Well how’s this for a marine exhaust system?
Those hoses carry hot exhaust gas and water from the cooling system. This is the Port side (that’s “left” for you landlubbers). They extend back to a suitcase sized cast iron muffler that is filled half way with water, and when you are at idle speed it’s pretty quiet, but when you’re at speed the water is generally blown right through the whole casing and it’s “almost” a free flow system.
I guess I gave it the throttle when it was full of water, because the large tube at the rear, along with a section of rotted iron on the bottom of the collector just went away. I blew out the rotted section and got a lot of noise and water into the boat.
Since I’m posting photos today, here are some shots you non-boating guys may like to see about the C7JE heads. These are marine specific heads, but they’re very similar to automotive heads, and from what I hear, they’re very good heads too.
Ooops that’s not a FE, that’s a boat anchor called a Cadillac motor. It’s in a Chris Craft Cobra. The MEL compared to one of these things, is a high tech and high rpm piece of equipment. Theo, by the way, I know a guy who just bought a 1965 Chris Craft 38-foot Commander, and it has original MEL engines with full marine equipment. I'm going to send him your way, as I know you know the MEL inside and out, and may be able to give him some tips. (Now back to the FE)
Heres my good friend giving me a hand with a pair of FE marine engines. MEL marine engines are bigger and heavier than these bad boys. The neighbors were "unaffected" when these were test run, with the exhaust pointed down into the valley, ha ha. Well..............at least I didn't get any telephone calls!
Did you guys ever hear Alan Jackson's (country music artist) hit song "When Daddy let me drive"?
This photo says it all!
Here are the FE head shots.
Here’s the bulge on the internal passageway, which affects only one intake port on the head. Oddly, it doesn’t seem to affect the way the 4 cylinders on each head seem to burn, as they all seem to burn equally. This has to be an obstruction though.
Exhaust port width measurement
Exhaust port height measurement
intake port width measurement
Intake port height measurement
exhaust valve
intake valve
and now, something a little closer to home for you......
This equipment was made in Weissach / Zufffenhausen. No it's not of Ford origin, but it is a V8 from Germany (1983 vintage) and that exhaust system is a unique custom design. It doesn't sound quite as good as those big marine Fords though, but it will rev a lot higher.
regards, P
