Phenolic Spacer Vs. E85 Gas Durability Test

[GrimmSpeed]

We've had some guys asking us about the durability of the thermal spacers when using e85 gas. This is definitely a legitimate worry because the injector outlet is spraying right past the thermal spacer that sits between the intake manifold/tgv and the engine. With e85's corrosive properties we need to see if it does anything to the spacers to make sure you guys are all safe running e85 and using the spacers.

Some of the nasioc guys feel that if it can hold up to e85 it will be able to hold up to meth and nitrous. i'm not a chemical analyst by any means so i'm just going off their input on this.

So, on to the test. What we are going to do is quite simple, take a bowl and fill it up with e85 then place the spacer in there for a few days and see what happens. I'll do daily updates with pics to see what is happening.

Bought the e85 today at a local holiday store(which was very cheap, may need to think about switching fully to it). Filled up the bowl enough to fully cover the phenolic spacer. This was completed at 3pm today.


http://www.grimmspeed.com/images/spacer_e85_test_1.jpg


http://www.grimmspeed.com/images/spacer_e85_test_2.jpg


http://www.grimmspeed.com/images/spacer_e85_test_3.jpg


Justin
www.grimmspeed.com (http://www.grimmspeed.com)

[Reason]

This will be an interesting test Justin. I hope this works, I thought about a nitrous set up in the future.

[Plays_with_Toys]

interested in the results... :twisted:

[DOOK]

any updates? Been about 24 hours or so

[Reason]

any updates? Been about 24 hours or so

Easy tiger lol

[grayguy]

how long do you think your going to do this? I would image that it would take quite a while to see any damage, if it was going to do anything at all.

[GrimmSpeed]

i'll get some pics tomorrow. today was crazy and i didnt even get a chance to get down to the shop.

there has been a few plane mechanics respond saying that the have used phenolic material in planes for a long time in all types of extrememly corrosive materials and it holds up to all of them.

i'll leave it in there as long as you guys want me to.

[Reason]

i'll leave it in there as long as you guys want me to.

For ever! :twisted:

[gsh]

Interesting Test!

What about the stock fuel hose, injectors, fuel pump?

A advanced test would be a test at high temperatures (120°C) and testing the aluminium of the cylinder head.

Regards,
Gerd

[GrimmSpeed]

Interesting Test!

What about the stock fuel hose, injectors, fuel pump?

A advanced test would be a test at high temperatures (120°C) and testing the aluminium of the cylinder head.

Regards,
Gerd


any thoughts on how i would "safely" heat the gas up?

[Sarra]

Interesting Test!

What about the stock fuel hose, injectors, fuel pump?

A advanced test would be a test at high temperatures (120°C) and testing the aluminium of the cylinder head.

Regards,
Gerd


any thoughts on how i would "safely" heat the gas up?

Use a match?

[Wiscon_Mark]

put the gas in an area where there's no oxygen, like a sealed tank, then heat the outside of the tank. No o2, no combustion.

[d1giPhux]

Your selling the thermal spacers right?

You should leave the piece of cardboard in there too...it would be interesting.

[GrimmSpeed]

1/28 Update

Everything seems to be unaffected by the ethanol so far. i changed out the ethanol so if any of the ethanlol evaporated from the old stuff we are still good. oh and btw, i didnt take pics of it the first day but i wrapped and sealed the container up so i could limit evap.

i scraped the edge of the spacer with a knife to see if it came apart at all from the ethanol and everything seemed fine.


sorry about the bad pics, i forgot to bring the camera to the shop today so they are from josh's camera phone.

pic of edge after scraping with blade
http://www.grimmspeed.com/project_l/spacer_e85_test_4.jpg

new ethanol in bowl
http://www.grimmspeed.com/project_l/spacer_e85_test_5.jpg


Justin
www.grimmspeed.com (http://www.grimmspeed.com)

[Sarra]

Put one in some hydrochloric acid, I wanna see how durable they really are.

You could use inert nitrogen gas, though I don't know how you get any. Or argon gas, which would be easier.

[GrimmSpeed]

ok this test is getting quite boring. its been 10 days now and nothing fun is happening at all. the phenolic spacers looks as if they were brand new, never touched.

i decided to press a razor blade into it to see if the phenolic is any softer.

http://www.grimmspeed.com/images/spacer_e85_test_6.jpg


result. a pretty little dot...nothing to spectacular.
http://www.grimmspeed.com/images/spacer_e85_test_7.jpg


my daily job of adding new ethanol...
http://www.grimmspeed.com/images/spacer_e85_test_8.jpg



yaawwwn.

anyone want to think of any better ideas of torture we can put these through?

Justin

[Reason]

What about heat testing? Oven maybe?

EDIT: and for shits freeze it

[Sarra]

For shits use liquid nitrogen. It'll never get that cold in the continental US, but it's for shits.

[SilentRacer]

Eat it, I want to see what happens in case you are trapped in the desert and you have to eat your spacers to survive.

[Wiscon_Mark]

Eat it, I want to see what happens in case you are trapped in the desert and you have to eat your spacers to survive.

I'm sure they'll return less calories than it takes to remove them, and then chew them.

[Reason]

Eat it, I want to see what happens in case you are trapped in the desert and you have to eat your spacers to survive.

I'm sure they'll return less calories than it takes to remove them, and then chew them.

Will you two be serious for once :roll:































:smt098

[kyle86na]

So Uhh, this one that you are torturing, will be for sale to me at a discount, yes??? I would love to have this famous equipment ( and its matching pair...)


:lol:

[grayguy]

you could heat torture them. See how long they can take a torch before getting messed up. (i know that if your engine is as hot as a torch then you have WAY bigger issues than these things possibly failing) It could be interesting.

[GrimmSpeed]

Eat it, I want to see what happens in case you are trapped in the desert and you have to eat your spacers to survive.


:lol: seriously..made my day

[GrimmSpeed]

LET THEM BURN!!!!

Well after 12 days of the phenolic spacers soaking in the ethanol(changed daily) and pressed with razor blades the spacers have shown no sign of wear. This is great news for the product.....but boooring as an experiment.

So, we decided to take the ethanol soaked phenolic spacer, put it in a bowl, then throw a match at it :banana:

We put a tiny bit of ethanol at the bottom of the bowl just to make sure the ethenol drenched spacer got started :lol:...the ethanol at the bottom of the bowl burned right away and the spacer stayed lit, which is what we wanted.

Results of this whole expirement:
*GrimmSpeed Phenolic spacers can withstand any amount of ethanol you are using in your car.
*After 3 minutes of the completely ethanol soaked spacer being on fire, it started to get bbq'd.
*Spacers are able to withstand more heat than you engine could ever put out.


Video of Spacer BBQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NZpAga_lzY

If you guys would like to see any other stress tests like these please feel free to PM us.

Justin
www.grimmspeed.com (http://www.grimmspeed.com)

[StatGSR]

justin u crazy ass! :grin: