Anyone Interested In Phenolic Spacers For The Sc3?

[97SC]

Or even the SC4 for that matter...

I talked with a guy at outlaw engineering if you guys are interested i'd like to see these made. Price is around $100 a set with hardware and they would need 20 commitments. Check out the site and let me know what you think. They have dyno sheets listed on the site also.

Here's the email:

Mike,

We do not currently offer an application for this Toyota, but this is

one of the applications that we may consider. We generally request 20

commitments prior to the design, prototyping, and production of a new

performance part. Pricing for a set, including intake manifold and throttle

body insulators along with necessary hardware such as lengthened studs would

be in the $100 range.

To prototype a new set, we generally prefer to have acces to a full

vehicle. This will allow us to investigate fit-up issues and to do a before

and after dyno test to asses performance increase. We are located in

Indianapolis, so if there are any interested parties in the central Indiana

area that would be interested in having their vehicle used as a test bed,

please step up. This would include a short session to evaluate the vehicle

and take measurement data, followed by another session a short time later to

install and evaluate the prototype set. This, of course, would be done

free of charge.

Please asses the interest for your group and let us know.

Best regards,

Sean Morgan

Outlaw Engineering

www.outlawengineering.com

----- Original Message -----

From: "Mike Fulkerson" <mfulkrsn@stanford.edu>

To: <sales@outlawengineering.com>

Sent: Monday, December 08, 2003 5:07 PM

Subject: Kit development question

> Do you plan on doing a kit for the Lexus SC300/Toyota Supra? I have a 97

> SC300 and would be interested to see a dyno with your product. The engine

> bay in the inline 6 gets HOT(engine bay temps) especially with the intake

> above the header. Keep up the good work!

> -Mike

[SCoupe]

Ok, I had no freaking idea what this did, so probably someone else will be in same boat:

" ThermoBlok spacers are thermal insulating replacements for your stock intake manifold and throttlebody gaskets. Made from a heat blocking phenolic laminate, ThermoBlok spacers increase power from your engine by keeping the intake cooler.

Makes alot of sense to me, for $100 bucks sounds reasonable. Wondering about how big of a hassles this is for a d.i.y ? Also, you may want to post this over on the SupraForum, big perfomance minded bunch of non-turbo 2jz-gt owners over there that would add to the count. Have to wonder if this would work on the gte turbo as well.

[SPORTcoupe300]

DIY should be pretty simple if you've ever done the full tune-up on the SC.

In order to get to the plugs we have to remove the intake manifold anyways so changing the gasket from there is an extra half a step.

As for how it actually affects power, I really don't see how there would be a performance gain.

AWJ....know anything about this?

[97SC]

The guys over at www.probetalk.com recently had these made for them for the KL03/KLZE Series Mazda engines with good results so I thought i'd post over here because club lexus closed my thread <_< Personally if I could get about 8-10 hp/tq out of this I think it's well worth it for around $100. Plus they dyno test their products so you can't go wrong

[Sadistic]

KLZE engines huh? I have an MX-6 I should give it a shot. 8 hp for $100 bucks seems a little unrealistic though. I wouldn't be surprised if it's more like 2 hp.

[SPORTcoupe300]

My thinking exactly......but go for it if you have the cash and let us know how it goes.

[97SC]

KLZE engines huh?  I have an MX-6 I should give it a shot.  8 hp for $100 bucks seems a little unrealistic though.  I wouldn't be surprised if it's more like 2 hp.

Are you in WISPOC? http://www.probetalk.com/forums/forumdispl...?s=&forumid=121 Their website's down so this is probably the best way to reach the members. My CC has delt with them personally(in the development) so I know the dyno numbers are correct, but remember the +8 hp is peak hp increase, as you can see from the dyno it's not quite across the whole powerband equally as high, but check out the dyno sheet on their site. If there are enough of us interested then i'd like to see this happen.

[AWJ]

DIY should be pretty simple if you've ever done the full tune-up on the SC.

In order to get to the plugs we have to remove the intake manifold anyways so changing the gasket from there is an extra half a step.

As for how it actually affects power, I really don't see how there would be a performance gain.

AWJ....know anything about this?

Sorry.

Missed the question I guess. I can't give an exact answer because I just plain don't know, but I can speculate. It depends on where these spacers are being installed. We have a throttle body that bolts into a y split type (prerunner - I'll call it). From the prerunner we go into the upper intak manifold consisting of the plenum, ACIS valve, and beginning runners. Then we have the lower intake that bolts into the head. The naturally aspirated 2jz-ge features this long runner intake manifold. It is touted to produce nice low end torque. As rpms increase - this ACIS valve consisting of a butterfly style flap - opens and allows for an enhanced upper end performance by opening up the plenum and attempting to equalize flow through out. As I understand it.

Now - where would this spacer go? As long and developed as the NA 2jz motor intake manifold is, I don't expect much gain to be realized by making it any longer. Putting a spacer at the head is a bad idea IMO. Putting a spacer between the upper and lower intake manifold is not a very good idea either in my opinion. It might be possible to put one between the prerunner and the upper intake manifold. Likewise, it might be possible to put a spacer where the throttle body meets the pre runner. This is common in Mustang and other V8 circles and referred to as a throttle body spacer. This piece alone is not going to do much. To realize full benefits of this peice on a naturally aspirated motor - one would need to have high flow headers, porting, cams, timing tweaks, and anything else that would compliment. Of course tuning is going to be key.

Will this piece give your NA 2jz 8 horsepower? I would be extremely suprised if it did. I don't think the factory design can be much improved upon aside from putting a turbo on it and going with the side draft pressure chamber plenum a la gte. Even then - this intake work is un-necessary in my opinion unless significant power is being considered - i.e. over 600 horsies.

I can go on all day. I'll stop now though. I am by no means any authority figure on this subject. Dyno charts are the proof. If there is a dyno showing that this spacer gives the 2j 8 ponies without any other changes then I will take it all back. But I don't think it will do much of anything if not reduce low end performance. It might give a little kick at 5,500 rpm. Not enough to justify the loss IMO. I would like to see someone try it though and show the results. I would be pleasantly surprised to see a nice gain. At 100$ - it is a no harm, no foul kind of thing. I know LL has some experience with this stuff - maybe he can chime in as well.

[Sadistic]

You know where these might actually helpful? On the VVT cars. If the spacer was big enough, that would maximize the amount of air ready in the manifold to be forced in, I could see it adding a few extra horses there when VVT kicked over to the bigger lobe. The more air packed into the manifold the more air that's going to get into the head.