I have a TBI motor with a Holley Projection Intake that requires a spacer to be used so the EGR valve and the fuel lines will clear.

Can I use plastic and if so what shop/store will carry a 1" thick piece of plastic? What other material besides aluminum will work? I'm trying to go the cheapest rout possible. I do have a shop in town that can make an aluminum spacer but they will have to see the shape to determine how much it will cost to make. It's $48 for me to by one from Summit Racing.

------------------
1988 TA 300+hp 350 w/ TBI and Holley TB unit, Holley projection intake,
WC T-5, 3.42 gears w/ Auburn posi. MSD 6A, edelbrock TES headers, dynomax 3" cat and cat-back system, ACCEL coil, polyurethane bushings all around, aluminum driveshaft, Mr. Gasket open air cleaner.

1993 S-10 w/ 4.3L V6 TBI, slightly bigger cam, Mild polish job and 3 angle valve job on heads, Edlebrock TES headers, Dynomax cat back, MSD 6A, ADS chip

2000 Kawasaki KX 125

 

I got mine (1/2") from Turbo City for about $45. Others have made their own out of corian(sp) or butcher block material (hard wood).

 

I made mine out of dishwasher safe plastic cutting board. However if I did it again I'd make one out of nonporous hard wood.

 

Thnaks for the help! ok so what is corian (SP) ?? humor me b/c my brain isn't working. I may use a piece of hard oak we have at the house but don't know for sure yet until I figure out what the other material is you were talking about.

 

TPIS had some on close out. Check out their garage sale page on their web site. You might want to make sure they have the right year model, TBI bases changed around 92(?) in the trucks.

 

why? Is the plastic melting or something? That would be an easy material to work with or does it seal properly due o the rough surface of the plastic?

 

1# Corian is a name brand, they make table tops. You get it from home depot, it's a form of plastic however when I went to get some they told me I needed to be a dealer in order to get it.

2# My TBI spacer has held up good. I picked a dishwasher safe plastic cuz the water/soap in your dish washer gets hot, hot enough to evaporate. If it's not going to warp or melt in the dish washer it's fit for my car. Now on mine, you can see where the gas has changed the surface color to gray in the inside, but other then that it works and looks great from the outside.

3# nonporous hard hood won't absorb gas like a pours wood type would.

The only real advantage of a TBI spacer IMO is to keep the TBI unit cooler there for reducing intake charge temps slightly. Now this is where science class comes in handy. Remember when you played with electricity? Good, remember when you tested insulators? If so then you know prolusion(sp) and wood are your best insulators. Now with that said would you rather have plastic, prolusion(sp), wood, or aluminum as a spacer/insolator? Course you'd want prolusion, but that's just not possible. Next step down wood, next rubber/plastic and least wanted aluminum cuz it exchanges heat just like any other form of metal.

 

You may be able to get Corian from Home Depot if you ask for an old sample. They have all these little sample squares for the different colors... unfortunately the Home Depot here didn't have any that were big enough.

A note on wood... All wood is porous, it's just a matter of HOW porous. Obviously you want a hardwood, but oak is a fairly porous hardwood. Cherry is much less porous and would be a better choice if you have access to it. But oak will probably work in a pinch if that's what you've got :-).

 

Thanks guys, I got home and my dad had already cut me a spacer out of some oak. It seems a little soft but not bad. I'll use it for a while and then maybe go find some corian.

By the way I have to use a spacer on the Holley projection intake or else the EGR valve will hit the IAC motor and the fuel lines will hit the manifold...major screw up by Holley and they should have supplied the spacer with the manifold since you have to have it. Why design a manifold with a EGR port if it's going to hit the IAC valve...especially since it was designed specifivally for their 670cfm unit! AHHHHHHH!!

 

Don't use plastic cutting board...it melts. I found that out the hard way.

Corian won't melt..but it will crack. When I pulled mine out it was in 3 seperate pieces.

You can use wood, but you'll have to replace it every so often, they don't last long.

I have a few complaints about Holleys TBI related products. I bought thier carb manifold adapter once and it was terribly designed. Glad I run one of thier carbs now..much better

------------------
"American made baby. 100% American iron. The muscle among the masses. My hero. Yep, you can take your ergonomically designed, space age, computer controlled, 4 door, cup holding map lighted split double wishbone split fold down retractable cargo covered moon roof piece of transportation and keep it. For I have felt the thunder. And I know the difference!"
Jesters's Page of Sick Pleasure
Florida Thirdgenners Message Board
ICON Motorsports

 

Just saw this after my first reply....mine help up great too..for about 2 weeks. Then I left it parked after driving on a hot day in traffic. When I came back half of it had melted and was sitting in the bottom of my manifold..with a huge vacuum leak in a bad part of town. Water evaprates at 212F....your engine WILL get alot hotter than that.

 

Stupid question, but won't the wood catch on fire?

 

I guess I'm a lucky f*ck then Jester. I've put about 4-5k on my car since the spacer and most of that was when I didn't have an air dam or or a fan switch. In that time I took off my TB twice and my spacer was fine.