Intake Spacers (revisited)...

birdman941

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I put one on my Mach 1.
I could definitely feel a stronger midrange with the spacer installed.
No, that is not a dyno, but 20 years of being an NVH/development tech
has taught me to trust my backside.
Some may not have this ability.
The spacer works well,
especially when used with the Accufab 60mm TB.
My Mach 1 achieved a best of 29.97 MPG with the above mods
and an aluminum DS.
 

na svt

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One word: Cams.The difference in the Cobra and Mach intake cams is what makes the spacer a decent mod for the Mach guys but not so much for us Cobra people.

The intake is different also...oh, and the heads. The cams in the Mach have less duration than those in the Cobra so it could be assumed that the airflow requirement would be less also, which would mean the Cobra would benefit more from the unshrouding of the feedholes...but apparently it doesn't. There could be many factors affecting the gain or lack of hp gain when installing a spacer on Cobra's, the following are not facts, only "maybe's":
-Cobra intake flows less than the Mach intake and unshrouding it's feedhoels allows that "extra air" to pass through
-Mach cams are more suited for for mid range power and therefore require more air (during midrange RPMs) and benfit from the first "maybe"

As far as spacers go, there is a common misconception that the more plenum volume you have the more power the engine will make. You know, if 1/2" is good, a 1" will be better. This is wrong as there's a point where going thicker on the spacer provides no additional gain. This is true for n/a engines, FI engines can handle a much thicker spacer but there are costs there also, like hood clearance and other fitment issues. I've seen a 3" spacer at an NMRA event, it looked cool as hell but must have been a beeyatch to make.


I put an intake spacer on when I put on my ported lower. With a retune and both mods the car gained 8rwhp and 4rwtq. The car did gain 20-23rwtq from 4000-4500rpm but I attribute 90% of the gains from the ported Lower. I dont have a comparison dyno with and without but as you can see my numbers werent amazing so I'm not sure if the spacer had much of an effect.
That is a normal gain for a Cobra after adding a ported intake and spacer...not much bang for the buck there. Heck, I stay busy porting them but am not afraid of telling people to not expect a SOTP defference. Short runners can offer more peak hp gain but when made to do so the lower rpm hp/tq suffer. I try to make them so that max gains up top are realized with any losses down low unless the customer wants max peak gain.

Being someone who actually used this mod on my 01' (and injecting some layperson opinion), I've been told that one of the 'performance' hurdles with our plenums are that they lack VOLUME. All the spacer does is add volume. It does not increase the runner lenght either. I would think that plenum volume lets the engine breath just a bit easier (before it works harder to pull air from beyond the filter.

The spacer adds volume, but not where it's needed. The intake needs plenum volume added to the lower area so that the air is close to atmospheric conditions prior to entering the runner. The design of these intakes is poor and leads to a lot of turbulence in the plenum and also, more importantly, near the runner entrances.

I think the spacer adds some power because it unshrouds all six feed holes and increases the amount of available air to the feed holes on the drivers side.
 
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cobrasvtcoupe25

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I asked Nazman about this a few months back and he said don't bother for a stock 99/01 NA cobra. It might be different for FI and built NA cobra's though?

99/01 cobra motors are different then 03/04 Mach 1 motors.
 

006

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See what I mean? all the naysayers do not have actual hands-on experience themselves. It all comes from what they read around here...all based on one person's flawed installation error.

All those with actual personal experience say the opposite.
 

po-po 5.0

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See what I mean? all the naysayers do not have actual hands-on experience themselves. It all comes from what they read around here...all based on one person's flawed installation error.

All those with actual personal experience say the opposite.

Ummmm.....noooo. Most of the people with "actual experience" are giving ass-o-meter intepretations or NEGLIGABLE gains. 4rwhp can easy be explained away by a million factors.
 

01bluesnake

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ok, so everyone let me know which spacer to buy and where and i will be happy to buy it tonight and throw it on my car and put my car on my friends dyno for a before and after compare. the mod's on my car are K&n filter, slp lm catback, bassani off road x, and possibly 4:10's if not 3:73's and a programmer. i will do 2 baseline runs, 2 baseline runs after ecu reset and 2 runs after install and ecu reset. i will try to get wideband in it for air/ fuel as well, i should be able to get my car on the dyno by mid next week and will keep you updated.
 

