Heater Hose Plumbed Through Carb Spacer Necessary?

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kbuhagiar
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Heater Hose Plumbed Through Carb Spacer Necessary?

Post by kbuhagiar »

Hello Folks,

My 62 Thunderbird is far from original so I have no qualms about modifying or removing stock part.

Specifically, I'm talking about the heater hoses that are plumbed through the tapered carb spacer. I'm guessing that was to aid warm up. I will be replacing all of the heater hoses soon and I am thinking about eliminating the feed through the spacer. FWIW the carb is an aftermarket Holley 600 on the factory cast-iron manifold and the original air cleaner is long gone.

Pros? Cons? Has anyone else done this?

Thanks in advance!
Cheers, Ken
1962 Convertible
1966 Q-code Landau Coupe (sold)
1990 SuperCoupe 5-speed (sold)
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Alan H. Tast
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Re: Heater Hose Plumbed Through Carb Spacer Necessary?

Post by Alan H. Tast »

There's a reason why engineers designed it this way in the first place - it aided in helping the carb warm up with a side benefit of helping atomize the fuel/air mixture entering the manifold. Plus the spacer is also used with the factory PCV system when the rear center port is machined open. Why second-guess them?
Alan H. Tast, AIA
Technical Director/Past President,
Vintage Thunderbird Club Int'l.
Author, "Thunderbird 1955-1966" & "Thunderbird 50 Years"
1963 Hardtop & 1963 Sports Roadster
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kbuhagiar
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Re: Heater Hose Plumbed Through Carb Spacer Necessary?

Post by kbuhagiar »

Alan H. Tast wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 11:29 am There's a reason why engineers designed it this way in the first place - it aided in helping the carb warm up with a side benefit of helping atomize the fuel/air mixture entering the manifold. Plus the spacer is also used with the factory PCV system when the rear center port is machined open. Why second-guess them?
Duly noted - I'll take that under consideration!
Thanks again.
Cheers, Ken
1962 Convertible
1966 Q-code Landau Coupe (sold)
1990 SuperCoupe 5-speed (sold)
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El Leon
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Re: Heater Hose Plumbed Through Carb Spacer Necessary?

Post by El Leon »

No it's not required. It was what they designed at the time and with the HP requirements/limits in place, not to mention counting all their beans.

Ultimately if you're comfortable modifying the vehicle, you're going to want to ditch that 110 lb cast iron intake manifold as soon as yesterday.

If you run a proper equal length runner intake manifold such as the Edelebrock Performer RPM it's already lengthened the runners which give the atomization you're after. You can also run a 1/2" spacer on top of that to mate your 4-barrel to and keep carb temps in check. Ultimately you're going to be warming up the car for a while anyway, these aren't spring chickens. It also removes a number of fail points and unnecessary plumbing from over the top of the motor to ditch the liquid heat setup as well.

Proper installation of the intake manifold with a uniform bead of black RTV will also solve an oil drip that's likely happening at the back of your motor..
Stirling Moss once said “There are two things no man will admit he cannot do well: drive and make love.”

But then Albert Einstein replied, “Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.”
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