4.6L Intake spacer!!!!

[skz4u]

I just wanted to inform everyone of a cheap method to gaining some upper RPM HP. I got a 7/8 thick piece of aluminum from a local machine shop in my area (free of charge) from their scrap bin. I made a spacer that fits between your upper intake manifold and lower intake manifold. It took two weeks to make with the tools that I had (metal hole saw kit, drill press, & dremel) You can use your lower intake gasket as a template. From my results, I have a 4.6L 2 valve, look at my website for all of my mods: http://96gt.50megs.com/index.html
I found that by adding the spacer increased my usable RPM, and provided a crisper throttle response. My car used to fall off at around 4700RPM. Now I can take it to about 5200 RPM before shifting. Though I don’t have any Dyno info, the car really seems to pick after 3000RPM. You can really notice a difference. It cost me $4.36 total for this mod, the $4 was for 5 longer manifold bolts at AutoZone, and 2 weeks of my time. I also fully ported the upper intake, bringing it to an almost mirror finish. Since only air flows through the upper intake, and not fuel, you don’t have to have the rough finish to promote better air/fuel atomization as in wet intakes. If you want some pics, and a detailed report on how I did this mod, E-mail me at skz4u@yahoo.com.

[Dark_5.0]

When I went to your site all I got was irritated.

SVT emblems and stickers on a non SVT stang ....

BTW: An intake spacer lowers your RPM range it doesnt raise it.

Later,

[skz4u]

Ya know Dark 50, it's cool that you may not like my car, to each his own. There's something special about everyone's Mustang whether other people like it or not. But please for the sake of other readers, don't post information if you don't know what your talking about. Your obviously not an avid engine builder or you would know from track times, dyno numbers, and experiance, that intake spacer's raise the effective RPM range of an engine. Thank you for your input though.

[jj_jonathon]

do you even have any svt parts on the car though?

[The Deuce]

Lets take it to the dyno boys.

An intake spacer will increase the velocity of air into the lower.

A full port on the upper while you were putting the spacer on introduced a second variable to the equation. Take the spacer back out, run it on a dyno. Replace, repeat. Post numbers, and then we can start trash talking.

BTW, SVT badges on a non-svt car really annoy people who ponied up for the extra goodies. Heck, they annoy me, and I only want an SVT car.

[Shaggy]

Sounds like alot of work to save a few dollars and not get it phenolic... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=2401242850 He always has at least 2 auctions going for these...

[Dark_5.0]

Originally posted by skz4u
Ya know Dark 50, it's cool that you may not like my car, to each his own. There's something special about everyone's Mustang whether other people like it or not. But please for the sake of other readers, don't post information if you don't know what your talking about. Your obviously not an avid engine builder or you would know from track times, dyno numbers, and experiance, that intake spacer's raise the effective RPM range of an engine. Thank you for your input though.

You seem to be getting carburated and EFI engines confused. Why do you think the truck EFI intake manifolds are taller. (Its so they make peak power sooner).

For instance Phuck stick why do you think the box style EFI intakes make great upper RPM power. Its because of the short runners.

Later,

[stangt00]

So basically what your saying Dark is that an intake spacer will not add any horsepower, but bring your peak horsepower to a lower RPM range? Or will it maybe add a little at the same time? Reason I am asking is because I am looking into that Phenolic intake spacer. Dont want to waste money ya know.

[skz4u]

