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Intake Manifold Spacer

Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 8:40 am
by not on the rug
Ordered my IMS from extremetruckperformance.com last night. can't wait to install it. who else is using one of these and what results have you seen? the frontier guys and xterra guys all seem to swear by them.

Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 11:53 am
by akley88
i dont have one but its my next mod, thats for sure

Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 8:03 pm
by cgray
I am skeptical that it makes any noticeable difference. Let us know what you think of it.

Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2013 6:01 am
by not on the rug
cgray wrote:I am skeptical that it makes any noticeable difference. Let us know what you think of it.
I've read a bit about them, and they really seem to do what they say. i'm not sure if the butt-dyno will notice it or not. like I mentioned above, the frontier and xterra guys all seem to love them and list them as a great bang for your buck, must-have mod

Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2013 9:06 am
by HLEGuitars
We used to install similar spaces on RX-7's.

They were phenolic resin and designed to isolate the heat from the lower intake manifold from getting into the upper intake manifold thus allowing for a cooler air charge.

The intake manifolds in those cars were cast aluminum and the mod DID greatly reduce the heat transfer from the lower to upper manifold.

however..

I usually gasket matched the upper intake to the lower intake, and polished the runners at this time. The spacer was already matched to the gasket so it needed no modifications.


we did Dyno runs with the spacer added alone and with the spacer and the gasket matching of the intake manifolds..

there were absolutely no perceptible increased in max HP or Torque on the dyno results with the spacer installed alone.

noticeable INCREASES only came with the gasket matching and polishing.

However...

Adding the spacer alone did ALTER the HP and Torque curves, especially in the mid range..

thus

there was a noticeable improvement in throttle response with the spacer alone added when driving the car, both in traffic and on the track, presumably from the decreased heat transfer as well as the increased runner length



One thing is important to note here...

There is no way on Gods Grey Earth that adding a 1/2" intake manifold spacer is going to produce an overall 25 HP or 25 ft/lb torque increase in engine performance which some people have been led to believe!

It can, however, move the curve around, thus putting more usable torque and HP in RPM areas where it is desireable, thus giving the perception that there is more overall HP

Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2013 9:13 am
by HLEGuitars
One more thing.....


I see the spacers advertised with longer bolts...

BUT

how are people dealing with the left side mounting bracket??

I would not suggest leaving this off.. there a considerable amount of weight attached to the snorkel by the throttle body and without a support structure in that area.. i can see bad things happening to the plastic intake where hte runners meet the base from the stress of this weight as the engine moves around

Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2013 9:24 am
by not on the rug
HLEGuitars wrote:
Adding the spacer alone did ALTER the HP and Torque curves, especially in the mid range..

thus

there was a noticeable improvement in throttle response with the spacer alone added when driving the car, both in traffic and on the track, presumably from the decreased heat transfer as well as the increased runner length
right. this is where the benefit lies. particularly when driving a big heavy truck. we're not talking about redlining a 370z on the track, we're talking about driving around town and towing a trailer. I expect a better throttle response. if you check out the website, he has a dyno chart up which shows a nice increase in midrange torque.

this is directly from his site "Peak gains of 8hp @ 5600rpm, Torque of 23ft/lbs. @ 4400rpm, Considerable gains in the midrange, HP from 3600-4800 is 23hp increase, Torque 3600-4400 is 33-23ft/lbs."

now I know everybody wants to say that their product will increase hp and torque, and that sometimes numbers on websites are exaggerated. but I definitely expect a nice midrange increase. maybe enough to cancel out the 33" tires i'm running

Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2013 9:49 am
by akley88
The mid and low range increase is what I wanted it for. 300-400 pounds of tires and wheels could use some more lower power

Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2013 9:59 am
by akley88
double post

Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2013 4:29 pm
by smj999smj
With the spacer installed, the top of the plenum support bracket sits at the bottom of the bolts that screw into the plenum, so the bolts still clamp on to the bracket (or, half clamp onto the brackets) and provide support. I guess if you wanted to go the extra mile, you could get some flat washers, cut them and weld them to the support bracket to give the bolts a more even clamping force. I don't think that's really necessary, though.

ims

Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 9:33 am
by not on the rug
my ims came in the mail yesterday. i'll be installing it sometime next week.

Image

Posted: Thu Jan 02, 2014 3:32 pm
by bbermann
installed?

yes

Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2014 4:09 pm
by not on the rug
Sorry I never saw this. Yeah, the ims was installed and there is a noticeable difference in low end power and throttle response. Definitely negates the 33" tires I'm running and makes the truck feel pretty quick again

Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2014 3:17 pm
by oreogaborio
geez.. the one from extremetruckperformance is 265 bucks?

Just found this one for 150
http://cxjperformance.com/index.php?rou ... duct_id=52

xtp

Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2014 1:21 pm
by not on the rug
oreogaborio wrote:geez.. the one from extremetruckperformance is 265 bucks?

Just found this one for 150
http://cxjperformance.com/index.php?rou ... duct_id=52
The one from gray at xtp is machined from a single piece of aluminum. They're beautiful. And they are the preferred ims on the frontier and xterra forums. You can do a little searching on those forums, but people don't seem to like those other ones.

Gray does group buys and sales pretty often. Email him and see if he has anything going on.