Phenolic vs Aluminum Carb Spacer

So I ordered an HVH 1" phenolic carb spacer for a summer driven (maybe 2K a year) street car. I ordered the phenolic instead of aluminum primarily for its heat insulating properties. Well I received the exact spacer that I wanted only its aluminum. The box was tagged correctly but the spacer within was the wrong material. So my question, is the universe telling me that I should be using an aluminum spacer? I figured from a company like HVH the phenolic would be of high enough quality that I wouldn't have to worry about warpage or material degradation on a street car. Has anyone ran a phenolic spacer on the street long term?

wickettoby1 wrote:So I ordered an HVH 1" phenolic carb spacer for a summer driven (maybe 2K a year) street car. I ordered the phenolic instead of aluminum primarily for its heat insulating properties. Well I received the exact spacer that I wanted only its aluminum. The box was tagged correctly but the spacer within was the wrong material. So my question, is the universe telling me that I should be using an aluminum spacer? I figured from a company like HVH the phenolic would be of high enough quality that I wouldn't have to worry about warpage or material degradation on a street car. Has anyone ran a phenolic spacer on the street long term 

I have on my 69F100 for a couple of years with no problem but mine is a 2" 4 hole

I believe HVH does not make a phenolic spacer, they make a plastic (nylon?) spacer that is listed for (and marked as) drag race ONLY. Jomar (powercone) is the manufacturer of the phenolic ones.

A lot of companies out there advertise a "phenolic" spacer when it really is not that true "phenolic" MATERIAL at all.

Be aware ...

Ford and other manufacturers used phenolic spacers on some models back in the 70's and 80's. Shouldn't have any problems.

stanger68 wrote:Ford and other manufacturers used phenolic spacers on some models back in the 70's and 80's. Shouldn't have any problems.

Ford Motor Company used "BAKELITE" material which is commonly referred incorrectly as phenolic because it has phenol in its chemical make-up and is an effective heat barrier but, never true "Phenolic" which was mostly thin and used for circuit boards in electronic equipment.

rmcomprandy wrote:

stanger68 wrote:Ford and other manufacturers used phenolic spacers on some models back in the 70's and 80's. Shouldn't have any problems.

Ford Motor Company used "BAKELITE" material but, never true "Phenolic" which was mostly thin and used for circuit boards in electronic equipment.

Is phenolic not basically bakelite with fiber reinforcement?

stanger68 wrote:

rmcomprandy wrote:

stanger68 wrote:Ford and other manufacturers used phenolic spacers on some models back in the 70's and 80's. Shouldn't have any problems.

Ford Motor Company used "BAKELITE" material but, never true "Phenolic" which was mostly thin and used for circuit boards in electronic equipment.

Is phenolic not basically bakelite with fiber reinforcement?

Kind-of ... Bakelite is a resin / filler type free standing material and can be casted where Phenolic board is re-inforced resin, pressed material.

They both work equally well as simply a heat barrier but, phenolic board is laminated and stronger; especially when thin.

I guess if it has some Phenol in it, it can be called "Phenolic" but, there is a difference.
Some spacers are simply an epoxy resin, plastic or nylon type material and are mislabeled as phenolic.

pmrphil wrote:I believe HVH does not make a phenolic spacer, they make a plastic (nylon?) spacer that is listed for (and marked as) drag race ONLY.  Jomar (powercone) is the manufacturer of the phenolic ones.

The reason they say "drag race only" now is because the material isn't really good when the under hood temps get very high. I have a friend who has a customer who had one of those on a land speed record car(before they were labeled as drag race only) and at the end of the run the throttle would not close because one of those HVH spacers had melted under the carburetor. No harm done but he had plenty of time to get it shut down.

Well damn! Thanks for the chemistry lesson guys.

Looking back at the HVH website is does say plastic and not phenolic in the decreption. I guess my two options are to keep the HVH aluminum spacer or send it back and get a phenolic powercone. This is going on a dominator flange AFR intake so I like the idea of using a spacer specifically designed for a cloverleaf intake pad. FYI the spacer I received from HVH is the SS4500-1CAL.

wickettoby1 wrote:Well damn! Thanks for the chemistry lesson guys.

Looking back at the HVH website is does say plastic and not phenolic in the decreption. I guess my two options are to keep the HVH aluminum spacer or send it back and get a phenolic powercone. This is going on a dominator flange AFR intake so I like the idea of using a spacer specifically designed for a cloverleaf intake pad. FYI the spacer I received from HVH is the SS4500-1CAL.

The "Powercone" is designed for an open plenum but, Jomar does have several Cloverleaf type spacers or straight 4 hole spacers.

I was looking on Jomar's website and you are correct, they offer quite a variety of spacers. I'll probably send this aluminum HVH back and a phenolic Jomar.

rmcomprandy wrote:

stanger68 wrote:

rmcomprandy wrote:

stanger68 wrote:Ford and other manufacturers used phenolic spacers on some models back in the 70's and 80's. Shouldn't have any problems.

Ford Motor Company used "BAKELITE" material but, never true "Phenolic" which was mostly thin and used for circuit boards in electronic equipment.

Is phenolic not basically bakelite with fiber reinforcement?

Kind-of ... Bakelite is a resin / filler type free standing material and can be casted where Phenolic board is re-inforced resin, pressed material.

They both work equally well as simply a heat barrier but, phenolic board is laminated and stronger; especially when thin.

I guess if it has some Phenol in it, it can be called "Phenolic" but, there is a difference.
Some spacers are simply an epoxy resin, plastic or nylon type material and are mislabeled as phenolic.

Ok so we are on the same page. Yes I have seen some old ford with phenolic spacers. They did also use black high temp plastic. Can’t ssy I ever saw a Ford with a Bakelite spacer. The original Bakelite material that is used in electrical devices is very hard and brittle. Never seen a true Bakelite carb spacer. Not saying they don’t exist. Just never saw one

What Randy said....

stanger68 wrote:

rmcomprandy wrote:

I guess if it has some Phenol in it, it can be called "Phenolic" but, there is a difference.
Some spacers are simply an epoxy resin, plastic or nylon type material and are mislabeled as phenolic.

Ok so we are on the same page. Yes I have seen some old ford with phenolic spacers. They did also use black high temp plastic. Can’t ssy I ever saw a Ford with a Bakelite spacer. The original Bakelite material that is used in electrical devices is very hard and brittle. Never seen a true Bakelite carb spacer. Not saying they don’t exist. Just never saw one  

Just yesterday, I moved a whole stack of old Ford Motor Company black "Bakelite" carb spacers for Autolite 2 barrel carbs