unit91

Had a guy tell me to put a full one inch spacer under my carb, and it would give it about 10 more hp. Does that apply to 6 cyl. 200 cu in engines, or only the 8 cylinders?

Boogie's_AutoRama

Stop talking to "drug-store-hot-rodders".

Short story is the longer the fuel/air is allowed to mix the better it burns. If the intake plenum distance is already at an optimal length it will benefit nothing.

...and anyhting that can help the carb stay cooler is a good thing. Carb spacer gets it away from the engine heat.

Your six-shooter is just fine the way it is.

TomKat

i agree you'll be just fine without it.

69mach1377

You may get a couple of hp but you won't notice it. On the other hand, if it fits and don't cost much you have nothing to lose.

unit91

I found a spacer in the trunk when I bought the car, but never used it. It's the type that the heater hose hooks up to. I already have the heater hose sitting in a bracket that's on the back side of the carb on the choke body, so I guess I'm OK. I understand it's supposed to warm up the choke faster???

Derf00

If you get a spacer, use a phenolic one (plastic looking). It will act as an insulator for the carb. As for the power...can't attest to that unless someone has a dyno to show it actually adds HP...

67mustang302

A lot of things were done "back in the day" to increase power.

Engines today don't do those things any more, and they make more power.....hmmmm....

Spacers may help on some engines, and not on others. There are 100 other things I'd worry about before using a spacer, and a spacer is just a tuning aide to help shift power around the rpm range. But you have to have power and an rpm range in the first place.

Boogie's_AutoRama

If I remember correctly I had one of those one my car back when it had a I6 in it. Also recall it was pretty standard equipment on most Ford sixer's.

Some where along the line someone took it off (for whatever reason) and left it off.
It belongs on the motor so I would put it back, but not for performance reasons.

dawson1112

adding a spacer under the carburetor does 2 things.

1. It keeps the carburetor a little cooler

2. It can ( depending on spacer design ) add some air velocity.

Cooler carb = slightly cooler/denser air . In your case this may equate to 1 or 2 hp gain.

Adding velocity to the incoming air can have a drastic effect on torque, and at what rpm that peak torque is made , and where it begins.

By increasing velocity you may feel a slightly better throttle response , and notice the engine pulls further into the rpm range. Note that using an incorrect spacer can have negative effects as well. How ever being a single barrel carb , you don't have much in the way of spacer design to experiment with.

For instance , on my 68 302 using a 4bbl 650cfm carb. I added a 1" spacer , experimenting with 3 different designs , A 4 hole port matched , a duel plane, and an open base spacer.
The open base spacer reduced velocity , and at the same time my throttle response took a dump until about 3k rpm.
The duel plane spacer was a little better but still less than desirable.

Now the 4 hole port matched spacer added a lot of velocity and my throttle response was phenomenal, and started building great power at about the 2k rpm range, how ever it also meant that my peak torque came at a bit lower rpm. This caused my top end power to suffer , but I wasn't going for top end wot power.

Your carburetor can only flow so much air, this is your choke point of the intake system . You will never gain 10 hp by adding a spacer, how ever you may increase the throttle response a bit and make the car a little more fun from light to light.

Like 67mustang302 stated it is a tuning aid and will move your power band around through out the rpm range.

unit91

Thanks. I learned a long time ago to not mess with something that's working well, so I probably won't add the spacer. It's good info to know for later on, though. I might change my mind. Appreciate it!