Stainless Steel Yanmar Exhaust Elbow

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alan

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I need to replace the exhaust elbow on my 3YM30 (again!!) and have been looking for a stainless steel item to replace the OEM elbow.

I was wondering if anyone has bought from this seller:

http://exhaustelbow.com/

I know it comes from the USA and I will have to pay import duty, but it is still cheaper than the Yanmar part and hopefully will last longer.

Thanks in advance.

Alan.
 
Thanks for the reply. The Yanmar ones show just what you describe: pin hole leaks along the weld on the exterior and then the inner "pipe" also with pin holes - or worse!!
Could it be a problem with the welding wire also on the Yanmar ones?

Alan.
 
Vonasi said:
Ok. Just read that thread and it confirms my thoughts. Buy a stainless steel one if you know who welded and what grade of stainless they used and what welding rod they used and if you have money to burn. If not avoid the chance of failure and buy a mild steel one and galvanize it or spray it with galvanizing paint. What the hell buy four mild steel ones and you'll still have spent less than buying one stainless steel one!

Oh and check and clean your exhaust elbow regularly - I've seen plenty of wrecked engines caused by blocked exhaust elbows! In fact I saw another one just last week.
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The problem is that the Yanmar original part steel ones are far from cheap ....
 
Vonasi said:
Find any metalworking shop and they'll weld one up in their tea break for far less than any manufacturers price. In fact ask them to make two or three - then you'll have a spare and one to sell to the next poor soul on the YBW forum who has a cracked or corroded exhaust elbow.
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I take it you are speaking with little experience of metalworking! As a one-off job, just making the flange is probably an hour's work, including measurement, then the tubing has to be bent, using a machine that requires the correct dies, always assuming they have the right sized tubing. That needs to be drilled to take the hose nozzle, then the whole lot need to be welded. Compared with this the ones on Ebay for about £100 are probably a bargain. The majority of the cost is in the labour and setting up, with the material cost probably 10% of the total, so you might as well buy it in the correct grade.
 
vyv_cox said:
I take it you are speaking with little experience of metalworking! As a one-off job, just making the flange is probably an hour's work, including measurement, then the tubing has to be bent, using a machine that requires the correct dies, always assuming they have the right sized tubing. That needs to be drilled to take the hose nozzle, then the whole lot need to be welded. Compared with this the ones on Ebay for about £100 are probably a bargain. The majority of the cost is in the labour and setting up, with the material cost probably 10% of the total, so you might as well buy it in the correct grade.
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Completely agree, I have made 3 of these to different patterns for myself out of stainless steel and if anyone can knock one up in there tea break they have my admiration, or very long tea break's :)
Pete
 
To answer the OPs question, I bought an elbow from this supplier for my 1GM a few years ago. I can't vouch for any metallurgical issues, but it still looks like new, fitted perfectly and has given good service with no signs of any leakage anywhere. The cost was very reasonable and it arrived quickly.
 
Vonasi said:
As I said in a previous post -depends where you are based. Rip off Britain or elsewhere. I had mine made in Turkey. The chap who made it went over the top and made an 'exact' replica where as I would have been happy with a drilled flange and cut and welded tube - no bending involved. It took him three hours and in that time he also repaired my old cast iron one as a back up spare. Total cost £26 Can you be certain that the ones on eBay are the right grade welded with the right rod? I doubt it.

Oh and yes I do speak with experience of metalworking. I'm an engineer having worked in various fields one of which involved a lot of mild steel fabrication building sports car chassis and components.
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Not sure how any of that helps the OP as don't think he is in Turkey. As to being "Ripped Off" guess that your skilled metal worker who only earns £26 (less the expensive material) for thee hours work is unlikely to be able to ever give up work, buy a big yacht and go sailing!
 
I have a simple philosophy when it comes to buying parts etc for boats, the parts of which are always expensive, respect the sea, do the job properly the first time which in time may save your life in a difficult situation, you know the parts are going to be expensive when they fail so why own something which is expensive to repair if you cant afford to fix it ?? or moan about its cost even if you can afford it ??

We all look to getting something cheaper if we can, personally I would get a SS fabricator to knock one up, fit it and strap a massive girt anode to it to protect it, then with good regular maintenance as in remove it once in a while and clean it it should last for years, and will save you money and repair time in the long run.
 
I'm afraid an anode will do nothing for an exhaust manifold, no matter how big. Anodes protect two different metals that are immersed in water and connected together. Doesn't apply to a metal being intermittently splashed by water, as in an exhaust manifold.
 