006

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ok, so everyone let me know which spacer to buy and where and i will be happy to buy it tonight and throw it on my car and put my car on my friends dyno for a before and after compare. the mod's on my car are K&n filter, slp lm catback, bassani off road x, and possibly 4:10's if not 3:73's and a programmer. i will do 2 baseline runs, 2 baseline runs after ecu reset and 2 runs after install and ecu reset. i will try to get wideband in it for air/ fuel as well, i should be able to get my car on the dyno by mid next week and will keep you updated.


eBay Motors: 1999,2001,2003,2004 COBRA MACH1 MARAUDER INTAKE SPACER (item 250410416736 end time May-20-09 03:08:37 PDT)

1/4 below, but if you can get a 1/2" or 3/8, that would be better.

$79.95 with free shipping and comes with a gasket (you re-use the one already on teh car..one for above, the other for the bottom) and bolts.
 
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Dirks9901

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ok, so everyone let me know which spacer to buy and where and i will be happy to buy it tonight and throw it on my car and put my car on my friends dyno for a before and after compare. the mod's on my car are K&n filter, slp lm catback, bassani off road x, and possibly 4:10's if not 3:73's and a programmer. i will do 2 baseline runs, 2 baseline runs after ecu reset and 2 runs after install and ecu reset. i will try to get wideband in it for air/ fuel as well, i should be able to get my car on the dyno by mid next week and will keep you updated.




Please keep us posted!!!!
 

01bluesnake

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i know mmr makes one, but read it was only a total of 1/4" thick, and karkrafts is 3/8" i know there are some thicker ones like you posted, just want to see what most people will want to run/install so i can give everyone a better choice with power gain.
 

Solo500

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There might be some horsepower gains but I believe it makes us loose torque. I'm pretty sure that's why paulshp only sells it for the Mach.

Our engines aren't entirely the same. The heads, cams, and intake are different. Let us know what you find out.

(edit) All of this has already been said... I originally didn't read the entire first page.
 
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01bluesnake

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ok, im placing the order now, im just going to get the karkraft spacer. hopefully i should have it by early next week, i will keep you guys updated with the results of when i get it to when i get to the dyno.
 

Jamie R.

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Thanks for letting us know you will post the results. I am also getting a spacer, a 1/2 spacer and will be spinning my car on the dyno maybe by next week. I will post my results with a 1/2 spacer on top of my ported intake.

Jamie R.
'01 Silver Cobra
 

01bluesnake

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Thanks for letting us know you will post the results. I am also getting a spacer, a 1/2 spacer and will be spinning my car on the dyno maybe by next week. I will post my results with a 1/2 spacer on top of my ported intake.

Jamie R.
'01 Silver Cobra

ok, good to hear we can give a couple different setup's and dyno results :rockon:
 

Dirks9901

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Thanks for letting us know you will post the results. I am also getting a spacer, a 1/2 spacer and will be spinning my car on the dyno maybe by next week. I will post my results with a 1/2 spacer on top of my ported intake.

Jamie R.
'01 Silver Cobra



Awsome!

I really want to see what happens on a centri blown car
 
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Sny714

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What kind of a dyno was this on and who's ported lower do you have? I sure hope this is a mustang dyno.

Dynojet and NA SVT ported the lower. Yea the peak number may not be that impressive, but compared to the previous tune(which was done by the previous owner at the same place) I gained 22ish ft/tq at 4k rpm which is whats its important in everyday driving. So thats based on the same tuner tuning with the ported lower. Im not so sure the tuner is that great and I will probably have my car retuned if and when I do a PSR and switch to a JLT. Also the BBK Cai(came with car) doesnt help my numbers either.

That is a normal gain for a Cobra after adding a ported intake and spacer...not much bang for the buck there. Heck, I stay busy porting them but am not afraid of telling people to not expect a SOTP defference. Short runners can offer more peak hp gain but when made to do so the lower rpm hp/tq suffer. I try to make them so that max gains up top are realized with any losses down low unless the customer wants max peak gain.

I definitely felt a big difference in midrange tq with with a punch from 2nd gear at 4k rpm. Im satisfied with the lower and midrange tq is what these cars need.
 

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