2boosted4u

iTrader: (4)

has anyone made there own plemun spacer? i see the DIY installs but has anyone made there own??? is there any benefit of goin larger the 5/8's?? im very interrested and want to see how people may have made them.

krnzzang84

iTrader: (6)

it would be very very impossible to make your own, u need autocad to design plus a cnc machine to cut.... not a good idea even if you have access to all those!

Julian@MRC

iTrader: (28)

Why even attempt to DIY the machining of a $250 part?

2boosted4u

iTrader: (4)

cause im bored pretty much

Julian@MRC

iTrader: (28)

Go get a hooker if your bored..lol Works for me ALL the time..

2boosted4u

iTrader: (4)

^ it would be cheaper to get the spacer lol....plus thats what gf are for unfortunetly shes at work

bbs350z

iTrader: (85)

boil an egg

go-fast

using an old gasket as a template and some marine lumber (plastic) you could knock one out in a couple of hrs with simple hand tools.it would not be that hard to do and costs would be minimal.coping saw,dremel,files and drill press.you could even use your upper plenum as a guide for hole location.if you have tools, total cost?....about 30 bucks.why flame the diy on this forum?it would be easy to do and even three failed attempts would only be 100 dollars and an afternoon of work for a plenum spacer that would rival the best "cnc" aluminum piece.naysayers only serve to prop up overpriced products and continue the fleecing of this community.make a plastic spacer and then look at what your upper plenum temps have changed to,i bet you will be pleasantly suprised.

App6MT

iTrader: (1)

I say go for it, screw the nay-sayers.

gothchick

iTrader: (12)

??? Where does the egg go? <she asks innocently> :-)

joe645733

iTrader: (3)

that's pretty sad.

SoCal.VQ35DE

I'm actually in the first phase of it myself. My plan is to use (no joke) a HDPE cutting board from wal mart as the substrate. People like to kid about it, but there are plenty of people that make tons of power with plastic cutting boards and wood. The plenum is nothing special, all it has to do is (worst case in a NA application) hold a vacuum at idle. (AT WOT there should be no difference between in the plenum and outside air pressure). Since we're fuel injected, there is only air to deal with.

Skunk has one made of "Carbon impregnated nylon-6" All plastic is carbon impregnated, plastic is carbon based. In reality the best spacer would be made out of Phenolic Plastic (Something I looked into) but raw costs are anywhere from $200 - $800 for a sheet large enough to cut one out.

$200 might not be a lot of money, but spacers are too expensive for what they actually are. After all Kinetix can prototype and mass-produce an entire plenum for $250 if you know where to look.

go-fast

should work fine,good luck....if you are concerned with wall thickness/strength you could increase wall thickness on the outside wall making it stronger and easier to fab,but i think standard wall thickness would be strong enough to support boosted applications.

gothchick

iTrader: (12)

Would you trust a plastic spacer under boost? Especially one made out of a walmart cutting board?

SoCal.VQ35DE

I'm NA, but I'd trust it just as much as anything else made out of HDPE. HDPE is not the best material, if I were going for boosted applications, I would go with something stronger like a Phenolic plastic with a linen core. Aluminum itself is not that smart of a material either though, it heats the incoming air. I know the aftermarket industry uses it because it's cheap, the scrap is easily recyclable, and it's easy on the cnc machines...

If you really wanted to get enterprising, you could hand lay several layers of fiberglass and cut it out of that. Trruth be told though, if I were going FI I'd skip the spacer alltogether since the plenum doesn't really matter for FI applications.

I've seen indycars with pepsi in the tranny case, and I've seen people use propane to mount tires...Modifying cars were started by people that thought against the grain

SoCal.VQ35DE

Excellent point, didn't even think of that. From what I can tell, it looks like the only area that has a tight tolerance is by the oil fill cap.

J_Dizzle

iTrader: (13)

this seems interesting. and if it doesnt work. all you have to do is take it off. lol

ZTUPID

iTrader: (2)

Go for it.. If you have the means, take some pics of the progress, and post em up. If you succeed, then others can benefit. If you fail, than others can pay retail. Either way, we'll know someone tried. (I'm going to try a new design... but my father is runs the research lab/ machine lab at USF... so plenty of CNC equip, and he can blueprint anything on CAD) It's gonna be a while, but I will eventually get more info posted. )

davidv

iTrader: (2)

What about plywood?

SoCal.VQ35DE

My only concern about plywood is water damage/delamination and also whether or not it is airtight.

The water damage wouldonly be if water gets that far up in the engine while driving in the rain. I kinda doubt it does (It would probably burn off by then), however the airtight thing is something I would be concerned about. I would look into HDF or MDF (Medium density fiberboard) as it's what the proaudio guys use to build airtight speakerboxes. It still won't help with the water damage stuff though but any kind of wood would be a great way to isolate the temp from the lower plenum!

I think you could get away with wood if you used some thompsons water seal, or varnish, or clearcoat of some kind, however I would make sure it would not break down under the temp of the lower manifold, and I would also make sure it would not poison the cat converter as some adhesives do.