PP Renesis exhaust...

[sen2two]

(for those that dont know, Renesis housings have water jacket grooves in the housings like 85 and older motors)

Its been quite hard to find a decent pair of gsl-se housings. and the prices on them are only going up. Even if your willing to pay 400 bucks for a used set of SE housings, whats the chance you'll find another quality set if you scar one...? So i been looking really close at my renesis housings and i think it is very possible to put a PP exhaust on them. I have everything figured out except for one thing... How to keep the water out. I dont think JB weld or Devcon would handle the heat down there. And i dont think a sleeve would make a water tight seal even with a machined press fit. any ideas on this?

the only idea i had was to make a sleeve from stainless and weld it to the chrome lining. This would make it so i would not have to puddy the water jacket area. but i am unsure if this would cause a problem with the heat from the exhaust.

Renesis housings can be had for much less then SE housings, and with much less miles. The chroming process is far more superior also. This could be a great alternative to using SE housings and machining water jacket grooves in 86+ housings.

any thoughts or ideas would be helpful here.

[vex]

The big things you'll need to contend with is thermal expansion and securing a way to ensure that the chrome lining won't flake when you do it.

You're best bet is once you have an insert in you weld it. Take care not to damage the surface or anything, but you will see a fairly large increase in coolant temp if you do.

[sen2two]

I got the idea of welding the lining from a similar project done by someone else. I think it was Mazdtatrix, im not really sure. They did a PP on the intake of a set of Renesis housings. And they did exactly this. They welded SS tubes to the chrome lining.

But this was in the much cooler intake side of the housing. Im unsure if its possible with the heat of the exhaust.

But if theres a better way without welding it in, im open to ideas...???

[RotaryProphet]

I might try a reasonably large stainless tube welded to the chrome, and then use a cast iron insert which slides inside the stainless tube, and is fixed in place somehow, sort of like the regular 13b insert.

[sen2two]

The stock inserts are inconel, not cast iron.

also, If i do go the route of welding the sleeve to the chrome plating, what should i do about the other side? nothing to weld it too....?

Im begining to think this is not going to work.

[NoDOHC]

If you machined the hole for the sleeve so that it was an interference fit (on the outside) you should be OK for a seal. A lot of things are press fit and hold coolant just fine (like the water pump shaft and bearing, for instance).

I don't know though, you might end up with more in machining than you have in SE housings.

[sen2two]

Im in school at the moment for machining. So the cost of maching will be zero. And im a certified welder, so thats free also.

The reason im worried that a press fit will leak is because the stainless steel insert, and the aluminum housing will expand at different rates due to thermal expansion. Possibly making the water tight press fit, not so water tight. Thats why i would want to weld it. but that leaves the other side to rely on the press fit. I have heard of people machining aluminum sleeves to replace the stock sleeves on older 13b housings. But im unsure if this is ture and if it would work. If I could use aluminum, i could possibly make a sleeve that would make a water tight seal that would hold it...