O.k., here is a question for the hotrodders of this board. I have seen Trick Flow has made a Phenolic Spacer for our F-150's with the 4.6 and 5.4. It is about 1.5 inches wide, made from Phenolic resin, comes with the gaskets, bolts, and such.

It DOES NOT have that darn swirl cut into it like those uselsss Poweraids and Helix spacers. I have tried one of those, and always regretted my stupid waste of money.

My question is, would the trick flow actually help with throttle response and a bit more flow? It definately increases the manifold volume, does not interrupt airflow (unlike a useless Poweraid), and would insulate the intake from the manifold, thus slightly increasing air density, as far as I can figure.

I am wondering if this would be a worthwhile mod. I know it helps carburated engines, but is it going to do anything on a F.I. Triton? Any useful comments would be appreciated, PLEASE no comments about Helix or Poweraid, they were proven to actually reduce power, and are absulutely garbage on our trucks. I want to know the advantages, if any, of a true phenolic spacer on our engines! Thanks!

 

Keeping the intake charge cool is what you are questioning..this would be minimum at best...I would concentrate on a cool air induction package as I did...Take cool dense air from the outside(not underneath hood), and then i might consider the spacer as well...

 

If Ford could add something to their vehicle that increased performance and/or efficiency for only a couple of bux, and such a modification did not affect drivability or other characteristics, don't you think they would do it?

See, the Superchip really does increase performance, but at the penalty of requiring premium. Cat back exhausts increase performance, at the penalty of noise (yes, I know, it aint noise, its pure pleasure). Ditto for headers, cams, etc... there is always a tradeoff.

So when it comes to magical gizmos that cost next to nothing, yet promise great results, the question to ask is: "Why isn't it already in the truck?"

 

Mach 1-
I have the Superchip, minor improvement, but higher cost with premium. I have the WMS velocity tube, which already sucks air from the outside through the fender, like OEM, just through a bigger pipe. I also have the Gibson SS exhaust...

Beastrider-

The answer to your question is simple. Ford aims to cut production costs at every corner, they freeze production with what is most economical to produce, they are not looking at performance. If they put in a Gibson-quality exhaust in every one of their bazillion F-150's cpming off the line, even at $50.00 extra per, they would be literally spending hundreds of millions(!!) extra on the F-150 production line. That's why there's a huge market for aftermarket parts, and the main reason why this forum exists. We want to replace all the crap OEM (and most of the stuff really is CRAP OEM...) parts.

So, now, the question is, would a phenolic spacer make a small difference? It is not a whiz-bang thing, like those "magical" poweraids are, but hotrodders have been adding phenolic spacers for years to get a small performance increase, so there is something to them, as I have explained in my first post.

What I am trying to get at is, would it make a measurable difference on our F.I Tritons? If it adds 1 or 2 or 10 ft/lbs extra at the wheels, then it may be worth the $60.00 price. Any informed opinions?

 

HI!... I would'nt waste your money on it. I took my POWERAID spacer and had the spiral machined out of it, and t hen polished it. I installed it on my truck at the dragstrip and got NO gain what so ever. No better throttle responce or anything. The theory behind a phenolic spacer is that it won't conduct heat from the intake manifold to the carb and heat the fuel in the fuel bowls. They work great on carb'ed vehicles but don't do ***** for our set-ups. Since our trucks are F.I, only air goes throught the intake plenum and intae runners. On carb'ed vehicles the fuel/air are mixed and both go through the intake plenum and runners. More intake volume will cause more fuel/air to be introduced to the combustion chamber on a carb'ed set-up. Not on a F.I. That's just my opinion.

 

That was some info I was looking for! Thanks, Neil, I will probably save my money. I am going to install a Crown Vic fan and a controller here shortly, I would think that should give some "bang for the buck"!