I am using a streetmaster and 3310 vac secondary holley on my 390. I have room for a carb spacer in my car. I am wondering if the stock 352 aluminum carb spacer with the heater hose routed through it would be good to use. Here in N FL it gets cold enough to make a holley ice up--I had lots of trouble with this in the past--this would likely solve that problem, but would the steady heat under the carb cost me power during the summer?

Maybe the steady temperature would help keep the carb in it's optimal tune through a wide range of ambient temps...thoughts?

http://www.supermotors.net/vehicles/registry/9026

Ford Service manual: "To prevent carburetor icing at the base plate, a spacer, heated by engine coolant, is located between the carburetor and the intake manifold. The coolant flows from the front of the engine through the spacer inlet hose into the coolant spacer and into the heater hose to the heater core"

Living in Chicago, I had wondered if the OEM spacer really worked at all at initial start-up since in really cold weather, the coolant was at ambient temp. anyway. Your choke controls enrichment for start-up. Ford thought it worked although I think the idea was to prevent, as stated, icing at what I'll call 'mid-warm' up. I'd run one if you have icing but....in summer, try this. Bypass the plate entirely with another longer hose to prevent engine heat from heating the intake charge. This may be unnecessary in more moderate Midwestern states even in summer but in FL, I'd think you'd want to do all possible in summer to bring cooler air into the carb.

n/m

1966 7 Litre Convertible
1959 F-100 (under construction)
2005 GT40 (in my Dreams)