Carb Spacer, Super Sucker Gain 10 HP, does this thing work?
 

Hi,

Just picked up the latest Family & Performance Boating magazine. And there is an article about a 1" carb spacer called a Super Sucker, they claim a 10 HP gain.

Has anybody used this, or know much about how effective this thing is?

What performance gains (if any) did you get?

And if it does work, why not put two or three etc... spacers??

I do remamber years ago, the muscle cars had the really high Tunnel Rams, but don't know how they, or if they work.


I have a 454 Magnum with CMI headers, motor is exposed, so height is a non-issue.

Thanks in advance

10hp may get you .5 mph ;)

Do a search on carb spacers! or just try spacer. I asked this question and have determined that same day dyno testing may be the only answer. A lot depends on different engine combo's like carb,intake,heads,cam and just about anything else that you can think of. After your search you will find out the difference between open hole and 4 hole spacers. This seems to be important with torque and rpm ranges. What I liked about the article or should I say infomercial that you read in the magazine is that this spacer is designed to combine both type of spacers to give you the best of both. Do they work? I have no clue!!!
I was thinking about trying them but not sure if it's worth the hastle changing the fuel lines,mine have quite a few twists and bends in them. There ya go just my .02:D

I just read your post again if you take the time to do this search you will learn a lot on why the tunnel ram type intake may not be the best application in a boat engine and stacking those spacers would be a huge mistake they are designed to flow a certain way look at the picture again!!

There is no cheap way out if you want to gofast then you have to pay, especialy for reliability wich in most of our cases is more important than a couple of HP. Just my .02 again:rolleyes: and of course way too much coffee this morning:crazy:

10hp ???? I run a 1: spacer on mine. I have a Merlin intake and Holly 830 cfm carb.The real reason I have the spacer was so I would have a place to hook up a vaccum guage. I had to drill & tap the spacer so I could put a fitting in it to attach a guage to....
Maybe when I get some dyno time in I can put it to the test..
2Slow,you can't just stack spacers on top of each other. 1st I don't know where you would find stud bolts & second I believe you would most lik;y be creating a area for a vavvum leak...
They do make different size spacers though.
I do not get Family and Performance so I don't know what they were charging,but you can get the 1"aluminum spacer for around 20 bucks.

He is not talking about a 20.00 spacer. The spacers that are in this article are machined to start out open then act like a 4 hole at the end. They also have a couple of other tricks. They want 100.00 for them!

Dennis,
If you read this it may make a interesting article for the mag.
I know you have to be carefull without trying to biased with the advertisers but it would be nice to see actuall facts instead of a bunch of guessing or if nothing else look at the article on this piece and give your opinion over here. Thanks Scott


I Know this is trivial stuff but hey it's winter and a great time to tweak!

There is no magic in a spacer !!! A spacer is a great tuning tool to help optimize your induction system. The only spacer that will always add power are the one with spray bars in them for nitrous. You can use spacers to help move your power band up or down, or to help with distrabution problems.

As a rule of thumb a 4-hole designed spacer will increase the air velocity through the engine, moving your power band down (a little) and increasing your torque. While an open spacer will increase your plenum volume, move your power band up, and increase your top end power.

I've watched a spacer increase power on an engine 27hp, we then removed that engine and ran the same spacer on another engine (on the same dyno within 2 hours) that was 57hp better nat., but the spacer made no power changes on that motor at all.

Spacers are something you need to try on your combination, there is no magic answer.


Doug

Tech @ Barry Grant, Inc.

You tell 'em RumRunner!!!
Some setups can benefit from a spacer, some not. Consult your builder or maybe the intake manufacturer. I have never tried one of these spacers. Tried for fuel ecenomy once and made a spacer that fit the carb bores and radiused into the plenum, about 1" tick.
We LOST mileage, NO power gain. An open spacer or a 4 hole made more mileage than the hard-to-make radiused one, the same power. This was a stock 305 car engine. My experience with spacers has been just like RumRunner's.
I would save the money.

If your induction is of a design that benefits from a spacer then you might get 10 HP, but I doubt that extra groove they machined in the bore does anything different than every other spacer.

Open spacers are cool (sometimes).
 

An open spacer is used to double the size of the carburetion on a dual plane intake manifold. Because a dual plane intake manifold has a divider in the plenum each cylinder can only pull air/fuel from two barrels. Example; each cylinder will only see 400 cfm of a 800 cfm carburetor.

Add an open spacer and you effectively eliminate the divider allowing each cylinder to pull from all four barrels (all 800 cfm). If the engine is undercarburated in the first place, doubling the size of the carburetor with a spacer or open plenum may show a 10 horsepower increase (easy).

