Do phenolic spacers work???

[Blaster]

I just finished with my dyno guy and he recommended a phenolic spacer. There's no way I'll get a 1" under my hood (it already touches the matterial under the hood) but I was thinking a 3/8" might work. I don't want to buy a cowl hood if possible because then I would just want a 351 (hehehehe). Do these things work???? I'm getting so close to the 12's now I need real results to get me there. I was also told to get an electric fan, but I'm scared of overheating. What do you guys think?? My car is a daily driver and will attack corvettes and LS-1's without being provoked.

[Capri306]

If it's EFI, the only thing a spacer will do is lengthen the runners, giving you more low end torque (overall). Not exactly the thing for more top end, so you may be better off with another intake for best results. Was the dyno operator not impressed with the low end of the car or what? Scan & post some torque curves for us, please....and also a list of modifications. I'm shooting in the dark without more info.

If it's a carbureted application, I really don't know.

[crazypete]

For a carb'ed application, they most definitely do work. They keep the carb from cooking off and make a small change in low end torque. For a EFI, they will keep the intake a little bit cooler and thats about all the good they will do for a long runner EFI intake. You should also bypass the intake EGR spacer coolant line if you're gonna bother to do this. No sense insulating the intake below if your heating it at the top. The slightly lower intake temp will make slightly cooler and slightly denser air enter the motor. Worth a hp or two. I'd do it if you can make one fit.

I ripped out that insulatiing pad the first thing when I got the car. Rip it out and go phelonic. Dont get a cowl hood, every idiot in a jetta will try and race you and every cop will be drooling to give you a ticket.

[LX5liter]

I don't know what kind of intake you have, but I know my Typhoon rubs a bit on the hood even without the insulation on. I have a nice little polished spot on one corner . I'm fighting to keep the stock hood as long as possible to keep the "sleeper" look. I don't think the spacer will help thet much.

[crazypete]

Back in my EFI days, I had a cobra upper,lower and a standard thickness round hole style phenolic spacer and I had no interference problems even with the hood pad. Stock hood and all with no "sanded spot". I wonder why some people have problems and some dont. Maybe my motor mounts had conveniently collapsed and I didnt know it =P

[Dark_5.0]

All a "spacer does is increase runner length. But a "Phenolic spacer" Stops the transfer of heat from the lower to upper intake.

[lxfiveoh]

Originally posted by crazypete
You should also bypass the intake EGR spacer coolant line if you're gonna bother to do this. No sense insulating the intake below if your heating it at the top.

The way I understand it, the coolant lines going through the EGR spacer are there to remove heat from the super hot exhaust gasses...ie, to cool, not to heat...

[jimberg]

You can get a phenolic spacer that blocks the exhaust gas passage. This will allow you to remove the coolant lines from the EGR spacer. Doing this will actually make your upper intake pretty cool. When I had a 1" spacer, I could touch the upper intake after running the engine for a while and it felt like my car was parked.

Seeing the dyno graph would definitely be a big help for people offering advice.

[Blaster]

My dyno sheet was 251hp at 5700rpm and 270.5 ft/lbs at 4200, this is at 3500 ft above sea level and the air was kind of crappy. For reference I watched 2 stockish LS-1 vettes going at it that night at the strip and they were running 14.1 and 13.9 (I run mid to lower 13's ) . My car is a 91 loaded GT 5-speed without A/C. I have performer #6037 heads, e-cam, typhoon intake, 70mm t-body, ported stock mass air, stock injectors, 1 5/8" shorty headers, x-pipe, no cats, 40 series flowmasters, and 3.55's. Am I making good power factoring in my altitude?? (3500 or higher with bad air), the weight of the car was input at 3300lbs for the dyno but true weight with driver is about 3500lbs.

[superduty]

i gained 12 horse on the motor dyno with a 4 hole super sucker. there have been gains higherm dominator car guys have gained as much as 47 horse, there is an article on their page.
http://www.cfm-tech.com/HVHdominator...dynotest-1.htm
http://www.cfm-tech.com/catalog/_ss4...rbs_769168.htm
thats the one i have, every combo is different so every one gains diffrent #'s

http://www.cfm-tech.com/catalog/_ss4...rbs_769168.htm
there it is agin, i tried and it didnt come up when i hit the link. its a 4 hole 1 inch aluminum spacer. they also work with NX express and make their nitrous plates

[tmoss]

Originally posted by lxfiveoh
The way I understand it, the coolant lines going through the EGR spacer are there to remove heat from the super hot exhaust gasses...ie, to cool, not to heat...

True that, but it still heats the upper to whatever temp the engine coolant is. Aluminum is a VERY efficient conductor of heat.

[lxfiveoh]

Originally posted by tmoss
True that, but it still heats the upper to whatever temp the engine coolant is. Aluminum is a VERY efficient conductor of heat.

Ahhh....but which is hotter, engine coolant or exhaust gasses?

[crazypete]

In all honesty, you really DONT want to be pumping exhaust gasses into your intake. The best thing to do is to plug a hose into the EGR valve's location and dump the egr gasses somewhere else (Like a hose that runs behind the car). This lowers your emissions and doesnt make your intake look gooey black after a while. Just my thoughts. Same for pcv.

[lxfiveoh]

This is probably true for all out performance, but for all around driveability, the EEC is depending on the EGR recirculation for its various calculations. Many a EGR bypassers have complained of part-throttle driveability issues after bypassing that function.

[jimberg]

A problem could occur if you still have the vacuum line hooked to the EGR valve causing it to open and close. The EGR Valve Position (EVP) sensor will tell the computer that it's opening and the computer will think that exhaust gases are being added to the intake charge and adjust accordingly. Disconnecting the vacuum hose will keep that from happening. You'll still get a code for the EGR valve not opening, but it won't turn your check engine light on, although it may cause it to flash periodically. You shouldn't, however, disconnect the EVP sensor. Doing that will cause it to be stuck in open loop.

[Blaster]

Ok, so now that we have the whole EGR thing analyzed (or maybe a discussion on Global warming might be more useful) and a guarantee that adding a carb spacer to my FUEL INJECTED car will add at least 1000HP, I was wondering if anyone really does know if my cars numbers are where they should be, really though I guess it makes no difference because my EGR coolant lines are hooked up which means (or does it??) that I am adding????or gaining??? at least 200 horsepower right

[Ackbar00]

I am a big beliver in the spacer. Made my car more consistantly faster at the track. Heat in the intake is good for one thing, emissions. No, you would not see any major gains by itself, but hell, I even run one on my Tauraus!!