I've been having issues with the fuel boiling out of my carb bowls and am thinking about purchasing a 1/2 inch phenolic spacer. It's my understanding that it minimises the heat transfer between the intake and carb. Does anyone else have one? Does it work? How will it effect performance?
I fabricated a 4 hole spacer from some scrap wood (used an aluminum flat from a heat diffuser as a template). It definitely cured my fuel boiling problems but otherwise made no difference in ET, mph, or seat of the pants feel. I get a lot of comments on it (at the track) because nobody seems to think that wood will work for a spacer, even though I've seen them in Jegs and Summit catalogs.
Yes, phenolic spacers work. Let me guess you are running a Weiand Stealth manifold?
If so they are great manifolds they just transfer heat to the carb. I have fixed several cars by adding a phenolic spacer, that were running Stealth intakes.
In any case if your carb is getting hot enough to perculate I would add the spacer.
If the engine thinks it's under carbed, an open spacer will make the carb look a little larger. If it's a dual plane intake with a full divider, the 4 hole is better, as an open spacer will screw with the basic design parameters of the intake. 4 holers tend to help the carb signal, so if it's a bit overcarbed, a 1" or 2" spacer can help the low end. BUT - it's just like timing. This engine will like X and the almost same engine over there will like Y. You just have to try things and look at the ET slips or dyno printout.
86 Stang GT,
You pretty much nailed it. It really depends on the engine. Every combo seems to want something different. A carb spacer typically will not make a huge difference in performance, they can be used as a "tuning" aid to help adjust your powerband up or down slightly. If it make a huge difference you probably have the wrong intake or carb for your engine.
batman09,
The 1" 4 -hole spacer seems to work well with the Stealths. The main reason to run the phenolic spacer with a Stealth is to keep the heat out of the carb. It will dramatically help with hot starts.
Royce
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