Spacers are another example of people wanting to take a advertising based - word of mouth approach to engine development, rather then realizing each combination is unique, especially, at higher levels, and not wanting to acknowledge the amount of “homework”, you’re providing, to provide guidance, not nonexistent canned answers, here. Thanks for sharing your hard earned and honest experience.
I had one of those tappered HVH super suckers on a mild 340 with an LD340 intake and make a bunch of changes to the carb. It leaned it out a ton. I later tried it on a much hotter solid cammed 340 with a victor intake. It gained 10hp at the top end. Made 480hp at 6900rpms.
Long, long time ago, when question came up, would make a spacer out of wood, spacers were rare, quick way to validate purchase. Didn't have fancy shapes back then.
If you want to have some fun Eric. If your dyno headers have 3 bolt flanges and are 3" and have pipe after the collectors. Insert a 3"×2" Collector adapter with 10 inches of 2" exhaust tubing on it.. this creates anti reversion after the collector. Lowers the pressure in the collector and primary tubes. The slight reduction thru the tube speeds up the exhaust flow increasing scavenging effect. Any reflections coming back upstream can't go thru the middle of the tube. But can go around it into the tapered area at the collector flange. Warning you must carefully monitor air fuel ratio stepping up the rpms 200 at a time. Cyclone headers made some A/R headers for 440-3 motorhomes. The motorhomes got 33mpg but melted the pistons . They could not release them do to liability issues . Who knows which reducer diameter and length will work best. Wont be expensive to experiment with. I talked to a neighbor who owned 360 and 410 sprint cars. He loved and understood the idea. But there was no place to put them. Then he showed me the many sets of headers his engine guy had dyno tested the set that made the best power at race rpms had stepped primary tubes. But stepped down. Bigger at the port and smaller at the collector. This sped up the exhaust flow again creating additional scavenging.
I knew a guy who got 150 more horsepower from a 1/2 inch spacer. Yeah, it had a nitrous nozzle inside it though. Enjoy your videos even though i don't have a hot rod anymore. I watch because i might get another hot rod.
I'm using HVH 2" 4 hole spacer on a Air Gap 468 BBC i don't have it running yet but I believe will work for my street build,hope to test it soon at the track, I'll make passes with and with out the spacer but really its to keep my 950 carb cool 😎 😊😊😊
Yes good to see results again. I recall a 440 big block drag challenger using holley street dominator Ported with Conversion 2 inch spacer for a Dominator 1050, back in the 1990s it was 10.0 car.
Dual planes like large or at least large-ish carburetors. It might not get the most out of the carb but you still get a torque hump of the dual plane and get the most from the manifold. Put the dominator on it. Sometimes single planes like appropriately sized carburetors but sometimes a well built large carburetor doesn't care how big it is, it will mix the fuel just fine. Test it dont over think it.
I was wanting know if the dimpled spacer really makes 20 hp . there is a video on 408 SBC that made 21 I find it hard to believe. if it came from you I would get one. Im sure you can watch it thanks for all the great testing.
Honestly, in my experience mostly on the street with pump gas.The biggest benefit to the spacers I chose to run, is the insulating effect. Keeps corn fuel from boiling. Especially in a Quadrajet equipped big block Chevy with a factory cast iron intake. I've found the 3/4"inch Corvette style spreadbore spacer made from plywood laminate to work the best for a Quadrajet.
Eric: Thanks for the info. I've had similar experiences with spacers as well. I found in most cases with the same tune on the carburetor, timing and spark plugs that the fuel ratio was a little richer. This might explain the lower horsepower numbers using a dual plane intake. Seriously though, I try to run and intake/carburetor combination only, because of the turbulence factors with the mixing of fuel. I may also experience vacuum leaks. In essence, the carburetor/intake combination makes this simpler. The old adage is to "KISS" or Keep It Simple Stupid, ya know?
I'm running an NA big block Mopar with dual quad tunnel ram. I saw improved fuel distribution when switching from open spacers to the HVH tapered spacers, according to my spark plugs. No changes in ET at the track, though!
