Technical Made my own phenolic spacer

Everybody knows that the heat and the new gas sucks. About halfway home The car is running warm and it starts cutting out And I have to flip the electric fuel pump on. To combat the boiling fuel, I was looking for a phenolic spacer for my 55 Plymouth with the Carter 2 barrel, but couldn't find one. I ordered a sheet of phenolic material for about 40 bucks and within an hour I had my own finished piece. Also put a port in it for a PCV.

 

Now it's time to test it! Road trip time!

 

I'll put it on tomorrow and then drive home and that will be the test.

 

Hooked on phenolics.

 

I have heard that phenolic material contained formaldehyde, for your health wear a respirator when machining .

 

Makes me think. Did I bring home the stuff that was at work before they so rudely closed the doors?

 

I’ve had good luck with plywood spacers. Yes, hardwood plywood. Jegs and Summit sell them…

 

I've used the wooden ones for some carters before and they worked out great.

 

Nice work!
Now what are you going to build with the $35 piece that's left over?

 

Well, I've got enough to make a few more for some 4 barrels I have and a 94 instead of buying them for 30 bucks each.

 

good tech - of course, do not forget planning for longer carb studs - some stock manifolds do not easily give up the originals

 

I’ve bought them from Dashman for around $25-$35. Where did you get the phenolic material from?

 

Drill press and a hole saw, or?
Good work.

 

I got the Material through Amazon and I used a drill press and a hole saw.

 

Nice work, BUT...
You missed one detail.
You spent a fair amount of time, doing nice work on your spacer/head disapater...but...

Been proven on the dyno, that a little additional work should follow your "basic" work.
Basically hand work, but... Scribe the manifold shape to the "bottom", of the spacer. Scribe a second line about 1/3 or 1/2 of the way down each throttle bores of the spacer.
Now, with a 1/2", or 3/8" diameter rotary file, carefully open the bores to smoothly "blend" the round holes into a square hole.
Get rid of the "dead air space" under the spacer.

Like this -


Mike

 

Maybe his intake isn’t open plenum?

 

Doesn't that stuff smell wonderful while you are cutting it? Maybe not the same stuff as I was using but I swear it was made from recycled skunk assholes! Mark

 

I think what Mike is saying is. Make each mating surface/bore match.

 

Once I get it apart, I'll see how it is and if I want to blend it or not.

 

Built many change outs that resemble what’s below every time a new bottle was introduced at work. Yes it has a distinct odor, but never “skunk ass”.

 

Good idea, Brian. I need spacers under 2 94s.

 

You can buy the spacers for the 94s relatively cheap from bob drake I think Or make your own.

 

I have a lump of stuff called "fibre impregnated bakelite" (the brown stuff with the white threads running through it).which I was going to use as a spacer/insulator. Anyone used this material ? Or is this the same as the phenolic stuff?

 

Still works !!!
As I "may" have mentioned... Trim the spacer to "match the manifold" !!

Mike

 

Great job. Hope they work out for you.

 

Oh, this is timely, just the other day I made a 3/4" spacer for under the MonoJet on my inline to solve the fuel boiling. I had some dense white plastic I grabbed from work , THOUGHT it was Delrin. It was not and melted the second time I drove the truck. Back to the drawing board... This time I used 3/4" 7 layer marine plywood, sealed with heat and fuel resistant JB Weld on the outside and gasket surfaces and airplane dope in the bore. So far so good. If this doesn't work, I guess I'll have to splurge on some phenolic material. Anyways Brian, thank you for the great tech. Mitch

 

I'll second what Fogger said, wear a respirator, that stuff is nasty to breath in!

 

Nice job. We will be patiently (or maybe impatiently) waiting for it to be installed on the car and hear about the results.
Got it done just in time for cooler weather, will be interesting to see how it works with the cooler weather as well.

Is it on the car yet?


How about now, is it on the car yet?

 

On Amazon you can buy it in smaller or bigger sizes to suit your needs.i bought alot cause I figure I'd make more.ill have it installed tomorrow early but won't know results till the drive home around 4 or 5 at about 102 degrees outside.

 

There was always some leftover phenolic sheet at work. There were 2 types we had, paper based and what was called rag based. It didn't seem to make a difference and it machined and tapped easily. It was nice to use it as-is, the 1" surfaces were clean and flat.