Upgrading stock 80 carb and intake have Question

[BobsCT124]

Greetings. I'm in the process of up grading the carburetor and intake manifold. Carburetor is a new weber 32/36 DFEV. The intake manifold is a single plane from a 1800cc. I have run into a issue. I can't get the studs from old carburetor put of the intake manifold. And the studs are at least an inch to long. Question can I put a 1" aluminum spacer between the intake and the carburetor? Will this hurt performance? Thanks for any information.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Just to make sure I understand your question: You can't remove the 4 studs in the old intake manifold to use in the new single plane manifold? I do recall that these studs can be pretty tight, and yours might have some sort of thread locker or sealant. Have you tried the "trick" of tightly locking two 13mm nuts on the threads of a stud, and then turning the bottom one counterclockwise to remove the stud? Sometimes it takes this method together with a vise grip around the smooth part of the stud to get them loose.

Another trick is to gently heat the studs with a propane torch, let them cool, and try again. Don't use a welding torch or the like as that could melt the aluminum intake manifold.

As for the spacer, I suppose that would work, but there might be issues with the air cleaner housing not bolting down to the cam box housing as it should (unless you're using a free-standing air cleaner housing), hood clearance issues with whichever air cleaner housing you've got, and your throttle linkage might have to be adjusted.

-Bryan

[scrapironchef]

There's usually a phenolic spacer about a half inch thick between the manifold and carb to prevent heat soak, look for that before giving up on the existing studs. The double nut trick and a little heat are usually all that is needed if they have to come out.

[bobplyler]

You need a spacer. All the vendors have them.

[SteinOnkel]

You need a spacer. All the vendors have them.

Yes, and in woeful build quality. I had to redrill 3/4 of the holes, the spacing was completely lopsided. The glue they use for the gaskets is also not heat-resistant, so if you ever take it apart again, the whole thing becomes a hot sticky mess.

I ended up building my own out of cork-rubber sheets, some plastic sheeting and a hole saw. Much better.