Re: exhaust conversion questions
What made me convert was the fact that I had my original 1976 engine get water in it somehow, and I wasn't about to re-use 1976 manifolds (which had tons of rust/soot in them) when I was installing all new engine/components from the transom-forward. The center-riser manifolds supposedly flow a bit better, but I don't know that it makes much difference at the 230-280HP range in my case. It does open up some accessibility at the rear of the engine for maintenance, so that's nice, but it didn't really offer much of any other physical advantage. However, when you price the elbows/manifolds, they are generally much cheaper than the log-style, so when/if it comes time to replace those components again, it saves you money later on. On a somewhat less-important note, the conversion removes a few more hoses from the system (the ones to the elbows), so you have a slightly lower risk of a leak or blockage in one of the hoses than with the log-style.
