HVH Intake Spacers, Torker 2 II, Worth It?
 

I've got the room for a 1" spacer, are these really worth bothering with, actual power or track gains?

I'm a ported Torker 2, cast High Port with a 1000cfm Throttle body. I'm thinking the extra plenum cfm should help the Torker 2 in my situation.

Are there other spacer companies that are worth it?

With your motors cid the T2 could use more plenum volume since it’s sized more for a 400 or 428.
I would run as tall of a open spacer as I could while not restricting the in let to the throttle body.

I would also confirm that the motor wants those 1.65 rockers on the exh side if you have some 1.5s to slap on and make a few runs with.

There’s no question that unless the T2 was heavily ported that it’s still the cork in your flow system with those high port heads, so the 1.65s on the exh side may be harming the motors overall power band.

Out of the box T2 intakes flow some 260 cfm on there best runner, so that’s a far cry from what those high ports flow stock , in fact you would have to spend a fortune to get the T2 welded up and then ported to not have it be the choke with the high ports!

Bang on Steve ,on my last refresh with Dyno numbers the spacer added almost 20hp . My E-heads flow 330 plus and my T2 ported is a choke point . My engine guy flowed the intake when we were near the completion of the build. Ive enhanced the plenum but there’s a limit. To take advantage of capabilities i would need to go to a fibreglass hood to use a taller intake. Not going to happen like the stock look.
Rockers... again we tested 165s and 1.5 on exhaust and saw a loss of 23 hp going to the 165s.

I don’t know what your compression is, but the OPs 11.7 would want the 1.65 rockers even less then your build if your compression is less then his 11.7.

Yes I’m at 10:4 so numbers would be different. Builder has vast experience and has mentioned that in some of his more radical engine combos it’s a toss up where exhaust ratios are ideal. Obviously camshaft would be a factor in this path.
Getting a day on a dyno does help determine what a combo likes.

Typically I've seen 20-30hp improvement adding a well blended 1" spacer to the T-II, Street Dominator and Tomahawk intakes. Back to back track testing verified the numbers. Some engine combo's with single plane intake really wake up at the track when you add an open spacer to them.

On one engine we saw close to 90hp, but it was a pretty "high end" build with heavily ported aluminum heads and hefty solid roller cam. It made over 600hp with a Victor/Dominator and a ported Tomahawk with a custom blended 1" spacer was only behind by 7-8hp showing how good the T-II intake is with higher end builds. Without the spacer it barely made 500hp. Not exactly sure why, but I suspect the custom Q-jet we were using was causing turbulence and distribution issues with the huge secondary throttle plates sticking deep in the plenum areas. For sure the engine didn't like it.

The only way you find out these things is testing. This was early in my learning curve with these things and a good lesson with intakes/carbs/spacers......Cliff

I do not have exact numbers, but a 1" spacer was a big help on my T2, and even eeked out additional ET at the track with a 2" open spacer. I have not tested any of the fancy spacers on this combo. I started out with a cnc port matched T2 and recently had some plenum work done- but not enough testing yet to realize any gains from the plenum work.

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Absolutely worth bothering with. If you've ever experimented with them on the dyno or the track they can be a real eye opener. Especially on single plane intakes.
Best to be on a dyno and experiment with what works best for any particular combo but from what we've seen I've grown real fond of the super suckers that start as a 4 hole and transition into an open spacer. Was worth 22hp on dad's engine with a Victor intake which pushed power to 724hp. I'll take that gain every day of the week for the small investment they cost. That's 2 tenths improvement at the track.
Even Jim Hand found that spacers on his stock modified intake were worth some ET at the track way back when. They'll work on dual planes as well if you find the right combination.

Every engine and intake is a little different, just have to test.

Wilson makes a great spacer.

The real trick is having the room under the hood to use them.

A lot of good responses here. Does anybody have any experience with spacers on an EFI set up?

Good question. Im wondering how much a spacer matters when the plenum is dry??

;) .

On a friend's Brodix headed 421 SBC and 1250 Holley Super Sniper EFI , a 1" Wilson open spacer was worth 12 more hp over the 4 hole Wilson taper we both are using. I'm presently converting to the same EFI set-up and will convert from the 4 hole taper spacer to the Wilson open also.

A open spacer provides more plenum volume so at high flow rates thru the Carb or whatever which is always accompanied by high velocity the air mass leaving the bottom of the Carb can make the turn into the manifold runners and also with less fuel drop out.

The added height by adding a spacer besides adding volume also makes possible the blending of the spacer into the transition to the runner with a much bigger radius most times and this helps the air mass leaving the bottom of the carb to enter the runners.

When you look down into your manifold at the plenum to runner transition area please keep in mind the fact that high velocity air does not want to follow around a curve any greater then 15 degrees, it will just sheer away.

The needed plenum volume will also reduce / dampen reversion pulses from harming the needed air to fuel ratio of other cylinders .

Funny you ask. Not sure about a port injected EFI with a dry plenum, but I converted both cars here over to Holley Super Sniper Stealth EFI and I kept the same carb spacers on both cars that showed improvement with the carbs in place.

Haven't been on a dyno since the change but as far as I can tell both cars run the same as they did with carbs. I suspect the throttle body EFI stuff will respond very similar to spacers as carbs do. One is running a 1.5" tall Wilson super sucker 4 hole that tapers to an open spacer, and the other car runs a 1" open spacer.

i run a spacer ‘cause it looks cool.

What would be the choice between a milled down Victor or a T2 with a spacer ?

Take them both to the dyno and test. That's really the only way to find out, as every engine responds a little different.

Thanks everyone...

I'm on a 1000cfm TB with EFI, sounds like open plenum spacer is the thing.

Also sounds like 1.5 Rockers on the exhaust would add power, why exactly curious?

Many factors come into play to answer that exh to intake ratio question, like Cam specs, compression ratio, but two main things are the motors fast piston speed due to its stroke and if your racing and running open headers with a well set up tuned collector lenght, and especially if there merge collectors making a lot of vacuum at overlap.

Many times there’s no substitute to find out what the motor wants but for pure empirical testing back to back at the race track on the same day.

Once I get on a decent track..I will be testing 2 carbs and at least 3 different spacers..possibly a few more.