spacers are amazing and really do work
These spacers are amazing and really do work. Before I installed mine, I could barely touch my intake it was so hot just from warming up and idling. Now that I have them I can do a 10 minute heat and my intake never gets hot. In-fact my intake didn't get much above ambient temp. I wish I had a checked the temp with a laser before so I could give an accurate number of how much cooler my intake is now. I am a true believer in this product. I have made my own before and they are very difficult to make, which is why I understand how much they cost to purchase. Phenolic is a very abrasive material which makes it very difficult to cut. They cannot be cut out with lasers or milling machines. The only way to get a clean cut without destroying every bit or blade within 100 miles is to use a waterjet. Believe me I tried bandsaws, cnc, and laser cutting. Not to mention the toxic dust and smoke that is created. You will be amazed at what these do for your intake temps, I was!
Works as advertised
"I picked these up since I was doing TGV deletes anyway. Works as advertised, and your car and tuner will appreciate them too!
I replaced the steel gaskets with these (no more steel ones). no leaks so far as I can tell."
Really do the trick
"These really do the trick. If you want to, grab the intake manifold after a few good highway, i mean drag, runs before and after. Although a subjective test, the results are obvious.
AND as a testament to the customer service GrimmSpeed offers... I needed these for a build the next day, and my paypal account was not up and running yet.
Justin OVERNIGHT SHIPPED it on an IOU. I was never a customer before (now I'm obsessed) and Justin didn't know who I was. Simply amazing.
I'm only saying this to show how much they'll work with your special needs. Not to advertise this IOU service. Thanks GrimmSpeed for pimpin' my ride."
inexpensive mod that will yield positive results
"While my install was quite a bit different from the route that most will use, I can vouch for the fact that the spacers are very easy to swap in and out and add or remove OEM gaskets, if-necessary.
With that being said, my install process was much more complex because I chose to go all-out and get a ported and polished (PnP henceforth) and coated Throttle Body, PnP and coated TGVs and PnP Intake Manifold from Justin. Along with an APS Turbo Inlet Pipe I picked up, this was much more involved than simply disconnecting a few harnesses, unbolting the TGVs and lifting things up and inserting the new spacers...
Basically, I started out by following the factory recommendations for removing from the TGVs on-up. With all of this out, I proceeded to follow the directions for installing the APS Turbo Inlet Pipe (found here: APS Turbo Inlet Pipe Installation). As things came together and prior to putting the ""manifold assembly"" back in the vehicle, I put the Phenolic Spacers in-place. They fit perfectly and once everything was back in, I torqued the bolts down to spec and all seemed to be seated good and firm. While the spacers are obviously thicker than OEM gaskets, there wasn't ANY addition movement in the manifold, TGVs or otherwise - even when grabbing a hold of the runners and give a few hard tugs! In fact, there are some small round tabs sticking up that are meant to hold the OEM gaskets in location while the TGVs are being put back in place that will fit any combination of OEM gaskets +/- the spacers... Even with 2 sets of OEM gaskets and the spacers installed, there is still a perfect fit on these ""tabs"", which made it much easier to seat them properly, after-the-fact!
In the end, I personally chose to run OEM gaskets on both sides; however this was only to add extra ""insurance"" to my own application. They were added after I had already torqued down the TGVs and completed my other installs... unfortunately, I'm very worrisome and simply did this for my own piece-of-mind - prior to doing so and after several sessions of idling and revving the motor, I had no leaks, squeaks or otherwise! Personally, if I did it again, I'd probably just save some money and run without gaskets...
Concerning the results: as-always, they can vary, but I took measurements before and after with an infrared thermometer (cheap, but seems to be somewhat accurate) and noticed external temps from the TGVs, up through the intake runners and all the way to my throttle body seem to be down 10+ degrees, depending on where they were measured. I have chosen to omit the exact before vs. after temps, simply because the thermometer wasn't what I'd consider top-grade and I'm not a technician by any means; however I do feel that it's fair to say that I took enough measurements to prove that there was a steady decrease across the board and that these parts are doing exactly what they're made to do.
Overall, this install is quite simple and the parts definitely seem to be functional. I'd recommend that anyone with the means to pick up a set and install them ASAP - they're an inexpensive mod that will yield positive results!"