Keeping intake manifold temps down makes HORSEPOWER!

[d_m_kolb]

Phenolic Manifold Spacers have proven to be a great way to increase performance. The phenolic manifold spacers increase power by dramatically reducing the transfer of heat from head of the engine to the intake manifold, meaning incoming air is more dense. The point behind it is to lower intake air temps going into the combustion chamber as much as possible. This allows you to run more ignition advance which will allow you to make more power. Without it, hotter air enters the combustion chamber, increasing the risk of detonation, requiring you to retard the timing, and loose power. The car's computer handles all of this and will ajust the timing to yeild the best performance. For every 10 degrees you drop the temp of incoming air into the engine you make 1 horsepower more. So if your underhood temp is lets say 210 to 220 degrees (this is normal) the air entering the engine is probably close to 170 or 180 degrees on a 80 degree day. It's possable to lower the incoming air temp and get it close to the temperature outside. That's a 10 HP gain!After that upgrade if you really want to keep things cool you can header wrap your intake manifold to block the hot air under the hood from coming in contact with the IM. If you don't want to use header wrap you can buy a can of 1500 degree engine paint and paint the IM. This will block some of the heat. You can pick up a couple cans at your local speed shop. Look in the yellow pages under speedshop.This company makes a very high temp coating that's even better than the 1500 degree paint. They also sell header wrap. http://www.teegardenmotorsports.com This another thing you will want to do after your spacer and IM wrap or paint. From the factory your intake manifold has hot engine coolant flowing through your TB and intake manifold runners. This is terrible for gas mileage as well as power, because it heats up the incoming air, and we're trying to prevent that. The manufacture does this for people that live in very cold area's so yout TB doesn't freeze. In the summer and if you live where it never drops below zero this isn't a issue.There will be a inlet and outlet small coolant lines going into your TB. You can remove these small hoses and not have the hot engine coolant going through the TB and runners, in turn helping keep the air feeding your engine alittle cooler. Disconnect the hose supplying the TB with coolant and reconnect it where the hose goes back into the engine. That way you bypass the TB and don't heat up the IM. You'll end up with one hose coming out of the engine or main coolant line, then going back into itself at the return fitting. Lastly having a CAI (cold air intake) pulling in air from the outside instead of under the hood. You can also header wrap it, or paint it. If you don't have a CAI you can build one with this link. http://www.teamdelsol.com/howto/coldair/diycoldair.htm If at any time I have totally confused you, post here or e-mail me and I'll walk you through it. All of these mods together can gain a WHP gain of 20 to 25 horse. Coatings do the following things. They provide:Increased H.P. and Torque Increased lubrication protectionReduce frictionReduce part temperatureIncrease combustion chamber efficiencyReduce detonationOxidize fuel more efficientlyShed carbonKeep heat in the combustion chamber and exhaust systemDisperse heat from intake manifolds, cylinder heads, oil pans, brake components, wheels, alternators and carburetorsReduce thermal transfer into intake manifolds, heads, brakesReduce corrosion and chemical damage to partsReduce fuel separation and – drop outIncrease port and exhaust velocityExtend part lifeAnd much much moreSound beneficial to you?Why should you use them? Well look at the above list. Is there anything there that you don’t need, or want? When you consider the cost of parts, anything that can increase the life of those parts is of interest. Even if you do not intend to race, the benefits should be obvious. Think about the fuel available today. If you could reduce the potential for detonation and the attendant power loss and damage, wouldn’t that be worth while? If you are racing, one thing you can be sure of, the car ahead of you is using this technology. If you want to stay competitive you must use every bit of help you can get.The guy that runs the website will make a spacer for you, with a gasket from your car. http://rogueperformance.com/ThermalSpacers.html You can get the phenolic material in sheets locally. Look in the yellow pages under plastics.Then you can make your own.Header wraps

[Vibr8tr]

I was searching for information on the intake Manifold, trying to see if there was any way it would up the horsepower at all. I was wondering if any one had any more info on the headers or Manifold that would be helpful in performance. Now that I have a SR intake coming in soon, I want to know how to get the best performance out of it, any insight would be helpful.... even if it's just common knowledge

[northvibe]

throttle body spacer would be a good idea and its cheap.