I ran a 2" spacer under a Predator carb on a big block Pontiac back in the 80's. I found the Predator ran best the further it was from the valves. I always had issues with local mechanics as they hated the existence of spacers. None of them understood the fuel I was running. The dual plane intake has to be the worst design I have worked with. When you have to retard your timing to be sure the spark doesn't occur until the piston is heading back down should tell the ones that know what I was doing. But if you don't know, it is time to get out of your tiny world and hang out in the big boy section at the drag strip. I have wondered if turbo boost would work better if the inlet to the intake manifold was below the carb. This would create better vacuum. But I prefer replacing the Teflon wipers.
Eric, love the videos. Here's a thought about the booklet you're selling...maybe you already discussed this but instead of spending the time and money to have them printed, just make a link on your website for people to purchase and download a PDF version. That way, as you add things to it, people can go back in with a code and update their PDF. This way you'll probably be able to sell more books because you can adjust the price since there will be no printing and binding costs.
I always do a limited run of printed books but then they are only sold as PDF. International customers can only order the PDF version. The problem with adding to them is how big they are. Right now two of the book I have to send a link to a google doc because of the size.
Interesting that you say no spacer is worth 20hp. A friend went from 13 teen et's to 12.65 by adding a cheap 2" open spacer, no other changes. I'd guess he was pig rich without the spacer and the spacer got him to a much nicer AFR, but but half a second in et has to be more than 20hp 😂
I know this is late after you made this video. By the way, it’s very good. I was curious as to what was the hp without any of the spacers ? Just to see what performance these spacers actually provide. Thanks. 👍
I am reading/seeing some spacer claims for a 604 chevy crate for dirt racing saying to get better low/mid torque, run a spacer (1 inch maxis common for rules), but mill off a half inch around the base so that the taperes fit down into the manifold a half inch. So far, I have not seen any tests verifying this...Anyone know of any? Thanx
In practical terms I've both witnessed an open spacer making a few HP on an RPM Airgap BBC, but once in the vehicle it was abysmal, and swapping back to a 4 hole spacer made the vehicle much more responsive/drivable. Your results may vary.
On my Pontiac motors a spacer takes away all the bottom end. All of it. And I believe it’s put somewhere north of 5500 rpm. Useless. Went back to a dual plane intake and a .30 Holley gasket with my 750DP and she’s a tire frying screamer. Don’t recon I’ll miss that 3 HP at 6000 RPM. And they don’t gain you anything if your running 13 second 1/8s. 😂
What about EFI? I guess these Results are not comparable(you said Carburated engins)....i run a tapered 4 Hole Spacer like the AFR on a DUAL Plane (Edelbrock RPM), on a SBF (393), and it made the most Torque and Power with it !...... The Performer RPM has also been modified by myself, (milled the Divider down 1/2") and as mentioned running on top of that a 1" Spacer , 4 Hole , tapered Phenolic.... Me and the engine likes it !
I wonder if plenum volume could be different on a static pull compared to how the engine is pulled down at the shift points on the strip. Could the Dyno show a power increase that you might not see at the track.?.
I have a Wilson 004110 4 hole tapered 1” spacer. The space in between 2 of the 4 holes is cut out deeper than the other 2, all are tapered and radiused. Do the larger cut outs get orientated with the barrels of the carb, front 2 and rear 2 . Then the 2 smaller cut outs would be front to back, 2 barrel to 4 barrel. Does it even matter? Very confused and hard to explain but when you look at it easy to see the difference.
I've had the wood open spacer for years on my big block Chrysler ( originally bought for my 440 to stop heat transfer from intake to carb ) now on my 493 I bought the AFR spacer recently from AFR ( the first person I talked to said they had it in stock and that it would ship right away LOL ) took three weeks . Now that I seen this video I'm questioning my purchase LOL
The gain on the hvh adapter, was the gain partly because of a dominator carb and the spacer or just the adapter? So my question is if there is a 8 hp gain from the hvh spacer, then possible another 10-20 hp with a dominator vs a 4150 carb one could potentially gain almost 30 hp?
Options vary all the graphics and printed bs you want doesn't change history tunnel rams blowers high rise intakes all have a place in racing development spacers give you more top end more gas more air
great Viedeo ! I am interested what the HVH tapered with divider would do on an dual plane with not cut divider. I am planning to use a 4150 fuel injected holley on a dual plane. Maybe I'll try to use an open spacer below the tapered to get the benefits of the tapered to my throttle body AND the open desing to get the compensation to the dual plane ?? I think I'll make some dynos.
