I've watched the popularity of these things grow like a plague. The more I work with them, the less I like them. I've weighed out the pro's and con's for a while now and seem to be stuck in the middle. I'm just curious to see if I am the only one who feels this way.

 

woulda put one on but didnt feel like getting longer studs.

 

I know this subject has been beaten to death a countless number of times, but anymore it seems to be "accepted" that there are no negative consequences of using these things.

There seems to be theory, but no real rock solid data how well the thermal gasket works for increasing output. Do they decrease manifold temps? Yes, in under certain conditions.

Will they deform under compression? Yes. The gaskets usually need to be trimmed back to avoid interfering with the ports. Now that you’ve created a void around the mating surface of the port, you’ve likely induced turbulent flow right before the head, not to mention possibly defeating the purpose of a clean anti-reversion step.


That’s a rough idea where I'm coming from. It has nothing to do with ease of installation, reusability, ect. I’m shooting at this from a performance only aspect so throw your vote up. I want to see.

 

I use a thermal mostly because its reusable. You dont need longer studs.

 

what do u mean thermal? like the hondata gasket? sry, im not reallt newb but ive never heard it called thermal before, thnx

 

I trust everything OEM from Honda...

I have seen a couple of those gaskets on cars before and for the most part i have noticed that they cause more trouble than they are worth, i say *** em'

 

I use OEM Honda as well... Spray it with WD-40 before intalling and it comes off easier later for reuse...

 

They arent much more money than OEM, I just got a cheap ebay one and port matched the openings cause they were pretty far off. I couldnt tell you how much it helps or if it does- but if its not much work or money why the hell not use one, it cant hurt can it???

 

their are kits to completely isolate intake manifolds and exhaust manifolds and throttle bodies ect from heat exposure. im not sure if they really work, but it isolates everything with thermal gaskets

 

my hondata one didnt require any trimming and there isnt much of a "void" if the gasket is cut precisely to match up with the ports. best thing is its reusable, i hate removing baked oem gaskets where you gotta spray gasket remover on it vigorously while tediously scrapping it off with a razor and trying not to scratch the surface.

 

for guys that use these, do you use gaskets on either side of them? or do you just use the thermal spacer as the gasket itself?

i just used the spacer as the gasket, and dont seem to have any problems. but it could be wrong...

 

I used just the plastic one itself

 

I use either one, but the thermo ones are useless for keeping heat away. All the hardware and coolant lines to the iac and tb heat it up just the same. Maybe it just takes a little longer.