Nate Meyer's Weblog

Before I get into it.. here’s the Motordyne spacer install manual

This is the first engine modification I’ve done to my Z.  I bought the spacer for a couple reasons.  1)  I wanted a project to work on, and wanted to spend some time getting to know my Z.  2) I’ve heard really good things about it, and the performance increase you get, so thought I’d give it a try.

I bought the basic kit, which doesn’t come with the thermal stuff, just the spacer, etc.  The kits came with the spacer and the gasket pre-applied to the spacer, and all the longer bolts required, and nuts, etc, etc.  It also came with strut bar spacers, and longer bolts.

The instructions are pretty straight forward.  This isn’t a writeup, so I’m not going to get into the steps involved, etc.  Read the instructions carefully, and you won’t have a problem.  My Z started right up afterwards without any issues, any leaks or problems. 

Some Key Steps:

• Listen to the car first, just so you get an idea of what the stock motor sounds like.  So, after the install, you know if anything sounds different
• All The instructions say is to LOOSEN the center strut bar nut/bolt, to decrease the tension on the strut bar.  To do this, you would turn the nut/bolt away from yourself, if your standing at the front of the car.  And when putting the strut bar back on, you must tighten it again, which means to turn the nut/bolt  towards yourself, to increase the tension on the strut.  If you don’t tighten the strut bar, it won’t be as effective.  The problem lies when you tighten it, it raises up in the middle, hitting the hood.  We’ll get into that below
• I took the stock gasket off.  The instruction say it doesn’t matter.  I had to cut the gasket away because it’s the same gasket that is used for another part inside the intake.
• I did not remove the plenum completely.  Just tilt it upwards (towards the back of the car) when your ready to put the spacer on.
• I used the leather glove method to tighten the plenum bolts, which worked fine

Strut Bar Clearance:

I put the spacers in for the strut bar, to raise it up so it wouldn’t rub on the plenum.  And then tensioned the strut bar by tightening the center nut/bolt 1.7 turns, that’s when I noticed that the hood wasn’t closing properly, causing the drivers side to lift up slightly, causing an uneven fit.  So then I un-tensioned the strut bar, but it was still hitting the hood slightly.  I took the strut bar spacers out on both sides, and re-tensioned the strut bar, which lifted it slightly.  This gave enough room for the plenum / bar clearance, and also made the hood sit evenly.  Took it out for a test drive, and drove fine, no vibrations, etc.  When I got back, I noticed that the passenger side of the motor was rubbing a little bit against the strut bar, but only the black plastic engine cover.  Here’s what I did. Untensioned the strut bar, put the spacers back in, on both sides. Put the bracket bolts back in, and finger tighten them. Then tension the strut bar (it won’t actually tension because the bracket bolts are not tight), and you’ll notice the brackets being pulled in towards the center of the engine bay. Since the perches are angled, this essentially brings the sway bar DOWN 1/4″. Then tighten the bracket bolts, then tension the strut bar 1.5 – 1.7 turns. So to conclude, what we did was bring the brackets inwards, and downwards, allowing the strut bar to clear the hood. You can also see the amount of adjustment we have in making this fit. I also took off the rubber PADS on the hood to help clear it.; Seems to work fine for me, but if you need to take out some washers on one side, then do it. Motordyne suggests anything that will make it fit for you!

Performance:

Well, I’m not exactly sure.  This is the first time in 3-4 months that I’ve ran the Z hard (been in storage all winter).  I can definitely say that 5500+ RPM seems to really go by fast.  It seems to pull up to 7k real fast.  I don’t think I can 100% comment on the HP difference, cause I just don’t remember what it was like 3-4 months ago.  I do not notice anymore growl like everyone else says.

I think that’s about it.  Just wanted to write-up some thoughts I had of the spacer, and tips that might help others.

From Motordyne Spacer Install

From Motordyne Spacer Install

From Motordyne Spacer Install

From Motordyne Spacer Install