think I'll get the E-Tech coated ones. Our boat has spent "most" of her life in fresh water on the Connecticut River, prior owners had her for short times in salt, we plan on keeping fresh water this year..possibly move to Niantic River next year so we can walk to her. But based on my reading...ceramic coating doesn't seem to be all that much worth it.

Thanks for the input all!
 
Whelp...here we are several months later. Bad timing with weather..versus my time off..versus some trips to Florida to purchase a condo (on Perico Island by Anna Maria Island)...my time to spend on the 'Dancer has been minimal.

Anyways..quite the experience. My biggest challenge..sinking the "studs" into the tops of the new manifolds. Not able to thread in by hand. Spinning in 3/8" coarse thread bolts..they spin into the new manifolds like normal. But the "studs"...ugh, felt like wrong thread. Spin on a nut ..it won't go past 1/2 a turn. Same with studs in the manifolds.

Started driving some in with a pipe wrench. And then noticed double nutting worked better.

All manifolds, blocks and elbows are on, and those fiberglass collector baffles aft of the engines.
Just need to get that exhaust-gas-recirc pipe back with that brass NPT elbow fitting...get some new antifreeze mix in there and fire 'em up!

Manifold1.jpg
Manifold2.jpg
 
All done and fired up both engines today. The manifolds 'n spacer blocks and elbows themselves....not bad. But i'll tell ya, the 2 things that made it a HUGE pain in the butt..that fiberglass collector baffle whatever...that the hoses connect to, and that darned exhaust gas recirculation pipe with the brass fittings. Trying to line up that fiberglass collector baffle with the 4x stuff hose connections was like trying to put tight socks onto all 4 feet of an epileptic elephant! And that exhaust-gas-recirculation pipe took longer to get back on than the mani's/risers/elbows! Literally! the tension on it and trying to get the treads to bite without going in crooked in stripping the soft brass...ugh! Glad I won't be doing this again on this boat.

Manifoldsdone.jpg
 
Nice job!
Double nutting is the only way to go with studs.
If there is a next time: I’ve found that leaving the hoses in place and twisting the elbows out of them after heating that end of the hose up a bit with a heat gun
then putting them back the same way makes that part of the job a little easier.
Those type hoses can be tough.
When I remove my raw water intake hoses for winterization, or put them back on, I use the heat gun on them for a short time to avoid a knuckle buster.
 
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