Thoughts on Phenolic intake manifold gasket / spacer?

[70 Cam Guy]

Hi guys, I just did some searching and didn't find any major discussion relating to the RB's about these 'phenolic thermal intake gaskets'. I saw them mentioned on Skylines Australia and wondered if anyone here has tried them? They are about 5mm thick.

 

http://gizzmousa.com/thermal-gasket.html

 

They are made by GizzmoUSA and I haven't been able to find much on them. My impression on Skylines AU is there seems to still be some debate but I can only use google to search that board. They are about $80-90 and are reportedly worth about 10hp. Unfortunately I didn't come across any dynos. Most of us either rebuild or reseal our engines so the effort would be a matter of having it on hand when we do the work. (compared to a Skyline owner that will R&R the intake)

 

Does anyone here have personal experience with these or similar product on an RB? I am considering one for my RB20det if they are worth some horses. The possibility of lower intake air and manifold temps is also appealing

[jakeoster]

Hate to sound like a pessamist but it just kind of seems like a gimmick to me like those turbo zet things. There isn't any harm in it but I don't think the plenum will really have that much of an effect on the temp.

 

If there is an effect I'd imagine it would be minuscule and not worth the wrench time and $100 or so asking price.

 

If it really is good for 10hp and can be shown I will eat my words though and consider it.

[BLOZ UP]

They lower temperatures, at least the ones for the VG do, by a small amount. I would do other mods before worrying about it. There are better ways to spend $100.

[jhm]

I use a 1/2" phenolic spacer on my SBC equipped with Holley 4150. I don't use it for HP gain, but rather as a thermal buffer between the motor and the carb....particularly after shutdown, when engine heat used to cause the carb to boil-over and stink up the garage with gas fumes.

 

Seems to work pretty well for that...can't say I've noticed any HP gains...seems like that would be a bit of a stretch on most setups.

r/John

[Wedge]

I guess if they work on VQ's they could work on RB's but 10 hp gains ? not sure the gains on the VQ are their because of its plenum design the RB i dont know someone would have to try it i guess id like the fact that it acts as a heat buffer. It can be find for 70 $ not so bad.

Edited December 20, 2010 by Wedge

[emoximuu]

Phenolic spacers have been used with some success on a lot of vehicles. It's more of a tweekers toy then anything IMO. I used one on my S13 to get a hair more out of the mods that I had. Like a few have said, there is much more to be gained from other mods, a better intercooler or water/meth are more my preference.

[70 Cam Guy]

I figured it wouldn't result in much, just curious if anyone here had tried them.

 

The closest thing I could find to a result on the Skyline board was that a tuner was able to get another 3-5 degrees advance on an RB26

 

I pretty much have all the mods I'm going to run until it's running and decide if it needs more go. This fell in the category of 'why not while it's apart' but it doesn't seem worth the money

[ZT-R]

i ordered one of those about 2 weeks ago for my RB. i had one on my turbo prelude and it definitely kept the heat off the manifold (cant cook chicken while you go down the interstate anymore, ) ... as for hp gains i wouldn't expect anything.

[ZT-R]

 

just to be clear is goes between the head, not just under the butterflys. so you have to completely tear down the intake manifold.... i was doing it anyway so it only cost me exta 10 bux... why not....

[70 Cam Guy]

 

just to be clear is goes between the head, not just under the butterflys. so you have to completely tear down the intake manifold.... i was doing it anyway so it only cost me exta 10 bux... why not....

 

I am tearing down my engine for a reseal and inspection as well so it's not really much work for me to install it either. If I could get it for 10 bucks, it would be a no brainer. Cooler intake temps are a nice thought.

 

Actually on the Skylines Australia forum, they talked about the Honda guys running them and having good results.

[ZT-R]

10 bux difference in the intake gasket set and this i mean... i do need to find the inner gasket though.

[Snailed]

I used one on my old turbo honda setup too. One of the advantages is if you have a slow reacting IAT sensor and it's mounted in the intake manifold it will help prevent the sensor from getting heatsoaked and forcing the engine to run in an area of the IAT compensation tables that don't actually represnt the air temperature. Air doesn't conduct heat very well and considering how fast it goes through an intake manifold, I really don't think the spacers do too much in the way of lowering intake temps but I'm sure they do help a little.