Carb Spacer Benefits>

[77ChevySharkBite]

What's up everyone! Happy Memorial Day and thanks to all the vets that have served and to the people still serving to protect our country!

I have to say I've learned so much from this board there are some awesome people with tons of knowledge and can't wait to learn more!! :meta:

My question is that I'm thinking about getting a carb spacer, is there any advantage to getting one or is it more of just an appearance that you get out of it? Thanks for all the help and advice guys!!

[INSIDIOUS '86]

Before we talk about how much gain you get with say a half inch spacer either wood or phenolic laminated or aluminum, First benifit being that your carb is separated by the heat of the the intake and engine which will help keep incoming air cool and allow a denser charge of air fuel mix

Second benefits are dependent on the type of spacer used. Open hole spacers will give you top end and lose some low end in the process in MOST cases. Varying the thickness of a spacer will change how much it will effect your engine

A four hole spacer will add low end since it keeps velocity up and doesn't add a large amount of plenum volume, that keeps the signal to you carb strong and your throttle may be crisper. This is a popular street car and truck spacer. A lot of times people (me) have big nasty engines with poor street manners and these help some driving around town.

You have combo spacers which have two holes on one side and a large open side on the other going from secondary to primary throttle bores. On an open plenum (single plane intake) you can change which side the open part is to see which helps fuel distribution but that would be hard to tell without a dyno. Also can be done to divided plenum intakes (dual plane) which you can test to see which one gives the biggest desired gain in performance. This kind of spacer is best for a dual plane anyways since it works with how a divided plenum works which if you look at a stick intake or older style aftermarket they have this designed into them.

You also have what's called a tapered spacer and pretty much these are the expensive o Ed for a reason. They do everything well but...are expensive. There's to basic types of these and mostly all are aluminum. But you have a stepped taper (super sucker) which is like a lot of small stair cases and then you have the full smooth taper by Wilson's you can get these on different heights as well.

So what seems like a cheap mod can actually be expensive. As you will find that you may buy them all just to see what's best and sometimes if you go to a track you may swap to a different style. These are great tuning tools but sometimes the can be more trouble than they are worth with linkage issues and fuel wicking ( on wood type) which is bad for cars that don't get carefull attention every week and in top notch repair.

I hope that answers everything. Any questions big or small just ask
Posted via Mobile Device

[77ChevySharkBite]

Thanks Insidious '86 that's awesome info!!

Okay well the mods that are done to the truck are listed in my signature, but I have Long Tube headers, and Flowmaster 10 series and then I dressed up the Air filter from the stock big nasty to the Edelbrock that you can get from your local autozone. It's a 305 as well.

Now my question is I was looking at the 4 hole space because I want some more low end power. Will a 4 hole space fit any carb or is each one fit a different style carb? To my knowledge I just have a regular 4 barrel carb on my motor not edelbrock or any name brand just a regular 4 barrel carb.

[INSIDIOUS '86]

Originally Posted by 77ChevySharkBite

Thanks Insidious '86 that's awesome info!!

Okay well the mods that are done to the truck are listed in my signature, but I have Long Tube headers, and Flowmaster 10 series and then I dressed up the Air filter from the stock big nasty to the Edelbrock that you can get from your local autozone. It's a 305 as well.

Now my question is I was looking at the 4 hole space because I want some more low end power. Will a 4 hole space fit any carb or is each one fit a different style carb? To my knowledge I just have a regular 4 barrel carb on my motor not edelbrock or any name brand just a regular 4 barrel carb.

From what I can tell you have stock quadrajet. This is a spread bore carb with small primaries and way to big secondary's. there's not much in the way of any beneficial spacers for these. A Holley 600cfm an a performer intake will go good with the headers and exhaust. That will help low to top easily. You can add a four hole then and help low end more. Good thing is all those mods will transfer to a 350 so it's money well spent.
Posted via Mobile Device

[77ChevySharkBite]

Originally Posted by INSIDIOUS '86

From what I can tell you have stock quadrajet. This is a spread bore carb with small primaries and way to big secondary's. there's not much in the way of any beneficial spacers for these. A Holley 600cfm an a performer intake will go good with the headers and exhaust. That will help low to top easily. You can add a four hole then and help low end more. Good thing is all those mods will transfer to a 350 so it's money well spent.
Posted via Mobile Device

So with you having said that should I just wait till I upgrade my carb, and intake then buy a spacer? And the intake would transfer over to converting it to the MSD Atomic EFI system?
Posted via Mobile Device

[INSIDIOUS '86]

The atomic efi from msd is made for a square bore flange which is the universal flange type for any carburator except stock type quadralags. So yes the intake will transfer I've and everything will bolt up.
Posted via Mobile Device

[77ChevySharkBite]

Sweet!!!! Thanks man I appreciate it all!!
Posted via Mobile Device

[INSIDIOUS '86]

Not a prob!
Posted via Mobile Device

[jon75]

The short answer? In 2007 I dyno'd a GM Goodwrench 350 at UTI in a t-bucket. With a 1" aluminum spacer, it gained 1 hp and 3 ft-lbs of torque.

[whiskeydented]

I picked up 17 hp on the dyno with a super sucker. This was on a 496 big block motor.