JiXer's Phenolic Spacer: Review & Thoughts....
I bought the phenolic spacer from JiXer way back when, and a set of Bosch gen3 4-pintle injectors from another member whose name escapes me ATM.
Install of the Spacer was pretty straight forward. Same as R&R of the intake manifold, with the exception of having to remove the short studs in the head and replacing them with the longer studs included in the Kit that came with the spacer.
As for as having any issues with the manifold being further from the head, the only minor ones I encountered were with the manifold brackets. The one that sits on the front of the motor, I spaced about a cm away from the head with some aluminum spacers I had lying around. The rear bracket by the ICV I did nothing to except to use a Large washer on the int mani side of the bracket so it still grabbed the slot.
Now onto the important part: How well does it work?? I believe it does its' job quite well, why do I say that?? I have an infrared pyrometer I used for before and after testing. Pre-spacer after a mix of hwy/city driving, the head temp by Cyl 1 by the IM ports is about 195*F, the IM is also 195*F about 1.5-2" from the cyl head. Post-Spacer same head temp, same driving pattern/trip, and my IM was measuring 135*F, a 60*F difference.
I just did a hard hwy trip of about 25mi(60-105mph), then another 5mi to my house(30-50mph). Shot the head, 200*F, while the intake mani read 140*F, again 60*F difference.
In conclusion, it works pretty well. There is only one downside I have noticed, I'll get to that in a minute. Though it nothing at all to do with the quality of the spacer or the kit. I feel that forced induction may benefit from it more for more than one reason. One is the question of under hood temps(redhot exh manifolds/turbine housings/IC piping, etc). Anything to help battle heatsoak in FI-applications is a plus.
(*KEEP in mind that I installed the Bosch Gen3's at the same time, this may have also had an positive impact on the low-end tq*)
The Second reason it may be suited better to FI coincides with my 'downside' of this spacer. It effectively lengthens the intake manifold, substantially enough to alter the M42's high-and easy-revving nature. It trimmed my powerband noticeably. After the spacer I noticed it lost the willingness to rev easily above ~5000rpm. It felt limp up there vs. beforehand when it ripped thorugh 2nd & 3rd gear like butter up through 6000+rpm, 4th was fairly decent on the hwy as well. With FI, I don't think it would be as noticeable due to the extra power/wider powerband.
Don't get me wrong, the lowend->midrange Tq was very, very nice, it reminded me a little bit of my Seta. After 4500rpm, it wasn't the same though. It would lose a bit of steam. This topend rev-ability is why I chose the M42.
To try to counter this shift on the powerband, I tried to shift it back up there. So yesterday, I pulled the VC, and advanced the intake cam a few degrees. The washers were previously centered in the cam-gear slots. I advanced the cam to the point where the edge of the washers now lined up with the edge of the slots on the cam gears. So in other words, almost all the way.
I did some hwy pulls in 3rd & 4th gear and it was a bit better. Pulled to ~5400rpm then began to get winded. The lower end of the rev range was still nearly as torquey as before.
I plan to keep an eye out for an extra lower intake maifold section. I want to see if it's possible to shorten it slightly to maintain the original runner length when adding the spacer.
These are only my observations according to my butt-dyno. It is a fantastic product that does it's job well.
If anyone else has installed it and noticed anything, please respond here.
Install of the Spacer was pretty straight forward. Same as R&R of the intake manifold, with the exception of having to remove the short studs in the head and replacing them with the longer studs included in the Kit that came with the spacer.
As for as having any issues with the manifold being further from the head, the only minor ones I encountered were with the manifold brackets. The one that sits on the front of the motor, I spaced about a cm away from the head with some aluminum spacers I had lying around. The rear bracket by the ICV I did nothing to except to use a Large washer on the int mani side of the bracket so it still grabbed the slot.
Now onto the important part: How well does it work?? I believe it does its' job quite well, why do I say that?? I have an infrared pyrometer I used for before and after testing. Pre-spacer after a mix of hwy/city driving, the head temp by Cyl 1 by the IM ports is about 195*F, the IM is also 195*F about 1.5-2" from the cyl head. Post-Spacer same head temp, same driving pattern/trip, and my IM was measuring 135*F, a 60*F difference.
I just did a hard hwy trip of about 25mi(60-105mph), then another 5mi to my house(30-50mph). Shot the head, 200*F, while the intake mani read 140*F, again 60*F difference.
In conclusion, it works pretty well. There is only one downside I have noticed, I'll get to that in a minute. Though it nothing at all to do with the quality of the spacer or the kit. I feel that forced induction may benefit from it more for more than one reason. One is the question of under hood temps(redhot exh manifolds/turbine housings/IC piping, etc). Anything to help battle heatsoak in FI-applications is a plus.
(*KEEP in mind that I installed the Bosch Gen3's at the same time, this may have also had an positive impact on the low-end tq*)
The Second reason it may be suited better to FI coincides with my 'downside' of this spacer. It effectively lengthens the intake manifold, substantially enough to alter the M42's high-and easy-revving nature. It trimmed my powerband noticeably. After the spacer I noticed it lost the willingness to rev easily above ~5000rpm. It felt limp up there vs. beforehand when it ripped thorugh 2nd & 3rd gear like butter up through 6000+rpm, 4th was fairly decent on the hwy as well. With FI, I don't think it would be as noticeable due to the extra power/wider powerband.
Don't get me wrong, the lowend->midrange Tq was very, very nice, it reminded me a little bit of my Seta. After 4500rpm, it wasn't the same though. It would lose a bit of steam. This topend rev-ability is why I chose the M42.
To try to counter this shift on the powerband, I tried to shift it back up there. So yesterday, I pulled the VC, and advanced the intake cam a few degrees. The washers were previously centered in the cam-gear slots. I advanced the cam to the point where the edge of the washers now lined up with the edge of the slots on the cam gears. So in other words, almost all the way.
I did some hwy pulls in 3rd & 4th gear and it was a bit better. Pulled to ~5400rpm then began to get winded. The lower end of the rev range was still nearly as torquey as before.
I plan to keep an eye out for an extra lower intake maifold section. I want to see if it's possible to shorten it slightly to maintain the original runner length when adding the spacer.
These are only my observations according to my butt-dyno. It is a fantastic product that does it's job well.
If anyone else has installed it and noticed anything, please respond here.
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