UPDATE w/ Perkins 6.354 manifold (nat)
I wish I had better news, but unfortunately I'm back to square one with the realization that locating a magical unicorn is perhaps a bit easier than a reasonably priced manifold.
As of late I've yet to find a standard natural manifold so I took the gamble with the turbo design. Yeah, we all know the one. At first glance everything looked reasonable and spacing was exact. I drove down to Florida, met with the seller (An old farmer named Daniel with a bad leg, 15 wild dogs and the tongue of a junk-yard bastard), loaded up the part, Spent the night on the boat and with the rising sun, got to work. UGH!!!! Well guess what?!? On the right side and only on the right side, the two diagonal bolt holes are reversed. Long sigh.... Burned money. When I explained to the seller the issue he barked back, telling me to beat it and that he wouldn't entertain any return on investment. I didn't argue and just silently passed judgment.
The left side was exact, center contained 3 bolt holes (I only required 2), but that wasn't an issue, and the right side had two diagonal bolt holes, but they're reversed. Dead in the water. The search shall continue.
So, here's the deal. Repower (Motor only has 1400 hours), or pay $4400.00 for the package from TAD. Wow!!!!! Now, yes, there is another one in Alabama, but they're also around $2800.00. It's just a darn manifold!!!!
But its come to my attention that there may be a third option that will help me get this boat out from port. Apparently perkins blocks are ford blocks and the ford Lehman manifold will in fact mate. Now granted, there will need to be a couple modifications, but it's my understanding, from others that have contended with the same issue and stated that they've had it done before, that the Lehman parts are readily available and will work. Has anyone else ventured into this same idea?
Thanks guys.