My V6 Detroit Diesel main engine has two 3' lengths of 3" id flex hose from the exhaust manifolds to the exhaust piping that have carried me 38,000 miles flawlessly in the past 30 years.
These flex sections are not the spiral wrap style, but are a sort of accordion style with rounded individual ribs, not a spiral. There are no seams. Then there is a braided sleeve that covers the ribbed part, to keep it from panting I think. Both parts are welded to lightweight (3/8" thick) flanges at each end that bolt together (with a gasket between them) to lightweight flanges that are screwed on at the manifold and at the downstream portion of the exhaust pipe system. There is a ring around the braid right close to the flanges that holds the braid tightly together close to the welding. I got the idea of the flanges from the big ships I served on. You can cut the bolts with a torch or grinder and slide bad pipe sections out sideways if necessary. No unscrewing frozen screw connections. I got these flex pieces in Charleston SC at Charleston Hose Co. or something like that, 30 years ago. They were not as expensive as expected, about $120 for both and very professionally made. I think the flex hose parts are 316. They stay nice and clean and shiny in the engine room but I don't really know for sure what they are. The temperatures on my exhaust manifold elbows are only around 300*-400* F as my engine is really lightly loaded (yes, I know it is against all Conventional Wisdom), so this might help with the longevity of the flex sections. They have held up really well so I do not hesitate to recommend them. Before I built my exhaust system I was aware that rebuilding exhaust systems could be a nightmare. I lucked out. I stumbled across a 20' piece of 4" 316 sch 40 pipe with threads on each end at a scrap yard and bought the whole thing. I cut it up as needed with an angle grinder and used it to build the dry part of my exhaust system. I have never had to replace any part of my exhaust system (that wasn't due to my own stupidity - I did have to replace the rubber hose part when the cooling water stopped) since I built it. Norm S/V Bandersnatch Lying Julington Creek FL N30 07.68 W081 38.47 >I'm not using flexhose anymore - it's proven itself useless. >Ben _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list Liveaboard@liveaboardonline.com To adjust your membership settings over the web http://liveaboardonline.com/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to liveaboard-j...@liveaboardonline.com To unsubscribe send an email to liveaboard-le...@liveaboardonline.com The archives are at http://www.liveaboardonline.com/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/liveabo...@liveaboardnow.org The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
