Hey everyone, I have a fresh 440 with an aluminum top end. The intake is the low rise mopar dual plane modeled after the 69' 440 intake. I will be using the holley street demon 750cfm carb with the polymer fuel bowl. Do you think i NEED a phenolic spacer to keep the carb from vapor lock? Thanks
Joined: Sun Jan 07 2007, 07:37PM
Location: London,Ontario
Posts: 166
Here's my take on it from deep research:
Carburetor Spacers
Carburetors spacers can be a very useful tuning aid when working on your streetcar, or racecar. A spacer can be used to move the torque and power-band where it is more usable in your application, or they can be used to help work out inefficiencies in your combination.
4-Hole Spacers. As a rule of thumb a 4-hole designed spacer (4 individual holes one under each barrel of your carburetor) will increase your throttle response, and acceleration. They can also move the torque and power-band down in the RPM range. This is accomplished by keeping the air and fuel flowing in more of a column, which increases the air velocity. This can be a perfect addition if your vehicles throttle response is not as good as you’d like, or you’re getting passed when you pick up the throttle coming off of the corning. A 4-hole spacer can also help make up for something in the intake tract being larger than optimal (too large of a carburetor, cam, intake, etc.)
Open Spacers. As a rule of thumb an open designed spacer (1 big hole underneath your carburetor) will decrease your throttle response, and acceleration. They can also move the torque and power-band up in the RPM range. This is accomplished by increasing the plenum area, which will help in the higher RPM’s. This can be a perfect addition if your vehicle has traction problems when accelerating, or coming off of the corner. A 4-hole spacer can also help make up for something in the intake tract being smaller than optimal (too small of a carburetor, cam, intake, etc.)
Combination Spacers. A combination spacer (half 4-hole, and half open) can give you the best of both worlds. Increasing your throttle response, and acceleration over not using a spacer, and increasing or broadening the torque and power-band.
Plenum Dividers. A Plenum divider does as the name implies divides the plenum in an open plenum intake manifold from side to side. These are generally used to help prevent fuel slosh from side to side in high G load Oval-Track, or Road-Race applications. It is common on certain engines to have lean cylinders do to fuel slosh. A SBC oval track engine running on methanol can run lean on cylinders 3 & 5 while cylinders 4 & 6 will run rich. A plenum divider can help eliminate this.
Spacer thickness. Varying the thickness of your spacer will affect how it affects your engine. Normally the thicker the spacer the more of an affect if will have on your combination. Meaning if a ½” thick spacer helps you a little a 2” thick spacer can give you more of the same affect.
Spacer Material. There are many different types of materials used for manufacturing spacers. They all have pro’s and con’s. Wood for example is a great material as far as thermo efficiency, but can wick fuel, which is not safe. Plastic, or composite spacers are also very good at not transferring heat, but are not as strong, and can be harder to modify. Generally Phenolic fiber, or Aluminum is preferred. Phenolic is very good at not transferring heat, but can be hard to modify. Aluminum is not as good at heat dissipation, but can be ported or modified easily to work on specific applications.
Spacer Tuning. Since each spacer will react differently on each combination there is not a right or wrong type. Spacers are a great tool to have to help dial in a new combination, or tune your racecar for varying track conditions. Swapping out a spacer is a very simple change that can have great impact on the drivability of your streetcar, or racecar. Having a couple types, and thickness of spacers around is always a good investment.
This is one of the best sites out there for info on engines and the owner of this site has lots of Mopars so there is plenty of Mopar specific articles.
Joined: Sun Jan 07 2007, 07:37PM
Location: London,Ontario
Posts: 166
Don't forget to renew the insulation sitting on top the "turkey" tray. It's really instrumental in stooping radiant heat from the crank case and muffles lifter noise.
