Intake spacer worth the money?

[N A]

Is anyone using one of these 1/2-inch or 3/8-inch phenolic intake spacers on their cars? Did you pick up any power? Does the upper intake stay any cooler? $50 seems like a lot of money for something that doesn't work.

[Archangel]

From what I know those spacers are really helpful when doing the HO convertsion, without one there's a decent chance that the HO upper intake will hit the stock fuel rail.

[N A]

So the people that have completed the HO conversion have bolted one on between their lower and upper? I thought the HO upper was the same as the non-HO upper except for the larger inlet?

[Archangel]

Probably not all of them, but if I recall correctly the transition from the HO intake's neck to the vertical runners hangs a little lower than the stock one, you can try bolting it in and hope the fuel rail won't break.

[gadget73]

The HO upper is *slightly* larger at the intake throat, and it interferes a bit with the fuel rail. I have one on my car for this reason. It probably won't do a whole lot but it won't hurt either. Make sure you get one with a brass sleeve in the center for the EGR port is. I got one without it, and the spacer has cracked in the middle from the heat. Also make sure you pay close attention to the bolts that come with it. The ones that came with mine weren't well cut, and the threads actually stripped my lower intake. If I pull it apart again, I don't think it will go back together.

If you're going to spend money on "cheap" stuff, do some exhaust work. It will do a lot more for you than this intake spacer will.

[Mercracer]

Re: Intake spacer worth the money?

Is anyone using one of these 1/2-inch or 3/8-inch phenolic intake spacers on their cars? Did you pick up any power? Does the upper intake stay any cooler? $50 seems like a lot of money for something that doesn't work.

I use one on my Mustang. It makes a HUGE difference when cooling down the upper between rounds.

[89LincolnTWNcar]

i'm using one for my HO conversion. Got a Moroso piece for $25 shipped off of ebay.

[Fairmont Kevin]

I've got the Trick Flow spacer from Summit. No brass sleeve that I remember; AFAIK it hasn't cracked in 3 years and the bolts work fine. Probably cost $50. I've seen dyno tests that say they don't do anything. To clear the fuel rail you can also grind the area of the intake that interferes.

[Blaze86Vic]

Those spacers do nothing for the intake air flow. Nothing at all. What they do is act as a heat barrier between the upper and lower plenum. Keeping the air cooler results in more power. So power is not gained, it's just not lost with heat as much.

[p71towny]

It doesn't help velocity?? Carb spacers work I know :evil:

[mrltd]

the only real difference mine made was at the track. Really helped out when icing the intake down. What got me even more was taking the wet towel that I had soaking up the melting ice and wrapping my CAI pipe. I got at least 2 tenths whenever I did that.