A different custom order. Lol

[kmmcrafts]

So a friend of mine does circle track racing. Contacted me today to see about making him a throddle body spacer for the race car. He has the gasket and said I just need to copy the gasket. He’s wanting 1/4” thick. My question is if anyone might know. What wood would be best for this? As it would be on the engine and heating up and cool down. I’m actually thinking some sort of plastic would be better than wood. But also thought bb plywood would be the most stable wood probably? Maybe paint it with temp paint? 

Anyone have any suggestions or tips? Never took on a project like that before, though my son and I was going to make a throddle body spacer for a build we are doing. We was just going to build as a mock up and a test to see what would work best for our build before having one machines to our specs.

[Scrappile]

I would use that white stuff, not plastic but kind like plastic, dang, can't think of the name of it.  Used in cutting boards and it is on my table saw fence.... what the heck is the name..... I hate getting senile..... Someone will know.  You find it used to make cutting boards among many other things,  also, fact that is the cheapest way to buy it, buy a cutting board.  I'll get back if it ever finds it's way back into my gray mush of a brain.

Edited November 19, 2017 by Scrappile

[Claymore]

Corian might work? 

Brian

[kmmcrafts]

36 minutes ago, Scrappile said:

I would use that white stuff, not plastic but kind like plastic, dang, can't think of the name of it.  Used in cutting boards and it is on my table saw fence.... what the heck is the name..... I hate getting senile..... Someone will know.  You find it used to make cutting boards among many other things,  also, fact that is the cheapest way to buy it, buy a cutting board.  I'll get back if it ever finds it's way back into my gray mush of a brain.

That was what I was thinking of, but like you I don’t know what it’s called. Lol

[Scrappile]

1 hour ago, kmmcrafts said:

That was what I was thinking of, but like you I don’t know what it’s called. Lol

Come on, you have to be younger than me,,,, earth is younger than me!!!!!!

[Woodmaster1]

Go buy the cutting board and cut it out. Probably cheaper than buying the plastic online. The plastic does machine really well. Good luck found what it is called UHMW.

Edited November 20, 2017 by Woodmaster1

[Scrappile]

2 hours ago, Woodmaster1 said:

Go buy the cutting board and cut it out. Probably cheaper than buying the plastic online. The plastic does machine really well. Good luck found what it is called UHMW.

Ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene

Yes of course exactly what I was thinking of,,, just came to me out of the blue....Did not require an internet search to look up what UHMW is.....

[WayneMahler]

Kevin

Thinking you are looking for HDMF. I use in my shop for guides for jigs. 

[Lucky2]

Kevin, will your saw cut aluminum that thick, if so, then that's what to use.

Len

Edited November 20, 2017 by Lucky2

[lawson56]

Yea,I was thinking the same as Len,If you can cut Aluminum, go with that.

[JimErn]

As stated aluminum, or copper, but your friend is going to also have to get another gasket, one for each side of the throttle body spacer.  And no matter what you cut, the top and bottom of the spacer needs to be machined flat to a high tolerance, most likely 0.010 or better.  Air is an enemy for throttle bodies, there has to be an air tight seal.  He would be better off going direct to a machinist shop and having it done.  I have  a friend, Tom, who does that kind of work, he is in Dallas, If your friend wants to get in touch with him, PM me.  Tom is well known for custom engine work and his machinery skills,

[kmmcrafts]

Yeah, Aluminum would be ideal material.. I think what he is doing is just more of an experiment and if all goes well he'll have a "more permanent" aluminum one made..  Not too sure maybe one could cut that thick of aluminum on a scroll saw.. probably be real slow going and use many blades, LOL 

[MrsN]

I have cut 1/4" aluminum with the scroll saw, went through a few blades and burned my fingers a bit (metal gets hot) but it works. 

My ex-husband did a lot of work with metals. He said that any blade that can cut a 2x4 can cut aluminum 1" thick, just slow down a bit. I saw him use a regular wood miter saw a few times. I don't really trust much of anything he said, but their might be some truth to it.

[tomsteve]

just my opinion, but go with whats worked for a very long time on thousands of cars for spacers- aluminum.

 .

[tomsteve]

1 hour ago, MrsN said:

I have cut 1/4" aluminum with the scroll saw, went through a few blades and burned my fingers a bit (metal gets hot) but it works. 

My ex-husband did a lot of work with metals. He said that any blade that can cut a 2x4 can cut aluminum 1" thick, just slow down a bit. I saw him use a regular wood miter saw a few times. I don't really trust much of anything he said, but their might be some truth to it.