Thanks for the work! How does the spacers affect drivability in the part throttle ranges? Does it affect the signal to carburetor in part throttle or tip in on the street? More pronounced with straight boosters over down leg boosters? I know you didn’t test this on the street, maybe you have talked to someone or someone will chime in with actually testing at part throttle/tip in. Thanks for all your work dude 🤘
Hey Eric so my dad wants to ask in a 2 barrel HVH adapter the one that is adjustable forward and back to see which position makes the most power forward, center, or backwards. And the sideways ones to. Now my racing season is almost over 1 got 1 more race left so after 1 more race I should be able to contact you soon about sending my heads to you and ordering a intake manifold for you to port so by that time we can order those spacers threw you to and have you test the spacers if that is ok. Just a thought my dad had.
Hi Eric. Great videos and thanks for taking the time to post them. Here's one on a current build I'm doing. Just curious what your thoughts are. 572 hemi. 12:1 comp. 660 lift solid roller. 265/270'ish duration. 110 LSA. Stage V heads from For Hemi's Only. Any other hemi I built has been dual carbs. This one will be the Arlen Vanke dual plane single carb intake with a 1050 dominator. That said....I did machine down and hand shaped the divider just like yours in the video. I have a Wilson 4 hole tapered spacer. I think it's 1.5" tall? On this application do you think the spacer will benefit? Or waste of time? Jet up or down with spacer? Motor should make 750/700 hp/tq. Going on the dyno soon. Thanks.
off the subject of the video. you see dart is offering the new SHP heads for ford windsors in 175cc and 205CC 62 and 58cc chamber about 580.00 u un assembled and 850.00 assembled any tests coming on those? i know you said you stopped buying dart chevy heads when they got more pricey
does a 1 inch open spacer on my edelbrock air gap sbc type take the duel plane to a single plane and i lose bottom end torque but pick up a little after 5000, running a 750 street HP and i have also a 750dp 4779 type that starts cold off the key better even with no choke.
Eric, I'm using a Pontiac victor 4500 with the open 4500/4150 open adapter. Like the one you pictured. I'm running a 830 4150 on it. How much power do you think it kills?
Hey Eric, great video we greatly appreciate you sharing your knowledge. I wanted to ask a question. I have a 93 c4 corvette that I picked up for cheap. It has lt1 with a healthy cam and cnc ported lt4 heads. It was designed as a drag car but I am currently converting to an autocross car.. Do you think it would be beneficial for me to switch to a dual plane or keep the Victor Jr and have it ported? Thanks p.s. it has a holley 830 carb.
Thank you for posting this video, I have a 502 that I shaved the heads down .030”with a Weiand Track Warrior single plane that has been shaved down and port matched. I am going to upsize my carb from 4150 to 4500 1050cfm Dominator and thanks to your video I feel that I can keep my same intake a use the adapter spacer. Was that spacer 1”?
Ots not ridiculous putting a Dominator on dual plane, look at the reply i sent you yo your ? But on a true dual plane being 180 degrees intake the cylinder only has access to half the carb, try it. 1200 cfm Dominator is actually only 600 cfm on a true dual plane intake
I tested that . Greatest tag . Along with’ I ain’t no super man’ Two great tag lines. By the way ‘ ain’t ‘ is not a word used in Australia, at all , ever. It’s “ am not “. Just a little cultural difference 😉
Not used here, either, by educated people with good grammar. Not a cultural thing. Not all of us Americans, have bad grammar. Ain't no, is also a double negative. Not good English.
when you go from a 4150 carb and spacer to a 4500 carb and adapter/spacer, how do you know it's the spacer and not the carb that gave you the increase?
@@olddirtybastardgaragefeel free to email me any of YOUR DYNO tests that prove this. I have been involved many many dyno test and your claims sound unrealistic.
@WeingartnerRacing They are not unrealistic at all. Besides designing and making my own tapered spacers...I've designed my own engines..billet heads..intakes..etc. some bbc combos really respond and will absolutely gain 40 to 50hp..generally on manifolds that are older design and shorter. Lots come into play on every combination some like 2 or 3 inches of total spacer. Just because you haven't had enough hands on go experience it yet does not make it not a fact.