Works for me .... been in the marine industry for 40yrs, commercially and leisure and seen some real dodgy things in my timemaintenance wise when it comes to saving money, my terminology sometimes can be misleading, a screw in anode such as a block or cooler anode will help to protect it but not totally, removal/cleaning of things like headers or elbow's occasionally is the prime job to do if you want them to last, SS exhaust elbow's generally fail at the weld due to poor ss mig welding or cheap SS that isnt really truely ss, a good quality grade (cant think off the top of my head just now of which grade cos my minds really elsewhere at the moment) properly tig welded should last donkeys years.
 
Sniper said:
To answer the OPs question, I bought an elbow from this supplier for my 1GM a few years ago. I can't vouch for any metallurgical issues, but it still looks like new, fitted perfectly and has given good service with no signs of any leakage anywhere. The cost was very reasonable and it arrived quickly.
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Thanks, Sniper. That's the reply I was hoping for!!

Alan.
 
Tim D said:
Works for me .... been in the marine industry for 40yrs, commercially and leisure and seen some real dodgy things in my timemaintenance wise when it comes to saving money, my terminology sometimes can be misleading, a screw in anode such as a block or cooler anode will help to protect it but not totally, removal/cleaning of things like headers or elbow's occasionally is the prime job to do if you want them to last, SS exhaust elbow's generally fail at the weld due to poor ss mig welding or cheap SS that isnt really truely ss, a good quality grade (cant think off the top of my head just now of which grade cos my minds really elsewhere at the moment) properly tig welded should last donkeys years.
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A block anode will do nothing for failure of a welded stainless manifold. You have already agreed that failure is usually because of hot salt water on imperfect welds, not because of galvanic action, so pointless attaching an anode.
 
Vonasi said:
Most people know a man who knows a man who does a bit of welding so my point is that with a little effort it is possible to make a good quality exhaust elbow out of easily worked materials that works and for not a lot of money.
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As I tried to point out earlier, there is a lot more to making an exhaust manifold than 'a bit of welding'. I recently had a small engineering shop in Wales make me a spacer for a thermostat housing, very similar to the flange for a manifold. It cost me £30, which I thought was a very reasonable price for the job. Add to that the bending of the tubing, both internal and external pieces, perforating the outer tube and welding the whole thing up, a figure of £100 does not seem out of order. Comparing UK prices with those of Turkey has no relevance at all. No doubt there are countries in the Far East where your £26 represents more than a week's wages for a skilled man.
 
Vonasi said:
Most people know a man who knows a man who does a bit of welding so my point is that with a little effort it is possible to make a good quality exhaust elbow out of easily worked materials that works and for not a lot of money.
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That is a very sweeping statement, that if true would mean that manufacturers would never make anything if everybody had a little man around the corner who could make it for next to nothing. Then we would not have an economy that allows some people to amass enough wealth to give up work, buy a boat and go off sailing.
 
Vonasi said:
And as I tried to point out earlier there is absolutely no need to bend tube to make an exhaust elbow.
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I suggest you advise Yanmar, Volvo, Bukh, Beta, Nanni and countless other marine engine manufacturers, who unfailingly put bends in theirs. Sounds like you could save them lots of money. Perhaps their monkeys have been trained to bend them.
 
Vonasi said:
And as I tried to point out earlier there is absolutely no need to bend tube to make an exhaust elbow.

A monkey with a hacksaw, electric drill and MIG welder could make one out of a few offcuts. It might not be as pretty as your bent tube master piece but it would mix exhaust gases with hot salt water and work.

Seems like I should become a fabricator in Wales if that is what they are charging for a simple spacer.
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Ok, try fitting a straight exhaust elbow to my Yanmar, it will go on easy. Then try putting the heat exchanger back on and you will find out why the elbow is bent.
 
vyv_cox said:
I take it you are speaking with little experience of metalworking! As a one-off job, just making the flange is probably an hour's work, including measurement, then the tubing has to be bent, using a machine that requires the correct dies, always assuming they have the right sized tubing. That needs to be drilled to take the hose nozzle, then the whole lot need to be welded. Compared with this the ones on Ebay for about £100 are probably a bargain. The majority of the cost is in the labour and setting up, with the material cost probably 10% of the total, so you might as well buy it in the correct grade.
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Second that-getting mandrel formed radius bends is quite easy and stainless welding is I find some of the easiest BUT making the flange can be slow work.
I would do it for me because I have plenty of spare time but as for "in the tea break"
 
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