Was in a situation with my intake manifold. I got a custom plenum spacer put on but the only problem was there is no gasket for it and copper spray must be used to seal it. Well the E85 ate thru the copper spray leaving me with a major vacuum.boost leak.

As you can see on some parts of the wooden spacer toward the edges it is discolored/wet from the E85.



The options I were given were to take off and throw away the spacer then screw or weld manifold back together.


My solution!!

1. Got a 2nd unused Forrester (this is from Forretser).
2. have wooden plenum spacer cnc'd and welded on.
3. polish down intake manifold.

What do you think? This thing is ####ing HUGE !!!!!

The Forrester had a Boomba racing TB flange welded on. It was port matched for a Q45 TB flange and welded on

Looks great! Now all you have to do is put it on and post up some reults!

keltalon said:

Looks great! Now all you have to do is put it on and post up some reults!

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It's on right now. We decided my fuel setup was a restriction and we want to get as much of the 92lb/min of flow my turbo can push out so my tank is being sumped and rerouting my 2 044's inline. The old manifold was the biggest boost leak. Although it was spinning the tires at 24psi in 3rd gear it would drop to 16psi. It couldn't be felt but that's alot of power loss (still beat a Z06 from a roll ). Mike Reichen and I will be hitting the dyno soon.

Looks great!!!! The only thing i'm having trouble with is that you used WOOD as a spacer on a high performance car (not sure weather to laugh of just shake my head ) but aside.. you sure it was wood or was it that synthetic material that looks like wood ( i can't recall the nam but i have a big chunk n my "odd stock" bin in the shop)

like it best the new way... man i can't wait to finish my SMIM.... how much gain do ya notice on one in general from a 1g IM? I mean i'm already at 430+ hp on e85 @ 28-30psi

turboglenn said:

Looks great!!!! The only thing i'm having trouble with is that you used WOOD as a spacer on a high performance car (not sure weather to laugh of just shake my head ) but aside.. you sure it was wood or was it that synthetic material that looks like wood ( i can't recall the nam but i have a big chunk n my "odd stock" bin in the shop)

like it best the new way... man i can't wait to finish my SMIM.... how much gain do ya notice on one in general from a 1g IM? I mean i'm already at 430+ hp on e85 @ 28-30psi

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Guess you don't really know about Forrester Intake Manifold. A little history lesson for you. They all use a wood "phenolic" spacers between the head of the car. Wood is a poor conductor of heat and therefore thermally efficient. It's an old school trick. They put the spacer between the carburetor and intake manifold. I am not 100% sure it is wood but i think it is. Forrester designed another spacer for the plenum. Over a regular forrester running a 35R it showed gains of 35+whp on top end with very little to no low end loss and no mid range loss. I must state the spacer was not the cause of my issues. It was an installation issue. I still use the wood spacer on the head as everyone should when running a forrester.

spoolin ddub said:

Guess you don't really know about Forrester Intake Manifold. A little history lesson for you. They all use a wood "phenolic" spacers between the head of the car. Wood is a poor conductor of heat and therefore thermally efficient. It's an old school trick. They put the spacer between the carburetor and intake manifold. I am not 100% sure it is wood but i think it is. Forrester designed another spacer for the plenum. Over a regular forrester running a 35R it showed gains of 35+whp on top end with very little to no low end loss and no mid range loss. I must state the spacer was not the cause of my issues. It was an installation issue. I still use the wood spacer on the head as everyone should when running a forrester.

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interesting.. and i wasn't knockin ya or anything, just seems like wood is the last thing you expect to see under the hood of a car. And with wood being soft, i guess i assume it would not only crush unevenly in some areas but also splinter, and with time soften up and rot.

I know all about phenolic spacers, I usually make them out of PTFE, and the "wood-like" material i have that i mentioned before (for the life of me i can't remember the name, but it looks like compressed wood witha resin imbedded in and on it. But it's not wood it some funky name and recently i saw a company machining helical cut gears for 1/5th scale RC cars that i have out of it, supposedly very strong and it a really good phenolic spacer material. I'm just picturing opening a hood and seeing a 2x4 with the center routed out being squeezed to the head by the manifold, a little sap drippin out, some deck screws and marked "pressure treated" I wasn't tryin to make fun of ya or anything i just have an over active imagination and as i mentioned to some one else yesterday. After 2 years of being in so much pain i couldn't laugh at the best of jokes, now that i'm making some improvements, my sense of humor and imagination are working overtime... And i think the end result with the CNC cut spacer welded in looks better in my opinion. Did you do the welding on that and the TB flange? Looks like decent job, especially for welding to cast. Also, I i was just gonna ask what filler you chose because i've always kinda debated back and forth on my own SMIM builds between 5356 and 4043,(with the cast though i'm assuming you used the 4043) one is stronger above 150* F and the other is stronger under 150*, one wets up nicer, and one turns black when anodizing while the other doesn't, and i'm always talking with other weldors/fabricators about filler rod choices and such.. I just love metal and working with it, never been much of a wood guy, but i have carved initials in the occasional tree and painted a lot of it in the past when i owned my home painting business..

again, no offense was intended, just my mind's humorous side workin overtime, sorry

Phenloic spacers are not made of wood.

"(materials) Canvas, linen, kraft paper, glass fiber, or other substrate impregnated with 30% or more of thermosetting phenolic resin and cured; used for structural, mechanical, and electrical purposes."