Looks like Dark 50 has been reading his magazines again. All right 50, I’ll agree with you, Long runners create better low RPM power, & Short runners help the upper RPMs, but runner length has absolutely nothing to do with plenum volume! Geez where did you come from. Even if you read a magazine once in a while, you would learn that the plenum volume is a very importing tuning aid. As high velocity gasses flow through the throttle body, the plenum give the gasses a chance to slow down, as the velocity is reduced the pressure rises. Higher pressure means that the air will be more dense, and of course that means more power. As rpm goes up you need a larger plenum. Now runner length effects the RPM range at which your engine creates power. Take a look at the Cobra, the Cobra has tuned equal lenght runners that provide good power gains at the higher RPM ranges without reducing power at the lower end. Ok enough, just open your latest copy of your summit racing magazine, you do get one don’t you, there free. Anyway, look at page 35 and holy crap! There are 1” thick Aluminum Spacers for EFI cars claiming to add 20 HP, increasing fuel atomization, and increasing combustion! They even have spacers from TrickFlow (same page) claiming better power and throttle response, and improved gas mileage! 50 I don’t mean to pick on you, but if you look at those pages, you will notice that there isn’t one damn spacer for the Mustang Enthusiast. That pisses me off! So what I basically did was make my own, posted my results of what effects it had on my car hoping to help everyone out. That is what this board is for isn’t it? To learn from one another. Anyway, I just happened to be one of those people that wanted to try something new and instead of paying $80-$100 for a part, I thought I could save some money and pick up a few horses here or there and make one myself. It does work, and it’s the best $4 I’ve invested in my car yet! I challenge you to try it for yourself. I honestly don’t think you’ll disappointed. Anyway I gotta go now, 50 I hope that this post helps out. The one thing I hate to do is come in here and see people cutting each other down for their own opinions. I would never post an idea or thought if I didn’t know what I was talking about.

[Blk03Cobra]

Hey Bro,

Don’t fret on what everyone says on these forums. I have built a few motors also in my time and you obviously know what your talking about from my experiences. I think that it’s a good thing to see people taking the time to experiment with stuff like that. That’s how you learn to build HP, from trial and error. I would like to see some dyno numbers though sometime to see just how much you gained. Hell, even if you only got 5-10HP, $4 and some personal time is a minimal price to pay for 5-10HP. I too have seen those spacers priced way up there and they are easy to make. Keep up the good work dude!
P.S. Send me a copy of that report and the pics, a bud of mine has a 97 4.6L and he said that he’d be interested in making that spacer too. We’ll let ya know how it turned out. And even though your car isn’t a REAL SVT, looks good bro!!

[bigbandjohn]

Any chance you could get access to a dyno? I would be interested in seeing how your changes affects the power curve and where the power increase is seen the most. Of course, that means doing a before and after by removing/reinstalling the spacer if that's not too difficult.

Cheers!

[Dark_5.0]

skz4u- I dont read magazines. I have had a phenolic intake spacer on my 5.0 for quite some time.

I had to get one so my upper intake manifold would clear my valve covers. When I installed my 1 inch phenolic intake spacer my shift points moved down from 5400 RPM's to 5200 RPM's cause I was making my peak horsepower sooner.

The spacers you mentiion are phenolic spacers which basicly means that the material that they are made of doesnt transfer heat thus keeping your upper intake maniflod cooler thus making more HP.

Your intake spacer is made of aluminum which will transfer heat like crazy from your lower to upper manifold. Which means the only benifit you will recieve is the elongating of your runners which will make you able to achieve peak HP sooner.

If I added up all the HP my parts were "supposed" to add I would have over 600HP.

The only time I open Summit is to buy parts not to dream about adding 20 HP with a spacer.

Your engine engine is not going to benifit from bolt ons nearly as much as a cobra considering a cobra makes 100 more HP than you do.

Hey BTW: I have an extra cobra emblem and an extra set of SVT floormats if you want them. If you are going to be a poser you might as well go all the way with it.

Better watch out keep arguing with me and you might learn something

[skz4u]

Hey 50. You mentioned some good points in your last post, so I had to reply. I see now why your effective RPM range dropped, while mine was raised. With your 5.0 phenolic spacer, it fits in between the intake manifold and the head to insulate the intake manifold from the heat produced at the head. At the same time, adding this spacer increased the length of your runners. That’s why your effective RPM range was lowered. In my case I have a different set up than you. I have a single plane plastic manifold, and the upper intake sits on top of that, much like where a carburetor would. So while your spacer was increasing runner length by 1”, I’m increasing my plenum volume by 7/8” or say 1” for example. I’m not affecting my runner length since the runners draw from the plenum. And I totally agree with you as far as the “advertised claims” go for parts. Some of them just make me laugh. I will tell you though, that I did feel a difference in the seat of the pants dyno. I will promise you and some others that have E-mailed me, that this spring I will get some dyno #’s with and without the spacer and I will let you know the out come good or bad. That way everyone will benefit from my experiment. As far as those floor mats go, let me know how much! Don’t need the Cobra emblem though.

