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Table of Contents
Care Of Your
Bassett Headers
How Your Bassett Headers Work
Jet & V-Drive Water
Injected Headers
Jet Water Injected Installation
How To Detect A Leanness Problem
Why
Are My Headers Cracked Around The Weep Holes And The Pipes Distorted
Is It Possible
For Water To Get Into My Motor From The Exhaust?
My
Running Temperature Is Good, But My Engine Overheats At Idle
My Exhaust Keeps
Blowing Gaskets, Even The Expensive Gaskets
My Headers Are
Rusted In Between The Pipes And On The Back Side
V-Drive Application Diagram
Jet-Drive Application Diagram
Care
Of Your Bassett Headers
1. The richer the motor, the longer the headers
will last.
2. Water should be entering the headers at 1500-2000 RPM, no less.
3. Water entering later than 2000 RPM will cause bluing and discoloring.
4. Spray WD-40 or some related oil in between pipes and
back side of your
headers. This will help prevent rust. Eventhough nickel
gets between the
pipes, the chrome does not and thus the rust will occur if
the headers are
not taken care of properly.
5. To get rid of rust, use fine steel wool. Then spray WD-40 again.
6. After loading the boat on the trailer, run the motor for 30 to 60 seconds
to dry the inside of the headers. This will also help to
keep your headers
from rusting.
7. Spray WD-40 into weep holes after every
use.
8. These are suggestions only and are not
guaranteed to work, but based
on our experience, they have helped.
How
Your Bassett Headers Work
Your headers should be dry and hot at idle. The water is going out by means of an
overboard by-pass line. The water is injected at approximately 1500 RPM when you are on
the throttle. When you back off of the throttle, the stainless steel automatic control
valve should close and the headers should go dry. When you get back on the throttle, water
should automatically be injected again. If it does not work in this manner, then something
is hooked up incorrectly or your valve is plugged.
Jet & V-Drive Water Injected Headers
1. Water injected headers are dry and hot at idle. They are also hot the
first 6" out from the head to the water inlet fitting and the
chrome will
blue to this point.
2. Never let a passenger or skier climb in or around the headers. They
can get badly burnt.
3. If your water injected system is not working properly, stop and fix it.
If you run with the system not working properly, it can cause hydraulic
of the engine.
4. If your lines or valves are plugged, remove and blow out the lines.
Make sure that the small holes on the bottom of each pipe are not
plugged. Clean valve and make sure that it is assembled exactly the
way it came apart. The valve is made of the finest 316 stainless steel.
It is the most corrosive resistant of the stainless steels on the
market.
Periodically, spray inside of the valve with WD-40.
5. Clean the headers after running and then let them run for about 60
seconds to let them dry out. To keep them from rusting. Spray the
headers with WD-40 on the flanges and where the primary pipes join
the collectors.
6. After running the boat, always flush your engine and headers with
fresh water. Flushing is a two man job. Turn on the water from the
hose only after the engine is started and the RPM is held over 2000.
Turn the water off before you drop the RPM and turn off the engine.
You may have to close the by-pass gate valve by hand in order to make
the water go through the headers. Make sure that the by-pass valve is
returned to the original setting.
7. Running headers dry for a long period of time will blue the headers to
the ends. The chrome plating on the water injected headers is the
finest
of quality triple chrome plating.
Jet
Water Injected Installation
1. Install stainless steel lines to headers.
2. Install headers on engine.
3. Make sure there is no thermostat in the housing or any other type of
water temperature control.
4. Install "T" stainless steel control valve in one line of the two lines
on the thermostat housing. Connect the "T" end to header.
Lines
to headers should be approximately 2 feet long.
5. The other line from the thermostat housing is your by-pass line.
Run it overboard with a 1/2" brass plumbing type gate valve.
6. The gate valve is necessary so that you can regulate the amount
of water you discharge. It also is to regulate what RPM your water
is injected into the headers. Example: gate valve is wide open and
water comes in at 3000 RPM. To make the water come in at 1500
to 2000, close gate valve approximately 1/3.
How
To Detect A Leanness Problem
The inside of the primary pipes should be dark brown to sooty black. If the insides
are light brown to white, you are running too lean. Check inside the headers to check the
color. Do not check the spark plugs for color variation, because the problem is in the
headers, not on the spark plugs. The area close to the heads on the pipes should be blue.
Greenness means that you are running your engine lean and could warp the pipes. Remember,
there should be no whiteness at all. There is no warranty on leanness related conditions.
Why
Are Headers Cracked Around Weep Holes and Pipes Distorted?
Most likely, the headers have experienced a leanness condition at one or more times.
Leanness means that there was not enough gas mixing with the amount of air coming through
the carbs. In order to solve this, you need to fatten the carbs primary and secondary.
Make sure that the timing is advanced. To detect leanness, the spark plugs would be light
brown to white, the inside of the header at ports would be white, you are constantly
blowing gaskets, there is a green or gray color in between the heads and water injection,
and bluing farther than the water injection. More or less water is not going to fix a
leanness problem.
Is It Possible For
Water To Get Into My Motor From The Exhaust?
Yes. If you have an overlapping cam, the cam will actually pull water into the cylinders.
In most cases, the water will pass by the pistons or valves and end up in the oil pan. So,
it is important that you check the water system each time you start the motor. Tons of
water should not be coming out of the weep holes at idle. The bigger the overlap of the
cam, the later you want the water to inject. However, the bigger the cam, the later the
water injects, the bluer the headers.
My Running Temperature Is Good, But My Engine Overheats At Idle
You need to set the temperature at idle. After that the running temperature is beyond your
control. If you would rather have good engine temperature, you need to purchase a
thermostat kit. Remember that changing the engine temperature with the gate valves will
change when the water injects to the headers.
My Exhaust Keeps Blowing Gaskets, Even The Expensive Gaskets
Make sure that the motor is not running lean. Check the carbs at the primaries and
secondaries. Bolts may be vibrating loose. Bassett offers tall lock washers to help
prevent this. Putting a thin coat of RTV on both sides of the gasket will help. After
installing header, tighten to where the RTV is just oozing out, then wait 12 hours and
then torque down. Usual amount is 25 pounds. Now you have a silicone rubber gasket.
My Headers Are Rusted In Between The Pipes And On The Back
Side
The headers are steel and they will rust if you do not put oil on the headers while in
storage. Some of the conditions that contribute to rust and corrosion are humidity,
condensation, seats will wet, water in bilge, water left in water injection lines, and
water left in top of t-valve. In addition, if the battery is leaking, the acid vapors will
rust the headers. Thus, it is very important that you put a good oil such as WD-40 or LP-1
all over the headers, in the collector, and in the weep holes. Remember to wipe all of the
oil off with windex and paper towels before starting the motor or you will yellow the
headers.
V-Drive
T-Valve
Gate-Valve
Jet Drive
T-Valve
Gate-Valve
Bassett Performance, Inc.
1380 N. McCan Street, Anaheim, California 92806
Order Line: (800)
345-5824
Tech Line:
(714) 630-7999
Fax Line:
(714) 630-3121
Email: mail@bassettracing.com
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