[sooper]

I've been all over the place showing off how this stroker of mine runs. But today was one of those days that the thermometer at the house was flirting with 100F. I took it out and for the first ten minutes its not great but its OK cause the only thing plaguing it is the sloppy air, but then the 160 degree thermostat lets things get up to 180. Well theres where the fun stops. Sloppy air plus hot engine. Perf goes out the window. My builder is supposed to be getting me a better thermo from hypertech I think he said. Although I got the airgap manifold I wonder if a carb spacer with some heat sink qualities would help? cause that carb got frikin warm. I'm thinking phenolic resin but I heard on hear someone got good results even with plywood. Not that I would run it much in 100 degrees cause I got cars with A/C for that but its nice to know it could get out of its own road on a 100 degree day if it had to

[T-bucket23]

180 is actually better for your engine than 160

[sooper]

Originally Posted by T-bucket23

180 is actually better for your engine than 160

OOOOKAY. Then why is it this engine and the one that came in the car run great 170 or under and like dog dung at 180?

[crystalbluevib]

aluminum spacer would be the best to use.

[ericnova72]

Originally Posted by sooper

OOOOKAY. Then why is it this engine and the one that came in the car run great 170 or under and like dog dung at 180?

I have seem bore wear charts where temps under 180° increase wear because the oil isn't warm enough to do its job, and the chart showed bore wear skyrockets below 160°.

You engine will still run like a raped ape at 210°+.... IF you keep the air inlet temp down. Breathing hot underhood air will really kill power and is more noticable on hot days(more so if high humidity is present as water vapor in the air lowers air density = less oxygen). Seal the air cleaner to the hood scoop or use some kind of ram air duct set-up to keep engine bay temps out of the carb inlet will have a dramatic effect. A heat spacer will help under the carb only so much, if it is breathing hot underhood air it will end up just as hot, just take a few minutes longer to get hot.

Nascar teams run their stuff as hot as possible without causing problems as it increases the engine's thermal efficiency...210°+ water temps and 240°+ oil temps. They pull cool inlet air from the windshield cowl area through a dedicated air pan sealed to the carb to keep engine heat out of the carb inlet.

[ericnova72]

Originally Posted by crystalbluevib

aluminum spacer would be the best to use.

Wrong, plywood spacers are the best heat insulators, followed by phenolic and then high density plastic. An aluminum spacer will get just as hot as the intake it is bolted to.

[cobalt327]

I've had excellent results from wooden spacers that I made from marine grade plywood. They will insulate the carb very well- aluminum is a great material for conducting heat- I'd avoid it if heat soak or fuel percolation is suspected.

[crystalbluevib]

Originally Posted by ericnova72

Wrong, plywood spacers are the best heat insulators, followed by phenolic and then high density plastic. An aluminum spacer will get just as hot as the intake it is bolted to.

ok your right in a sense, aluminum is not as good as dissipation of heat . Plastic is not as strong and can crack. WOOD can ( absorb ) fuel. There are pros and cons to all of them . Yes i didnt think about the post like i should have, i would still on ( my ) applications would use aluminum. I can modify it if i need to much easier than the other two i mentioned. There are more things to consider in a spacer than just heat transfer. In my car i want light and strong .

[sooper]

DONT EVERYBODY BLOW A ROD HERE,OK?

I'm trying to figure out why then my builder says and I quote

"Ya Doug they'll run better at under 180 but their a 8itch to keep down there, but we'll get you a better than store brand thermo to see if it'll help"

and I'll reiterate. Everything I've seen starts to dog off right at 180? You can watch the gauge in the car and as soon as it even gets close to 180 they start a slow power loss and that sickening sound I hate where they go from a brap when you snap the throttle to a real soft kinda zing sound. Not explaining that well but you get the idea

[ericnova72]

Originally Posted by sooper

DONT EVERYBODY BLOW A ROD HERE,OK?

I'm trying to figure out why then my builder says and I quote

"Ya Doug they'll run better at under 180 but their a 8itch to keep down there, but we'll get you a better than store brand thermo to see if it'll help"

and I'll reiterate. Everything I've seen starts to dog off right at 180? You can watch the gauge in the car and as soon as it even gets close to 180 they start a slow power loss and that sickening sound I hate where they go from a brap when you snap the throttle to a real soft kinda zing sound. Not explaining that well but you get the idea

Your builder is sorta right, but only because engine temp below 180° as it warms up means that ingested air temp is also low, the engine's heads have not fully come up to temp clear through and thus the air temp isn't raised as much in the port, and the headers haven't started to really heat the air under the hood yet. If you could keep the engine at 180° but feed it 60° air it would run just as well, if not better, due to less frictional loss in a warm engine.

Easy to keep a 1/4 mile drag engine cool for big power #'s, much harder to do when it has to go more than 1/4 mile, just like your builder has alluded to. Just the engine's water temp at 180° is not the sole criteria for the power loss, hot underhood air is the big power killer. Lowering the engine's water temp is only going to help a little bit, once everything is heated clear through and the headers are hot you will be right back in the same place unless you have some kind of cold air package sealed to the carb.

[weedy64]

As a test of the underhood heat theory you could remove your hood for a test drive and see if you notice any changes as your gauge temp rises.

weedy

[sooper]

Originally Posted by ericnova72

once everything is heated clear through and the headers are hot you will be right back in the same place unless you have some kind of cold air package sealed to the carb.

I guess the other option is riding it when it was intended for. Cool evenings. I'd thought of scooping the hood. Just trying to figure where to get one to fit the 69 impala and whether it would look decent or not. It would be different

[cobalt327]

I inherited my Father's /'69 Impala SS 427/390 in '72. Had fiber optic light indicators on the front fenders and rear package tray facing forward that you would see when you looked in the rearview. I guess they all have that, always thought that was goofy, but cool.

Anyway, you might consider the cowl induction scoop for your Impala.

[sooper]

I've been googling like crazy trying to find the name of the company that made the standard looking breather out of a black material. It was double snorkelled like the magnum series dodge engines in the sixties and to each of those snorkels was a hose that you cut to whatever length you needed and they went to intake boxes at you grill. Anybody know what I mean?

[cobalt327]

www.ramairbox.com