[joatmon]

Vibr8tr sets a new all time record of 54 months for old thread bump somebody here was praising the value of rerouting the coolant lines so it did not flow thourgh the throttle body.

[AKLGT]

ya no kidding!

[northvibe]

Quote, originally posted by joatmon »Vibr8tr sets a new all time record of 54 months for old thread bump somebody here was praising the value of rerouting the coolant lines so it did not flow thourgh the throttle body.Yup thats a good and free mod too! well if you live in a cold as heck climate it wouldnt be a bad idea to have it stock for winter and modded for summer, but people that do the mod have not had a issue in the winter so far that ive heard

[AKLGT]

ya, alot of guys are wrapping their headers, uppipes, downpipes, etc. it's supposed to help, but kinda a PITA to do.

[northvibe]

actually i read wrapping your headers is bad unless you just drag race everyonce in a while. the heat will then stay inside the header and crack it if you do it for street cars is what the article said. ceramic coating is the best for dissipating heat

[AKLGT]

eh. maybe that's what they are doing. everyone who posts about headers gets bombarded with "is it coated or painted or treated or something or other." i don't pay much attention since my tech told me i'd be wasting my time w/ them on my auto, and would actually LOSE my low end torque and power. i want more top end, but w/ my tranny, i'd lose the bottom (more useable) power/torque band. i'd rather have the low end than the top end, except for going to the track. oh well.... hopefully i will have that part resolved before spring time anyways.

[Mario]

Is that similar to copper pipe insulation on hot water? If so, avoid that stuff like the plague.

[djb383]

My ScanGauge indicates IAT at ambient or no more than 2-3 degrees above.......far from 170-180 degrees as stated. I believe the reason coolant is circulated thru the TB is to prevent the formation of ice on the back side of the throttle blade, not to heat the intake air. The intake air doesn't "hang around" the throttle body long enough to absorb a significant amount of heat. It's my understanding that virtually all header mfgs void their warranty if wrap is used 'cause they get to hot. That's for race cars, not street cars.

[Vibr8tr]

I am glad I can bring back some old good ones. I just searched for Intake Manifold. So basically all that matters is on the vibe, there isn't much we can do with ours that would be worth it, unless a person is redoing thier whole set up?I guess I always hear about the Manifold being changed and gaining HP, but I don't get how that works.

[ColonelPanic]

Quote, originally posted by djb383 »My ScanGauge indicates IAT at ambient or no more than 2-3 degrees above.......far from 170-180 degrees as statedI never paid attention to the intake air temp on the Vibe, but on the Accent, it's maybe 5 degrees warmer than the ambient temperature. The highest I've seen it was 139, but that was on a day when it was about 100 degrees out. And the car was idling for like 20 minutes.

[micbarric]

Just out of curiosity, some time ago I did some searching on the web to find out what performance improvements the "new" plastic intake manifold may have over the original aluminium manifold on the pre-Vibe 1ZZ-FE engines. Here is a little info I found:http://www.caranddriver.com/pr....html"...a larger-diameter throttle body has bumped peak horsepower up 5 hp to 130 at 6000 rpm, and the torque band has been broadened, says Toyota, by the use of a new fiber-reinforced intake manifold, which now includes a plenum."http://www.technofile.com/cars....html"Horsepower is enhanced by the use of a larger diameter throttle body. Torque is increased by the use of a new, large plenum intake manifold. The reinforced plastic manifold conducts less engine heat to the intake air, improving volumetric efficiency."

[goodvibe]

The intake on a stock vehicle is also in the front of the car next to and forward of the radiator. The car is also getting a nice breeze under the hood while rolling which also helps the intake, that's at the front, not get that hot.