ive just replaced my intake manifold and im going to put my carb on. i notice the carb spacer has a hose that hooks up to it and an air passage on the bottom that matches the old 4 barrel manifold. do i even need a carb spacer and can i just plug up the hose that goes from the valve cover the that spacer. if i use the spacer i have now it will just shoot hot air from the valve cover into the intake.

 

Those were the EARLY attempts at smog. You can plug the hole on the spacer and just put a PCV breather on the Valve Cover. You don't want to run without a spacer because that will decrease the distance and amount of turbulence in the intake that causes the air and fuel to mix. More turbulence = better mixture of air/fuel = better burn in the combustion chamber.

 

The PCV valve was desined to suck back in fumes and reburn them, thus allowing less polution in the air.

 

not totaly true, the routing of the PCV back into the intake or spacer was for that reason. The origional need for a PCV was due to the pressure build up in the upper part of the engine. I dare you plug your PCV oulet completely off. You will end up with valve cover leaks in short order if you drive any faster than a granny

 

i dont have a carb spacer....is that something i should look into actively or just whenever i can get my hands on one.....??

basically, is it that important?

 

That's true. You don't want to get rid of the PCV system. As far as the spacer, it not only gives you the right distance for the air turbulance, but it dissipates heat from the intake manifold before it hits the carb and boils the gas. Most aluminum spacers work fine, but if you experience vapor lock, then a phenolic spacer will dissipate/absorb the heat better than the aluminum ones.

 

You can buy one at most auto parts stores, just figure out what type of carb you have (holley, edlebrock etc, 2 or 4 bbl.)

here's an article on the performance aspect of it.
http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/2944/

A spacer all by itself won't improve performance if the application did not origionally call for one. The fact there is a spacer on acidrains application means you don't want to remove that since the intake was designed with it in place.