 

i used to work in a machine shop and used cabide tools quite a bit. then got into framing houses using carbide tipped saw blades. slow down the saw feed speed and i could cut through nails without damaging the carbides. ive also cut aluminum on my miter saw with an 80 tooth carbide tipped blade. no problems and no damage to the carbide as long as feed speed is taken into consideration. 

 

[jerry1939]

1.  I think JimErn has an excellent point about air leakage around something as uneven as wood.

2. Not sure if plywood & it's glue is a good idea that close to an area of a possible engine backfiring.

[amazingkevin]

On 11/19/2017 at 11:14 PM, Scrappile said:

Ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene

Yes of course exactly what I was thinking of,,, just came to me out of the blue....Did not require an internet search to look up what UHMW is.....

there you go!

[kmmcrafts]

Well, the guy is finally supposed to come over tonight.. Will see if it really happens.. Thinking I might try buying one of those cutting boards to cut it on..  Anyway, if he actually shows up and I actually get to make this I'll update on how it goes cutting and also will mention whether it actually works on the car..   

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

It is funny I just ordered some aluminum cutting blades from Mikes workshop along with my puzzle blades because I was curious as to how they would cut. Also ordered some of their jeweler blades along with my usual #5 reverse penquin blades that I already have a ton of. I cut alot of aluminum on my tablesaw and also on my bandsaw using a metal cutting blade and on the tablesaw I have a blade specific to cut non ferrous metals it is carbide of course. but has a negative rake to it. Works well. Something like that needs to be cut on a waterjet or cnc machine for accuracy.  

[OCtoolguy]

On 11/19/2017 at 2:03 PM, kmmcrafts said:

So a friend of mine does circle track racing. Contacted me today to see about making him a throddle body spacer for the race car. He has the gasket and said I just need to copy the gasket. He’s wanting 1/4” thick. My question is if anyone might know. What wood would be best for this? As it would be on the engine and heating up and cool down. I’m actually thinking some sort of plastic would be better than wood. But also thought bb plywood would be the most stable wood probably? Maybe paint it with temp paint? 

Anyone have any suggestions or tips? Never took on a project like that before, though my son and I was going to make a throddle body spacer for a build we are doing. We was just going to build as a mock up and a test to see what would work best for our build before having one machines to our specs.

Aluminum would be my first guess. Just make sure you lubricate the blades so that the aluminum doesn't stick to them

 

R

 

Edited February 23, 2018 by octoolguy

[OCtoolguy]

On 11/19/2017 at 3:31 PM, Scrappile said:

I would use that white stuff, not plastic but kind like plastic, dang, can't think of the name of it.  Used in cutting boards and it is on my table saw fence.... what the heck is the name..... I hate getting senile..... Someone will know.  You find it used to make cutting boards among many other things,  also, fact that is the cheapest way to buy it, buy a cutting board.  I'll get back if it ever finds it's way back into my gray mush of a brain.

Teflon?

 

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

In our world that plastic is called Delrin. Used for many things such as jigs for sawing,  molds for casting, bushings for pen turning,and many other things. I use it quite a bit. You can look at applications on that site and mentions manifolds. http://www.eplastics.com/Acetal_Delrin_Sheet?msclkid=d8fc3a1a0719121864fa609596c35fcd&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Engineering Plastics - Specific&utm_term=delrin pl

Edited February 23, 2018 by JTTHECLOCKMAN

[kmmcrafts]

Well they showed up tonight.. He doesn't want Aluminum and actually prefers plywood.. he plans to coat the wood with something to seal it.. Mentioned high temp paint.. I originally thought they wanted a throttle body spacer.. but he actually wants a intake manifold spacer.. These guys build race cars and motors and have done wood spacers before.. he says they work great. Reason they want wood is the heat doesn't transfer the same as aluminum.. If made from aluminum the spacer would end up being the same temp as the head and intake. I have no clue what he is up to but known him for years.. and has been a well known race motor builder with many tricks up his sleeve. 

This is an experiment for him at this stage, says he has some air temp modals he will be monitoring to record the intake air.. This build is for a Dodge Neon with a single overhead cam. Guess they have after market spacers for the dual overhead cam motor.

Anyway.. he also said if this works like he thinks.. Plan on making several of them.. he knows several people that would be wanting to buy them.. 

I am personally not sold on the wood going between the intake and the head.. those temps get up around 200F..  He did also say that later if it works.. we might make them out of plastic.. forgot now what he called it.. but it's a high temp plastic.. 

[kmmcrafts]

JT you must have posted while I was typing, LOL.. Yeah that's the plastic he was talking about.. 

[rjweb]

Very interesting, RJ