1992 4.3L alpha one gen 2 Water Shutters

[JHinMT]

After reading, youtubing, reading more, I ordered the wrong shutters for my boat anyway. I ordered the 807166A1 shutters, but I believe I need the A3 shutters. My old shutters were the one piece offset pin flapper design that mounted a bit below the end of the y-pipe with round holes in the y-pipe.

Is there a grommet or plug to seal up the hole in the y-pipe? The A3 shutters move up to the top flange of the Y-pipe, leaving the original mount holes open.

Second question. It seems that the only real good way to get the exhaust pipes back on is to slide the lower tube down the y-pipe far enough to clear the elbow. When I slide it back up onto the elbow what stops the new shutter from sliding up with it?

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,..... Welcome Aboard,..... The rubber coupler piece covers the holes,.....
Just the rubber couplers is slid past where it goes, to put the metal pieces into place,.....

 

[JHinMT]

Yes, understand. What I'm wondering though is if the shutters will unseat themselves when the lower exhaust rubber is slid up into place on the cast elbow. I.e. what, if anything, holds them in place? I haven't got them yet so maybe it will be obvious when I see them.

 

[Bondo]

Yes, understand. What I'm wondering though is if the shutters will unseat themselves when the lower exhaust rubber is slid up into place on the cast elbow. I.e. what, if anything, holds them in place? I haven't got them yet so maybe it will be obvious when I see them.

Ayuh,..... I've install various styles of shutters, 'n all felt quite secure in their home, 'n never had a problem with the couplers movin' 'em,....

If you're worried, pick up a squirt can of Quick Silver Power Tune,.....
It makes rubber bits slide right over things you'd never think would fit,.....
Anything rubber becomes super, Super Slippery,...
'n it dries out really fast,....
(one of the many tricks Don Sindledecker taught me )

 

[MichaelBC]

They will not unseat.

When I bought my boat I also repalced the shutters with the newer version. Originally I hat the one piece version like in picture 1 and 2.

The new version has an oval frame that fits in the exhaust. This frame has 2 little noses that click in the original holes and keep it safely in place.

 

[zellerj]

I had difficulty with my water shutters on a 1988 5.7 L. The ones I purchased looked like the #3 picture above, and they did not fit in my Y pipe. I had to pinch them to get them to fit, and the pinching caused the flappers to bind. I trimmed some of the flapper material away from the sides so they would not bind and moved freely. I also was worried about the water shutters staying where they should stay. Haven't taken it apart yet to check.

 

[MichaelBC]

Reading this I just remembered that I had the same issue last year. The exhaust pube squezes the rings of the shutter a little and that squezes the shutters themselves and they don't move free. I had to cut the side a little and all was good.

 

[JHinMT]

Awesome! Thank you for the pics, that clears things up a bit.

 

[JHinMT]

On the off chance that the local boat shop might actually have the parts in stock I dropped by there. Sure enough they had them, genuine quicksilver parts - not sierra or some other aftermarket brand. Interesting that the A3 shutters are $94 for a pair (as in 2 complete assemblies for a complete exchange of both shutters on the old style v6 y-pipe) vs the A1 shutters that are $90/pair - which is, apparently, one shaft with two flapper leaves (so 1/2 of what you need for a v6 / v8).

Anyway, I understand how they fit and stay put now. hopefully I don't have to do too much filing and fitting on the y-pipe to get them to seat properly