Has Anyone Ever Used Intake Spacers????

[Vader85]

Hey,
I'm curious if any 2.2/2.5 Turbo(s) have used any intake spacers on their car?

http://www.nwpengineering.com/images...atched-NWP.jpg

http://www.nwpengineering.com/images...ers-CU-NWP.jpg

[cordes]

There was an active thread about this last week if I'm not mistaken. One of our members made a few for the two piece intake manifold and stated that he'll never do so again due to the difficulty (mainly messy nature) of machining phenolic.

[BadAssPerformance]

Never did a B2B but had one on the old 2.2L setup in the Z

[cordes]

Never did a B2B but had one on the old 2.2L setup in the Z

You didn't test it right anyway!

In all seriousness, did you make that yourself? If so what did you use to do it?

[GLHNSLHT2]

http://www.pnw-sdac.org/gallery/v/Me..._1384.jpg.html

As Cordes said, never again. You could pull into the garage after sitting in traffic in 100 degree heat, pop the hood and rest your arm right on the plenum.

[ShadowFromHell]

Looks interesting! Where do you get the material from?

[Vader85]

That one looks more plastic than phenolic.....The way I would install it is with 2 gaskets, instead if with RTV....But that looks sorta homemade....It's best to protect your lungs when machining or shaping this stuff since it's carcinogenic when fragmented... what did you mean by "B2B"????

---------- Post added at 07:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:49 PM ----------

I think I woke up this forum.....

[omni_840]

what did you mean by "B2B"????

Back to back

That's all I have to contribute, please continue

[shackwrrr]

Thought about delrin but its Max working temp is 185f, a little low. Delrin cutting boards at Sam's club are cheap.

[Vader85]

There are companys that sell this stuff....
http://www.sdplastics.com/phenolic.html

[zin]

The point of the spacer is to insulate the upper from the heat being conducted from the lower for the purpose of lowering intake temps. Lower temps mean higher density and that means more power for a given cubic foot of air.

This being said, phenolic has been the choice for many commercial applications, but you can just as easily use marine grade plywood! It may seem crude, but all it has to do is insulate the two pieces from each other(and seal). Any insulating material that can deal with typical under-hood temps will work. Heck, a stack of gaskets would do the trick, if you could keep them from leaking...

I'm curious as to the possibilities of adding a spacer between the head and the lower... If you can keep the radiated heat off the lower, it should run much cooler as well, the spacer between the upper and lower might become redundant, or the head/intake spacer might just make it that much more effective... Guess I need to bust out the wood working tools!

Mike

[tryingbe]

I have to wonder how many degree the spacer can help drop.

For example,

The highest temperature due to heat soak I have ever seen on my intake charge sensor is around 225F. That's with the battery temperature sensor was around 130F.

Once my car is moving, within minutes, the temperature quickly drops to 150F - 170F. That's being out here in Arizona summer, which is 110F-120F

[ShadowFromHell]

The point of the spacer is to insulate the upper from the heat being conducted from the lower for the purpose of lowering intake temps. Lower temps mean higher density and that means more power for a given cubic foot of air.

This being said, phenolic has been the choice for many commercial applications, but you can just as easily use marine grade plywood! It may seem crude, but all it has to do is insulate the two pieces from each other(and seal). Any insulating material that can deal with typical under-hood temps will work. Heck, a stack of gaskets would do the trick, if you could keep them from leaking...

I'm curious as to the possibilities of adding a spacer between the head and the lower... If you can keep the radiated heat off the lower, it should run much cooler as well, the spacer between the upper and lower might become redundant, or the head/intake spacer might just make it that much more effective... Guess I need to bust out the wood working tools!

Mike

Have you ever used plywood in a application like this? Spacers would be easy to make on my scroll saw.... What would you seal the wood with? What about oil affecting it? My interest is peaked!

[zin]

I've used them for carbs, not this specific application, but the principle is the same. I forget what was used to seal them, if we used anything at all... we might have just saturated it with something, I can't really recall.

The most important thing is to use high quality plywood, which is why I mention marine grade ply, it is pretty much impervious to most things as it comes as well as being made of high quality laminates bonded with much more durable "glue".

It is much more expensive, but lesser grades will not hold up or seal well. Standard gaskets with a thin layer of RTV (emphasis on thin), should be able to seal up any minor imperfections in the ply, with the RTV keeping things in place. It might be a good idea to use pins to locate everything to prevent over-hang that will kill air flow.

Mike

[turbovanman²]

I don't think it will do much on an 8 valve as the exhaust manifold is right below it, and of course, the one piece you can only space it off the head. I think there are better gains to insulating the bottom from the exhaust and turbo heat.

Also using a spacer on a 2 piece will affect the tuning,

[ShadowFromHell]

I'm actually thinking of trying this for my neon. One at the head and one between the intake halves.

[Vader85]

you can purchase phenolic sheet or stock now via the internet....

[ShadowFromHell]

GLHSLHT2, you have worked with this before, other then being messy is it easy to work with? Is it something that can be cut with a scroll saw and drilled by hand?

[ShadowFromHell]

Did some research on my own, looks like I can do this on my scroll saw pretty easy. Also looks like it might work good for RC car projects. Is this the right stuff? What about thickness?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Grade-LE-Phe...item20c58626df

[BadAssPerformance]

You didn't test it right anyway!

In all seriousness, did you make that yourself? If so what did you use to do it?

LOL...

Got it from Tim Kish with the 2-pc intake that he had on his CSX years ago that ended up on the Z