There are a few plenum spacers available from the usual suspects. They aren't costly but can look ugly especially if you're into engine bling like I am.

Therefore I'm contemplating engineering aluminium plenum spacers which can be anodised in a choice of colors.

My only negative feeling about this will be the seal between the upper and lower plenums. For instance the MD plenum spacer seems to contain a sandwich of material that could assist with creating an airtight seal.

Would therefore a solid aluminium spacer potentially create air leaks?

So if any tech guys read this and have an opinion or thoughts on this please post.

Thanks

 

??A spacer is just a piece of metal,usually aluminum.
Jeez,you can hardly see it.
Colors...?Waste of time.

 

As you can see from the pic below the 5/16" spacer is not made of Aluminium. (excuse the advert in the pic)



Color is user preference and there is a market for those wishing to aid Color coordination within the engine bay. Don't forget everybody is different.

 

you would need some sort of gasket material on both sides of the spacer

 

You can make a colored spacer sure. And what choice of colors will you have? Will you paint and stock a particular color hoping to sell later?

This is a common problem with painted items (such as splash guards). You must have various colors on hand for customers. You must have a large sales volume to make this worthwhile.

 

Cheers for the comments guys :Thumbup:

The colouring would be dictated by the anodising process. My plan is to have enough names on a group buy on our forum 350z-uk.com Those names will dictate the run. I'd expect 10-20 units being made. They will need to ask up front what colour they desire. It will be limited to say 5 colours but anything outside of this will be charged extra. This means that once the units are made I can categorise each spacer into colour group and arrange for them to be anodised.


Thanks also for the gasket suggestion. It maybe an option to bond such a gasket to both sides to provide the airtight seal.

Keep the questions and ideas coming...

 

the end user will just need to apply ultra grey to both sides of the spacer. not rocket science.

 

Heres my blue anodized spl prototype spacer, its just aluminum and it sealed fine with an upper and lower gasket...

 

Gentlemen you have all been a great help. The planning will now go ahead. I'll pop back once I've got the ball rolling and the products completed.

(I knew I did the right thing asking our friends across the water :Thumbup:

 

Oh and btw, i used an oem lower gasket, and another oem lower gasket that i cut the center portion out of for the top...never had an issue!

 

Simple but effective and I like that.

Good call!

Cheers and I'll update when production starts.

 

Nice! Good luck!!

 

why not just buy aftermarket plenum and paint it.... or you just want your engine to wear a "sweatband"

 

The reason why any good plenum spacer isn't made of aluminum is because aluminum is a great conductor of heat. So by making it aluminum, you're transferring more heat to the upper plenum, which means more hot air being sucked in and worse performance....

Being that the plenum spacer is a performance mod, that doesn't make sense. That's why the Motordyne plenum spacer is made of a material that doesn't conduct heat well (aramid I believe).

 

Here we go...

 

I see what you're saying but the whole darn plenum is aluminium?

I wouldn't have thought having a 5/16" of Alu would increase temps to affect performance. Isn't it like 9degress for every horse?

To be fair intake temps will be high when stopped at lights or in traffic, all intakes will induce high temps. Whilst moving air intake temps shouldn't really be that much higher than ambient temps?

I monitor my intake temps just as a rule of understanding what driving habits create increased temps. I'm pretty sure an Alu spacer wouldn't affect intake temps. I guess I could test it and report back I suppose.


And who said paint it! lol

 

From a marketing standpoint, with the demographic of most new owners, it won't really matter if it helps performance. If it is $150 or less and has a good profit margin for you at that price, and is blingy so the kiddies like it… you'll sell a bundle and make some money.

 

Im sure the temps wont affect it that bad...maybe if youre boosted it might, idunno, but all i saw was a gain with an mrev2...i have an 06. Didnt care about temps, i bypassed the throttle body coolant lines anyway...some people just wanna slap a brotha down! Ive done that from time to time lol

 

Going SC hopefully soon (once the chap in classifieds responds to my mail) so if it affects temps it'll be taken off.

As long as you've got the right setup, cooling and breather modifications, intake temps shouldn't be an issue.


Agreed with Sparkle, THE most popular mod is the plenum spacer. If its cheaper and does the job of a Motordyne then superb. It will even look right sat between the plenum. I know my spacer has become grubby in 2.5 years and needs a facelift. I've started to become **** with my engine bay and always looking at bits that make it look messy. Here's where I'm at so far.... (this is my 3rd engine bay colour theme lol)



And you can see my grubby spacer. Now if that was anodised red, perfect!

 

Anodized. Anodizing.

If you want to sell it, spell it correctly.