Carb Spacer or Air Cleaner Spacer?
07-09-2012, 01:26 PM
#1
Le Mans Master
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Carb Spacer or Air Cleaner Spacer?
OK, so on my 81 Restomod I am fitting up a working L88 Hood Scoop and air cleaner assembly.
Got all the parts, looks more or less simple. Get down to it and I have a gap to deal with. I can fix it with either a spacer to set the air cleaner up high enough to meet the bottom side of the air box, OR
Put a spacer under the carb to raise it up. I need about an inch.
I kind of like the carb spacer idea for a couple reasons. I have an Edlebrock Air Gap under my E4ME Quad carb. I can see some thermal isolation benefit to raising the carb up a little higher off the intake.
Any particular power or efeciency gains from one solution over the other?
Got all the parts, looks more or less simple. Get down to it and I have a gap to deal with. I can fix it with either a spacer to set the air cleaner up high enough to meet the bottom side of the air box, OR
Put a spacer under the carb to raise it up. I need about an inch.
I kind of like the carb spacer idea for a couple reasons. I have an Edlebrock Air Gap under my E4ME Quad carb. I can see some thermal isolation benefit to raising the carb up a little higher off the intake.
Any particular power or efeciency gains from one solution over the other?
07-09-2012, 02:22 PM
#2
Le Mans Master
In this case, it's kind of a "toss-up" and you would need back-to-back dyno runs to confirm anything one way or the other.
The Air Gap manifold already provides you with a high degree of thermal separation. Furthermore, the Air Gap already has a cut-down divider to simulate an open spacer. Even so, there is typically a small gain at higher RPM associated with the enlarged plenum from the spacer.
But adding it at the air cleaner can increase the volume of air that can more easily enter the carb by increasing the surface area, if you use a bigger filter element to take up the space. Furthermore, raising the lid from the choke horn can ease the path of the airflow as it transitions around the lid into the venturies, even if you don't increase the size of the element and simple raise it.
Your call.
BTW, some on this forum have found that the little lid that sits on top of the L88 wire mesh set-up can cost you ~10 hp because of the disruption in the air flow. OTOH, I would hate to have a carb backfire direcly into the fiberglass hood bottom.
The Air Gap manifold already provides you with a high degree of thermal separation. Furthermore, the Air Gap already has a cut-down divider to simulate an open spacer. Even so, there is typically a small gain at higher RPM associated with the enlarged plenum from the spacer.
But adding it at the air cleaner can increase the volume of air that can more easily enter the carb by increasing the surface area, if you use a bigger filter element to take up the space. Furthermore, raising the lid from the choke horn can ease the path of the airflow as it transitions around the lid into the venturies, even if you don't increase the size of the element and simple raise it.
Your call.
BTW, some on this forum have found that the little lid that sits on top of the L88 wire mesh set-up can cost you ~10 hp because of the disruption in the air flow. OTOH, I would hate to have a carb backfire direcly into the fiberglass hood bottom.
Last edited by toddalin; 07-09-2012 at 02:29 PM.