The actual substrate and resin used depend on the intended use.

Hal

turboglenn said:

Did you do the welding on that and the TB flange? Looks like decent job, especially for welding to cast. Also, I i was just gonna ask what filler you chose because i've always kinda debated back and forth on my own SMIM builds between 5356 and 4043,(with the cast though i'm assuming you used the 4043) one is stronger above 150* F and the other is stronger under 150*, one wets up nicer, and one turns black when anodizing while the other doesn't, and i'm always talking with other weldors/fabricators about filler rod choices and such.. I just love metal and working with it, never been much of a wood guy, but i have carved initials in the occasional tree and painted a lot of it in the past when i owned my home painting business..

again, no offense was intended, just my mind's humorous side workin overtime, sorry

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Its all good . I didn't weld the TB.

Bringing this back. Doing a new setup so had to touch my custom Forrester. My boy Mike the detailer sanded it down and polished it for me.

Oh snap!!

Did you ever dyno it? If not show us the nummmmmberss

jcart953 said:

Did you ever dyno it? If not show us the nummmmmberss

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Had multiple issues and restrictions that made it pointless to get the car fully tuned. Dont worry i cant wait to see what she puts down.

spoolin ddub said:

Had multiple issues and restrictions that made it pointless to get the car fully tuned. Dont worry i cant wait to see what she puts down.

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I think she gonna be mean!!!

keltalon said:

I think she gonna be mean!!!

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We will see !

Oh snapp!! Looking good...

Jesus, your just now getting it back together? I've allready had my motor out freshened up, gone fast, destroyed two trans's and gone even faster.

The rate your going, I'll have gotten tired of my car before you even make good on your call out.

bastarddsm said:

Jesus, your just now getting it back together? I've allready had my motor out freshened up, gone fast, destroyed two trans's and gone even faster.

The rate your going, I'll have gotten tired of my car before you even make good on your call out.

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thats how it goes when you change the entire setup. You'd be shocked by exactly how much I changed . What do you mean by gone fast? How fast? But dont worry ill ride down on you very soon. If you not ready as you can see im patient. Ill get you eventually .

spoolin ddub said:

thats how it goes when you change the entire setup. You'd be shocked by exactly how much I changed . What do you mean by gone fast? How fast? But dont worry ill ride down on you very soon. If you not ready as you can see im patient. Ill get you eventually .

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Dubb do you think your car will out run a mustang gt with your new set up

PS. just messing with you. Hey dude take your time and do it right you have invested too much money, many of sleepless nights, lots of miles on other cars putting this set up together and have suffered much negativity to rush. You have to post a video of the first start up

i just heard about that intake manifold yesterday for the first time and i come on here and somebody is actually running one. interested to see some results from it.

on a side note, that polish job on the intake manifold isnt that great. if you want a good shine out of it, shoot me a PM. ill do it for free just pay shipping both ways

xi Talon ix said:

i just heard about that intake manifold yesterday for the first time and i come on here and somebody is actually running one. interested to see some results from it.

on a side note, that polish job on the intake manifold isnt that great. if you want a good shine out of it, shoot me a PM. ill do it for free just pay shipping both ways

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The don't let the phone and camera pics fool you. Believe me they dont do it justice. In person it looks like a straight up mirror. It's sad so many people do not know about Forrester's. To me its still the best intake manifold. From street car to all out Drag car it has been proven for years.

See
http://youtu.be/1-jdEj5eMcM

keltalon said:

Dubb do you think your car will out run a mustang gt with your new set up

PS. just messing with you. Hey dude take your time and do it right you have invested too much money, many of sleepless nights, lots of miles on other cars putting this set up together and have suffered much negativity to rush. You have to post a video of the first start up

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yeah i took my time. I drove to the machine shop 135 miles one way 2 sometimes 3 times a week to comeup with this setup and check to make sure things are done right. I found out the last machine shop wrecked havoc on my head. Valve job was garbage and so on. Although it wasn't fully tuned it was still fast enough where I could enjoyed i tand trap pretty ok. But now its time to let them thangs hang to da floor. Hopefully I can hit the rollers before the shootout if TRE can get my trans to me in time (thread on trans coming soon ). I plan to hit the Dyno Dynamics first, but I also want to hit a dynojet and a mustang dyno. And compare all 3 .

i mean weld the manifold together to eliminate the spacer..,my bad, also... did you ever try cutting a gasket from gasket paper??

what kinda timing you running and what boost to keep the enging safe through 4th 5th gears at wide open?

turboglenn said:

i mean weld the manifold together to eliminate the spacer..,my bad, also... did you ever try cutting a gasket from gasket paper??

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No. By being a barrier the phenolic spacer creates less heat to the head. It transfers like 8-10 times less heat. Look at it as a mini heat exchanger instead of just a spacer. Less heat = More power. It has a purpose.

spoolin ddub said:

The don't let the phone and camera pics fool you. Believe me they dont do it justice. In person it looks like a straight up mirror. It's sad so many people do not know about Forrester's. To me its still the best intake manifold. From street car to all out Drag car it has been proven for years.

See
237 MPH! World's Fastest EVO! - YouTube

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If i remember right, Mike wasnt using a Forrester intake in that pass

Hogan SMIM V3 and MAGUNS CAST beats it. I have run all three on street to drag to standing mile car.