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MG MGB Technical - Best way to cut phenolic spacers (carb spacers)

It looks like I'm going to have to cut my phenolic spacers that fit between the carbs and the intake manifold in half so that my air filters don't rub the hood when I close it. Before I take my hacksaw to them, does anyone have any recommendations/experience on the best way to cut these?
SteveO

Steve,

Your computer has the Klez virus, it's been sending to Mike B in St. Louis. Need to break out the Lysol.
Paul K

Steve - If you can get access to a band saw, it will be much easier to cut the spacers evenly. Good luck - Dave
David DuBois

Steve,
cutting the spacer in half may present some linkage interference problems. There are some conical filters that will provide a good deal more clearance than even the pancake filters.
Mark Childers

...and the spacers are probably that thick for a reason. Insulation and clearance between carbs and heat shield are the first two that come to mind.

In your shoes, I think I'd take a hammer and modify the air filter for the short term, and begin a search for a better solution for the long term. The conical filter is one. Barry Kindig's custom air box uses some kind of off-center filter housing. That may be another possibility.
Matt Kulka

I'd thought about the conical filters, but after reading some of the comments in the archives, it seemed like they didn't flow as well as the normal style ones. Does anyone know what the style # for this K&N filter is?
Now I really like the idea of Barry Kindig's custom air box; that would probably be the ticket, however it's not a readily available product at the moment. I might contact Mike Brown and see if he has any production plans.
I've put on a new Maniflow intake manifold which extends away from the head by at least a 1/2" more than the standard SU intake. My thinking was that if I cut a 1/2" from the carb spacers, the filters would fit beneath the midget-hood-trunk-gas-charged-props.htm>hood properly, and I'd still have the float bowls approximately the same distance from the headers as they originally were. I'd have to reshape/pound my heatshield so that the linkages would clear, but I don't think that will be a big problem. I'm so close to finally getting this thing back on the road, all the little things keep getting in the way.
SteveO

IF I were going to reduce these, Steve,( and I doubt I would) I'd chuck them up in a 4 jaw chuck on the lathe, and simply face them off, using a sharp, honed, universal knife tool. this way you could check each cut reduction, if need be. Of course, you need a lathe.
Ken R
Ken Rich

SteveO,

I didn't mean that you should use Barry's entire box.

The air cleaner mounted on the front of the box is not centered on the carb-end hole. I don't know whether the off-center buys you left-right or up-down alignment change, but it would be worth getting his pictures and asking the source of his filter housing.

Ken brings up a great point missed by all of us. To reiterate, if the spacers aren't cut exactly the same, you may have problems with the linkage binding.


Matt Kulka

Check with APT. They have spacers in several thicknesses and you still have the originals if the thinner ones don't work.
Leland Bradley

APT also has air filter bases for K&N filters that are offset in height. I believe Matt was refering to this type. This link compares it to a regular one, in your case I think you'd want to flip it the other way, but that should be obvious.

http://www.aptfast.com/Images_Parts/kn/Filters_Components/MSS-4K&N.jpg

This link will take you to their complet selection of filters and bases.

http://www.aptfast.com/APT_Parts/KN_Parts/a_KN_Filters.htm

Jared Snider

I've looked at the APT site in great detail, and figured that the .350" spacers should do the trick. As an experiment, since the car was not going anywhere until I resolved this issue, I used my hacksaw and chopped one of the originals down to the approximate size of the APT ones. I figured that if it gave me the necessary clearance, I'd know exactly what I needed. But boy did I butcher that spacer. Never ever try and cut it with a hacksaw! I found that I have the clearance needed, so I ordered the spacers from APT. The one I destroyed now will be placed on my shelf with other parts and pieces that I've ruined over the years. Clearance with the existing heatshield was now a definite problem. While perusing the APT site, I found that they had a HS4 heatshield kit that will allow clearance of the linkages. It is actually 2 pieces, that is an individual heatshield for each carb, with the area between the carbs open. I'm not sure what affect that will have on the heat transfer from the header to the carbs, but there seems to be enough of the heatshield to protect the carb and the fuel bowls adequately.
I'd considered the offset filters, but that would have cost me a fair bit more, especially when my existing K&N filters are almost new.
Sorry for rambling, but I'd have to agree with Dave Dubois, use a bandsaw or something along those lines, because a hacksaw will never provide a clean & accurate enough cut to make the spacers useable. Ken, the lathe would be nice too...
I asked Mike Brown about the air box that he made for Barry, but I got the distinct impression that Barry's will be one of a kind; it's not something that he wants to get into on a regular basis.
SteveO

Steve-
nice to know you got it all figured out with using thinner spacers as the offset filter bases wouldn't have worked anyway. I have a pair of the regular centered bases from APT on my car and I went out to take a look at cleanance, etc. I realized that turning the offset base around so that the bulk of the filter is below the carb would block the two air passages into the dashpot. I also found that one of my bases and stub stacks was upside down and blocking these very passages on my carb and I didn't even think the car was running bad. I'm going out tonight to see what difference having everything lined up properly makes.

For the archives or anyone else interested, I believe APT offers a base that does not have holes cut out so that one may may adapt it to any setup they wish. I think APT punches the holes out themself so I'm sure that if one asked they could punch it out so the offset base will properly fit as I suggested earlier.
Jared Snider

Jared,
Thanks for the tip! I'd also figured that I could use the offset bases, and just change the stub-stack so that it's holes would line up properly. I didn't even think about the holes in the base that had to match! Doh! Did changing your base/stub stack around make any difference? The solid base with holes punched out for my specific requirements might be the only way to go. However, I received my thin APT spacers today, and they are beautiful. They drop the filters sufficiently to close the hood, and now I have an additional vacuum connection if I need it. I'm thrilled about that.
I also picked up an HS4 heatshield kit because I didn't want to trash my original heatshield by cutting chunks out of it so that the linkages wouldn't bind. The new kit accomplishes this very nicely, however the backs don't have any form of insulation, the piece of metal supplied to connect the return springs doesn't fit, and there is no place to attach the throttle cable stop. I've put some insulation on the back of the heatshield, but I'm still trying to figure out how to connect the throttle cable. Damn! I guess that's why they call it a kit...
For a moment there, I seriously thought about removing the Maniflow intake, and just going back to the stock pieces, which I know fit perfectly.
SteveO

This thread was discussed between 06/06/2002 and 13/06/2002

MG MGB Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGB Technical BBS is active now.