Adding an open spacer to a single plane intake manifold that already has an open plenum (that already flows full carb cfm to all of the cylinders) will not result in such a dramatic horsepower increase.

Single plane intake manifolds and open spacers became popular in NHRA drag racing in the super stock classes that required a stock (small) carburetor. The open plenum would effectively double the size of the small carburetor.

Single plane intake manifolds and open spacers are not a good setup if you have the luxury of a large carburetor on a good dual plane intake manifold.

Hope this makes sense to somebody!
Sincerely
Dennis Moore

Does that mean you can run a 425cfm if you divide the plenum or add a spacer when you had an 850?

Huh?
 

Huh?
Dennis

For the most part those high $$$ spacers are "snake oil".

True some engines benefit from a spacer, but not all. As said earlier the four-holer will add to low end torque and the open spacer to top end.

The open spacer increases the size of the plenum under the carb. Some engines respond to more plenum....then again some don't.

The groove and shapping......well they're just that. Don't see any advantage on most applications.

My $.02

I'd listen to Gearhead 99. I agree with him 100%

The only way you are REALLY, REALLY going to TRUELY KNOW for sure is IF you have your engine dyno tested you can do a few pulls for comparison. IF it does in fact give you a 10 horsepower increase and although every bit of Horsepower adds up, you still won't feel it in a boat and won't really know if it's doing you any good OR BAD or not unless you test it on a dyno. I am a firm believer that little things that are done for horsepower gains DO add up, but unless you dyno test it on the engine you plan on running then little things like that COULD be a waist of money. Different engines respond to different components differently. Best wishes. :)

Mark/KAAMA

How about this carb spacer. You can buy the intake with a Dominator base, but this adapter makes more power?

I think the ultimate carb spacer is a tunnel ram. When magazines do a complete flog of many different intakes on one engine, they always seem surprised that the tunnel ram is the best and does not have to give up anything on the lower RPM. A tunnel ram intake has a smooth entry into the runner and no turns in the runner, all good for air flow.

Fuel comes out of suspension when the air makes a turn and the heavier fuel can't make the turn and impacts on the far wall. So if the fuel is properly atomized to begin with...

I agree
 

I agree with Tomcat!
A dual four barrel tunnel ram is the best single plane intake manifold. It has none of the compromises of a single four barrel/single plane manifold. Eight carburetor barrels feeding directly into eight intake ports, with the barrels sitting on top of the ports (sending a straight shot of air fuel mixture to the ports) is a manifold that makes maximum horsepower.
They are perfectly suited for a marine engine because they do not obstruct the forward view like they do on an automobile engine.
The amount of low speed power that a tunnel ram is capable of producing is directly related to the plenum volume which can be increased or reduced very easily but adding a spacer or an internal stuffing block.
A single four barrel/single plane intake manifold is inferior to a tunnel ram because of the mixture distribution inferiority and the hard 90 degree turn the air/fuel mixture makes when it leaves the carburetor barrels.
Dennis Moore

Hey Mike
 

Hi Mike,

I have the CMI headers on my 454 Magnum, and they came with the boat. I belong to a performance boat club, and they are know to be the best. I can't say before and after info, but people are blown away that I turn a 28" 4 blade & get 82 on GPS on a stock 454. The only other mods, nose cone, and raised drive, I raised the drive 3", and that gained 10 MPH, and it kick's a huge rooster tail!! (ya ya, I know I trim to much, just having fun!!)

made the boat feel mucher ligher and way more fun to drive, feels like a completly different boat.

So depends on how your drive is set up, you may want to look at IMCO short drive

SUPER SUCKER IS WHAT THEY CALL PURCHASERS
 

YEA IT WOKS ,,THE NAME IMPLIES THOSE WHO WOULD BUY ONE !!

IF YOU BUY ONE OF MY SPECIAL TOE NAILS AND PUT IT UNDER THE CARB IT ,WELL YOU GET THE IDEA

Re: Raised Drive
 

Hey Mike,

Measure the hieght of you prop shaft at zero angle, and email IMCO with that spec. And see what they say, let me know as well.

Your fountain, depends on the year, may have the drive already raised. Older boats tend to be set up with lower drive heights. Because a 3 blade prop will NOT work on a boat with any weight. My old Hydrostream would jump out of the water with a 3 blade chopper, but I put in on the Eliminator, and it took forever to get on plane, and you could not turn, just would cavitate. The Bravo 4 blade or Hydromotive or ???? Is a must for a rased drive. Many race boats run a cleaver, but not a gfood choice for an all around prop.

Mike I heard Reggie switched to Bravos because Mercury Marine infused a lot of cash into his company to keep it afloat a couple of years ago. Even Reggie, as bad as he wants to squeeze every last mile per hour out of his boats, is not going to run a competitiors props after that! Could be BS I don't really know.