Busted Exhaust.

[IdoraKeeper]

You need to kill this problem. For 2.5 boat bucks you can have an entirely new custom fit system made and installed. With all of the huge negative consequences of a bad exhaust that are as bad as death and fire, or fire and death...its one of those items that must be fixed correctly. Do it now before it gets too cold for fabricating the fiberglass portions of the system.

[Terra Nova]

Gotta really spell it out, sometimes.

It is a cheap elbow, a replaceable service item that has gone beyond its useful life. You see only a crack. Your inexperienced mechanic sees only a crack--hell yeah, I can fix a crack!

Replace the elbow. Period.

[hpeer]

Yes replace.

I had a cracked elbow. Took it off and set aside. Four months later the crack had spread and was huge, that occurred off the motor.

It's toast.

I welded up my own, as standard stuff would not fit. Stainless steel, made two for under $150.

[Cheechako]

Welding that may cost about the same as getting the pieces and making a new one... As corroded as it looks the weld wont last long.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by unbusted67

Yes it is a universal. And what you described is what we have.

Thought so - we used to have a Universal and it looked just like that.

So in this case, do like I suggest - go spend an hour in a hardware store picking out some fittings and pipe, having the pipe cut to size and threads put on the ends. Take your old exhaust piece with you so you get the right dimensions.

That's what I did with ours and I spent <$50 and made it up and installed it in under a day.

You will need 3 90* elbows (one for the exhaust manifold rise and two to form a U at the top), one Tee for the water injection, probably a reducing bushing in the injection port of the Tee to take a 3/4" nipple, and some various lengths of pipe. Maybe a terminal fitting to fit your exhaust hose if the exhaust pipe is smaller/larger than your exhaust hose.

Welding that would be a terrible idea - worse than using exhaust repair tape or metal epoxy. That crack just didn't appear - that thing is probably rusted thin on the inside and there will be no good metal to weld to. Frankly, I would get rid of any mechanic that suggested welding that crack as a proper repair.

Mark

[zeehag]

as it is out of the boat, why not take it to a boiler shop and have a new one made for cheaper than welding or repairing in the overall long run..
have a second one made for a spare., then ye wont ever need another one.

[barnakiel]

Replace.

I had ours wrapped in fine steel plate then heavily glassed over. It worked fine until I found the real thing.

PS I think with a crack you will drill holes at its ends.

b.

[NSboatman]

hey Unbusted - been there. so have many of those who are commenting here. don't take it personally - it's just we've seen it, done it, tried the short term fixes and been burned. what you've got there ain't fixable. sorry. ya gotta replace it.

most of us who've had to deal with this more than once consider exhaust injection elbows (or many parts in the exhaust system really - where you are mixing salt water and the by products of combustion at high temps) to be disposable items. Think of it the same way you think of brake pads or mufflers on your car. only the consequences of not changing it proactively is far more severe....


best of luck-

bg