[Dark_5.0]

skz4u- I dont really know you but I have gained a ton of respect for you because of this thread.

You argue with maturity and I am glad that people like you take the time to try and be creative with there cars.

I hope you have good luck with your spacer.

Later,

[FordFan02GT]

There is three types of people when it comes to building cars.

You have the ones with large wallets who can take a car off the lot, down to the local performance shop, make his visa wheeze and drive off with a bad *** ride.

Then theres the people who have a little extra, will buy the parts one at a time, get dirty and do the labor themselves.

Then theres people like Skz, who get down and dirty and try stuff without putting out all the money. Back in the days thats how i was, my first car mod was pulling out the cat and spending half a day breaking up the honey comb to open it up. I always have and always will have utmost respect for anyone like you Skz, keep up the good work and dont worry about what the nay sayers have to say. That goes for the SVT emblems as well, people getting mad because you didnt shell out the extra cash for a Cobra is weak, but life goes on. Your ride looks pretty good.

BTW my own research shows that a spacer is good, and aluminum, while it transfers heat it also cools alot quicker then steel. Just my 2 cents worth.

[skz4u]

Dark 5.0 Let me tell you that I learned from you also. I actually had a good time conversing with you and you have earned my respect also. If you ever need anything, you let me know. I just want to learn ways to extract every ounce of power from my little 281 that I possibly can. And thanx to fordfan02GT also. I am one of those laborous mechanics (for 12yrs now)who is always learning from trial and error. You always gotta try something at least once in life to see if it creates more power, for the power thirsty. And let me tell you, I'm thirsty. You guys take care and good luck in sculpting your cars into what you want them to be!!

[stangt00]

This whole thread brings a tear to my eye. So much love and hate being thrown around yet, in the end, it's all good. BTW, Good Job SKZ. Nice creativity. I am a cheap bastard too, but at the same time I am lazy, so I'm gonna spend the $ on the phenolic spacer. But you did bring up a good thread. Keep it up.

[Mustang92]

All I can say is the best way to get your point across is to prove it with numbers. I've tried plenty of parts that felt great or in theory should make more power but in the end didn't do a thing for my car. I've been testing 4.6 parts on my car for the past three years and have found lots of useless stuff out there. Now for me the spacer didn't work the car gained a consistent .02-.03 across the board with my ET's and MPH dropped off a couple tenths. This was of course tested at the track before and after on the same day. Doesn't mean that is the case for everyone but being a frequent bracket racer I know my car very well and it didn't take to the spacer.

Something also to watch out for is comparing peak to peak power gains. Just pointing out peak gains isn't always going to show the picture of improvement. My car prior to bullitt intake made 253RWHP, 292RWTQ and ran a best of 12.89 @ 103. I added a bullitt intake and the car picked up 2 MPH and dropped 2 tenths. Next I put in longtubes and a K-member (dropped 50lbs from the car) and picked up another 2 MPH (approximately .5 -.7 from weight reduction) mostly from the longtubes. Now with the car running 12.5 @ 107 you would think powerwise it would show in the peak numbers but it didn't.

Last month I dynoed the car and my new numbers were 258RWHP and 289RWTQ, which shows only a 5RWHP gain and 3RWTQ loss. Based on that alone I should be going no faster. But when you look at the power gains below the peak and above the peak you see where the power is. At 6K RPM the car picked up 25RWHP and had gains of up to 10RWHP from 2500-4500 RPM. My car makes between 250-258RWHP from 4500 to 6000 just barely dropping off at the end. A broad power band is where it's at and is just one example of peak numbers not telling the whole story.

Okay enough of my babbling...

Bill

[stangt00]

I know exactly what your trying to say. before my current tuning, I noticed on my previous dyno run sheet that my torque stayed higher longer, and my peak hp was spread over a longer rpm range and not just within a hundred rpm, but over 2-250 rpms, it remained real close to the peak.