Ecotec Question

[Burniehoon]

Hey all i have a 2001 VX Commodore and I'm looking to do a few things to her in the near future but I've been doing some research and it seems to me a good starting poin would be a cold air intake and a 12mm plenum spacer both from Mace for around 400 delivered.
So one is this a good price for the both
Two will I see and gain from these two mods eg economy response and power
Three do they work well together or am I mssing something?

Would love some imput to help make my descision thanks guys.

[Blakvsexec]

you wont get any noticeable gains from these.

[klampy]

you wont get any noticeable gains from these.

are you on drugs?

i put a 12mm spacer on my wifes VX. i made the mistake of mismatching a VS spacer onto the VX mani, so had a nasty air leak. but once i sealed it up, i had a noticable gain in top end pull and minor, but a small improvement in fuel economy.

the only other thing the car has on is 2.5inch cat back exhaust. so IMO a cold air intake including something like a K+N filter or Lukey polyfilter(instead of paper) would certainly be a noticable package.

[Adam_88]

you wont get any noticeable gains from these.

i 2nd this, rockers are the best bang for your buck

[holden_4aw_lyfe]

the first thing i bought from mace was the cold air intake, and the second thing i bought was the spacers LOL! i noticed a good difference in both, gained 10rwkw?? something around there. it depends on the car i think. Some people say it dosent work but i beg to differ...

[klampy]

as we know, the spacer also works as an insulator, helping to reduce heat soak. and cooler air as we know, has more oxygen per gram meaning more bang. so even if its only there for the economy factor, anything added to the spacer, like rockers/extractors ect, will be amplified in its effect on power output.

so my opinion, spacer and CAI are worth it as a good starting point.

[HamaTime™]

Umm. Yeah. Well, insulating benefits? You sure? Alot of people claim that the plenum stays pretty cool even after 1hour of driving with the manifold spacer in. I touched my Plenum and burnt my hand. The effects that I noticed from the spacers was the extension of the torque range, meaning it pulled harder lower in the RPM.

Completely up to you what you spend your money on, but don't expect much for the $$ spent.

[klampy]

Umm. Yeah. Well, insulating benefits? You sure? Alot of people claim that the plenum stays pretty cool even after 1hour of driving with the manifold spacer in.

yes, in my go, it stayed quite cool. but in saying that, i have removed the cover. even just removing the cover made the engine run a whole notch on the guage cooler...

without the spacer, it gets hot as. with it, i could touch the lid, yes it was still hot, but i coudl touch it compared to burning hot without it. at the end of the day, i research before buying anything. so its up to the OP to do some searching.
im sure that a single search on plenum spacer could yeild lots of different results to read.

[billy bob]

Don't go sticking any spacers on unless your fitting a larger throttle body. Fitting the spacer increases the volume of air that the plenum can hold. When you boot it, it will take longer for your plenum to fill up with air. Fitting a plenum spacer on its own will make your car less responsive to drive.

[Burniehoon]

Don't go sticking any spacers on unless your fitting a larger throttle body. Fitting the spacer increases the volume of air that the plenum can hold. When you boot it, it will take longer for your plenum to fill up with air. Fitting a plenum spacer on its own will make your car less responsive to drive.

Has anyone else had this issue?

[klampy]

its a bit of a grey area argument. of push vs suck....

theres two spacers. one goes in the runners, one goes in under the plenum lid.

now, my experience with mods is based on a VR but the principles are the same, i increased the size of my plenum. i lost torque down low. but picked up alot of power up high. so from what iv learned, longer runners shift your torque down the rev range, giving the appearance of having more down low. and the idea of the lid spacer, is to give a better distribution of air inside the chamber for less stagnant air meaning more free flowing air available to the runners when the cam opens the valves.

at the end of the day, a stock TB can only flow so much, but by adding the spacers your not changing the amount the engine ingests, your changing how it ingests it.

all i can say, is that my experience with the lower spacer (12mm) was a positive one. more torque and better economy.

[MACE]

Don't go sticking any spacers on unless your fitting a larger throttle body. Fitting the spacer increases the volume of air that the plenum can hold. When you boot it, it will take longer for your plenum to fill up with air. Fitting a plenum spacer on its own will make your car less responsive to drive.

What size spacer do you have? Fitting any plenum spacer using a standard throttle body will dull throttle response. I suppose it depends on ones standard or expectations, however the 12mm plenum spacer is fine for NA engines running a standard or larger throttle body, while the 25mm item is recommended for boosted setups. It's more to do with the plenum spacer and not so much the manifold insulator given the significant difference in volumes between the two

[immortality]

For economy i'd go the MACE CAI, 25mm manifold spacer and 12mm plenum spacer. I have these on the missus VS and my long term fuel average has improved by at least 1litre per 100km's. runs better too

Umm. Yeah. Well, insulating benefits? You sure? Alot of people claim that the plenum stays pretty cool even after 1hour of driving with the manifold spacer in. I touched my Plenum and burnt my hand.

I think it comes down to the style of driving as well. I've noticed that if your stuck in traffic or doing lots of stop/start driving then the plenum does still get fairly warm, however after a decent stint on the open road the plenum cools down fairly well. luke warm would be a good description i guess. ambient temps may also have a effect. before the fitting of the spacers/insulators you could easily cook a egg on the plenum cover if the temps still bother you, fit a cooler thermostat. MACE sell them to suit the ecotec/L67

[billy bob]

its a bit of a grey area argument. of push vs suck....

theres two spacers. one goes in the runners, one goes in under the plenum lid.

now, my experience with mods is based on a VR but the principles are the same, i increased the size of my plenum. i lost torque down low. but picked up alot of power up high. so from what iv learned, longer runners shift your torque down the rev range, giving the appearance of having more down low. and the idea of the lid spacer, is to give a better distribution of air inside the chamber for less stagnant air meaning more free flowing air available to the runners when the cam opens the valves.

at the end of the day, a stock TB can only flow so much, but by adding the spacers your not changing the amount the engine ingests, your changing how it ingests it.

all i can say, is that my experience with the lower spacer (12mm) was a positive one. more torque and better economy.

Do you have both spacers? If your just fitting the bottom one your mainly increasing the runner lenght without effecting plenum volume substantially. If going top and bottom I would go 24mm bottom and 12mm top with a 69mm throttle body.

[klampy]

Do you have both spacers? If your just fitting the bottom one your mainly increasing the runner lenght without effecting plenum volume substantially. If going top and bottom I would go 24mm bottom and 12mm top with a 69mm throttle body.

its not me in question here. and i took the one out of my wifes VX coz it was a VS spacer, PCV was in a different spot. and i noticed a big drop in power after it was removed. so with more cash, i would certainly not hesitate to buy another for her car.

[ajvx01]

if you listen to steve's advice the spacers DO work, i have both...
cai makes throttle responce alot better.