HDI Exhaust Elbow?

[Captain Bill]

The time has come to replace my exhaust elbows on my Yanmar 3JH3CEs again. As usual they have failed at the weld. My engineer friend says welds are bad in Stainless Steel as the weld causes changes in the metal and spots that are no longer stainless, this more susceptible to salt water corrosion. I have found an after market elbow said to be machined from investment cast stainless from HDI in Washington. Does anyone have any experience with these elbows? If so Do they hold up any better than the OEMs?

[Nineteen]

Hi
I have their exhaust on my 3JH3BE in my C380. It is only 18 months old and so far so good. They were great to buy from and the parts are really well made. I thought that the quality is far superior to the OEM Yanmar parts.
I used the JHL exhaust and the JHB mixing elbow on the Catalina installation.

Cheers
Tom

[Rapanui]

Have had several Yanmar elbows develop pinholes in the welds and spray water for my 3YM30s. Fitted each with HDI cast elbows at start of season, so far so good. They should last well. A double win as even delivered to UK they were about 1/2 the price of the Yanmar version.

[tomvandyke]

Greetings from the Philippines where we have been since February of 2020. We motored about 70hrs between Thailand and here after launching the boat following a year long refit. Umineko is a 1990 St Francis 43 which has circumavigated and then some. Two Yanmar 3YM30 engines I've learned to learn about. One has approximately 5000h and the other closer to 10k. They've been around the world and then some too. As we haven't gone far since arriving, I've often run the engines just to charge the batteries. Yes, yes, yes. That's bad. Now I am certain of it because I completely blocked one exhaust. Managed to get a couple HDI SS exhausts and I cannot believe how much happier my engines run.

[tomvandyke]

HDI has really great customer service and technical support. The previous exhausts were a custom sort and the folks there had a good suggestion how to deal with the new install. Everything went smooth and my motors no longer emit various shades of grey. I should have known the exhausts are critical to performance as I remember all the hot rods with Hooker Header stickers back in the day. As well as my Kawaski KLX being a little more snappy with it's new exhaust pipe. Attached is a shot of the old and the new. Now, on to the new Balmar alternator and lithium battery bank installation!

[Galumay]

I installed an HDI exhaust in my old power boat with a 4LHA-STP 240HP in it, beautifully manufactured and the company was great to deal with. Very happy, although only a couple of hundred hours on it by the time I sold the boat.

[Captain Bill]

Mine are approaching 3.5 years and are still doing fine. I bought them shortly after starting the thread.

[CSY Man]

Ordered an HDI mixing elbow today, the company and the products have a stellar reputation.
The Yanmar service manual says to replace the elbow every 2 years or 500 hours, crazy numbers, it should be at least 10 years.
6LP-STE