dspy

<center><img src="http://www.bethcutler.com/%7Eswett/gallery/albums/ManifoldInsulator/IMG_0656.sized.jpg"></center><p><ul><li><a href="http://clubb5.zeroforum.com/zerothread?id=41053">http://clubb5.zeroforum.com/zerothread?id=41053</a</li></ul>

Ray Khan

I've heard good things.<ul><li><a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/performance/msgs/50431.phtml">https://forums.audiworld.com/performance/msgs/50431.phtml</a</li></ul>

gt40_mkII

Snakeoil.

mjbrox

the best part is everyone in that forum is jumping on the bandwagon

xr4tic

if you can keep the intake manifold temps down, then your intake charge will be cooler, which will result in more advanced timing and more HP.

Audi2ptzero

If it does not move to the intake manifold then it has to stay in the head, which might cause cylinder temps to be higher then normal. All the tests so far are about intake manifold temps but no one has done a before and after test of cylinder temps.

djnelsen

note the "up to" in "up to 5% more power"

gt40_mkII

You guys are talking from a theoretical standpoint.

I've been working with high-performance engines for years, including competitive race engines.

The intake spacer idea gets popular from time to time, but eventually dies out as folks see the light. (And their pyrometer readings.)

What that insulating spacer does is DELAY the heating of the intake, it doesn't eliminate it. Drive the car for 10 minutes and you'll end up with an intake as hot as if it didn't have the insulator. What heats the intake isn't so much conduction from the head as it is radiation from other hot underhood components and heat from the intake charge (even after an intercooler.)

For what it's worth, a NORMAL gasket does a fairly good job as an insulator, compared to an "insulating" gasket.

A lot of this insulating spacer idea came from back when everyone still ran carburetors. If the engine had EGR, many times exhaust the exhaust gasses were fed into the intake tract immediately below the carb using an aluminum spacer plate. EGR gasses are HOT, and that ended up heating the snot out of both the intake and (more importantly,) the carb. Carburetors store a good amount of fuel in the bowls, and that would end up getting heated as well, causing tuning problems as the fuel heated (vapor-lock is just one problem.)

One way folks tried to deal with this was by putting an insulating spacer underneath the carburetor. This worked after a fashion, but the real fix was getting rid of EGR (which isn't needed on a race car any way.)

The spacer never worked very well as an insulator, BUT it did work well as a spacer, increasing the volume of the intake manifold's plenum, which affects the tuning of the intake manifold and thus the torque profile of the engine. THAT'S the main reason folks used these spacers.

Besides, $60 is a lot to pay for essentially a thick gasket.

-- RK

xr4tic

There's really only one way to find out.

Get some CHT probes, take some readings, install the gasket, take some more readings.

I'm curious, so I put my name on the list. I'll get some temp probes and find out if there is any noticeable temp increase.<ul><li><a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/performance/msgs/50445.phtml">https://forums.audiworld.com/performance/msgs/50445.phtml</a></li></ul>

dspy

a delay may be a delay but you are getting the performance improvement for that time span... I do agree that the cost/time/benefit ratio might not be there