1 inch Intake Manifold Spacer

Topic: 1 inch Intake Manifold Spacer (Read 2945 times) previous topic - next topic

1 inch Intake Manifold Spacer

March 31, 2007, 11:41:36 AM

I know it's not a supercharger like I ordered for the Mustang, but I was told to give the Cougar some lovin' and I took the suggestion.

After realizing it would fit uder my hood , I just picked up a 1" spacer for my intake manifold (Trick Flow Street Heat) and other than the lower temperatures and less heat transfer has anybody who's done this noticed any change in power delivery? In other words, any noticeable shift in your power band?

The AOD in my car shifts at 6000 and the heads and cam are good to that point and possibly a little more......I was HOPING for a little more off idle grunt. I know not to expect any miracles, but SOMETHING would be nice. Tell me your experiences.

Thanks!
Pauly

1 inch Intake Manifold Spacer

Reply #1 – March 31, 2007, 03:45:48 PM

I have a phenolic spacer on my car,and I'm about to pull it off and sell it as soon as I get shorter bolts.I actually think it hurt my low end.

1 inch Intake Manifold Spacer

Reply #2 – March 31, 2007, 04:10:51 PM

I have one on my '87 Cougar on my Cobra intake. I didn't notice anything whatsoever, a loss or gain. I know the idea behind it is to increase runner length for more low-end torque. longer runners usually do this. I don't see that it could actually raise upper RPM potential. I have read dyno reports with them on and supposedly you can see in the neighborhood of a 4 or 5 increase in torque. From what I have read also from the net and some magazines is that the most of the gain is from a cooler running intake and that is it. As far as my car, I didn't notice anything.

1 inch Intake Manifold Spacer

Reply #3 – March 31, 2007, 07:42:51 PM

I think any gain/loss from spacers would only be measurable on a dyno.

1 inch Intake Manifold Spacer

Reply #4 – April 01, 2007, 11:50:56 AM

Quote

I don't see that it could actually raise upper RPM potential

No, it won't. I was stating that I had plenty of room up high, enough to work with if my powerband shifted down a little. Like I said, I'm not expecting any miracles, just a little less heat soak on a hot day.

1 inch Intake Manifold Spacer

Reply #5 – April 01, 2007, 04:21:05 PM

I have a 1/2" FMS spacer on mine. I bought it to clear the valve covers on my old engine and I'm keeping it because I need it on the new engine as well to clear the valve covers. I can't say I noticed much of a difference. On a hot day however the intake is just burn your hand hot, not scald it hot:hick: . Not much of a difference in heat soak. I gained maybe 2-3 ft/lbs of torque with it.

1 inch Intake Manifold Spacer

Reply #6 – April 01, 2007, 06:17:53 PM

Ok let’s see if I can relay what I have heard these spacers are suppose to do performance wise besides cooler intake, and valve cover clearance.
It’s intent is upper RPM horsepower by way of “velocity” of the air fuel mixture causing a slight turbo charging effect in the cylinder.
The momentum of the air/fuel charge moving at a high rate of speed in a straight line (upper to lower intake channel) causes it to overcharge the cylinder.
That I understand is some of the theory behind the design of the EFI intake in the first place and the spacer’s intent is to improve on that.
I’m out of time, I’m pretty sure I read it HERE someplace, I’ll see if I can find the info later.

Anyway, it was quite and interesting theory

1 inch Intake Manifold Spacer

Reply #7 – April 01, 2007, 07:08:34 PM

Paul, alot of 4valve guys swear by the PHP spacers. im not sure how that equates in reguards to the 5.0 stuff but i fugured id put that out there. i have one on my car but i realy cant comment on it as it was already there when i got it......

1 inch Intake Manifold Spacer

Reply #8 – April 02, 2007, 12:28:56 AM

I've got a 5/8" or 1/2" (not sure) spacer on my Cobra intake. I dont notice any less heat soak on a hot day but on a COOL day the upper intake doesn't get hot at all. In fact, there is a major difference between the upper and lower temps on a cold day with the spacer. On a hot day however, it just takes one red light and the intake is heat soaked... spacer or not.

I had to use a spacer so the intake would clear the driver side valve cover. I think the only performance benefit would be at the track if you use ice to cool your intake... or if you were to block off your EGR by plugging the hole in the spacer and bypass the EGR coolant.

I wouldn't bother with a phenolic spacer unless I had clearance issues. As for keeping the intake cool, if you install one, definitely bypass the EGR coolant. The coolant puts way more heat in the intake than even the EGR. I guess Ford figured this out because there is no provition for EGR coolant on the Cobra intake.

Performance benefit? Maybe on a cool day...