Stainless lined risers

"A local mechanic told me the

"A local mechanic told me the OEM risers on my father's 1998 5.7L EFI Mercruiser are stainless lined? Any truth to this?

He has 400 hours on them and I keep urging him to replace! Far too many hours and years IMO.

I am a Volvo guy, so I do not know much about Merc. products. Thanks."

"Couple issues here... first,

"Couple issues here... first, for that model the risers are SS. (Not sure if the whole thing is SS of if they are clad with SS... couldn't tell from the parts look-up. (BTW, those risers are no longer available from merc.)
Second, I have to applaud the local mechanic for not fleecing your dad with an unecessary and costly repair. He's a keeper.
Third, why are you dead set on replacing them on run-time alone?
I use my '97 5.7L in nothing but salt water, probably have double the run time... still have the orginal risers... still seem to work just fine. Admittedly, it's been 2 years since I've taken them off and looked inside, so I'm probably due for at least that. But I'm not ready to replace them "just 'cause"."

"In my experience, pure cast i

"In my experience, pure cast iron risers do not hold up for ten years in salt water use. I have seen them fail and the engine pulls water into the cylinders creating costly damage.

Aftermarket GLM risers are $99, well worth the peace of mind, IMO. However, if the Merc. OEM risers are lined with SS then this is a different story. Perhaps I will pull them and have them dipped.

Does anyone know if aftermarket companies make SS lined risers for this Merc. application? Thanks."

"No, but I have one of the SS

"No, but I have one of the SS models left if anyone is interested."