Looking for the best place to buy birch wood. I nice thick block of it would be nice, but if i could get some 2x12 sheets, that would work perfect.

Anyone know of any places?

edit: it has to be birch. or some other type of wood that will withstand temperatures that a lower intake manifold encounter

have you tryed any local lumber yards ??

hadnt even crossed my mind. I dont do wood-working. Is that like a junkyard for wood?

haha no .. a lumber yard buys the lumber from a saw mill... to sell to the consumer

it looks like there are a couple in my area around campus.
http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&q=lumber+yard+33919&fb=1&view=map&cd=1&hl=en

Time to give my engine bay wood! lol

ok what are you useing this for ??

intercooler spacer.

humm never heard of useing wood as an intercooler spacer.... but you do know wood warps ?

yeah, im looking into all of it, like what kind of seal to use with it and what kind of resin to use

lol haha well good luck ... post pics

Dave keeps telling me to try wood, I alos found a place online, www.onlinemetalsupply.com, that sells phenolic sheets, make your own. Much cheaper than buying through ZZP.
Anyways, Home Depot sells Birch ply wood, like $45-60 a sheet 4'x8' when I worked there.
Not sure it that is good enough.
I was wondering what type wood to use too. I just want it not to warp. But I think the bolts will keep it secured down, also lots of RTV!
By me there is at least one, if not more, that are dedicated wood places, custom wood sellers. I may go over there. Purchased nice wood from them before, for dressing things up renovation style!

Building yourself a wooden engine there? lol

just one part of it

phenolic was my first choice, but it is more money. Im trying to make a real cheap, mid 12 second car

What's the thickessed it can be with a S2 ic, for hood clearance?
I may have a custom hood for this setup anyways, but just wondering.

im not sure, not much. Hood clearance isnt going to be an issue for me

I'm something of a part time woodworker and I can tell you even a solid chunk of hardwood will shrink and swell with heating and cooling. Even hardwood is made up of many small fibers and it will have to be sealed some kind of way to make it suitable for your purpose.

You might want to check on a sheet of marine quality plywood...the kind used for boat construction...it can be made from vatious kinds of hardwood but is usually impregnated with resin to make it waterproof. This would still most likely need to be coated or sealed to withstand the engine heat but may work better than a solid chunk of hardwood which might be apt to split with its grain under hard pressure.

I'm sure marine plywood comes in thickness up to .75in...maybe 7/8 as well. The locallumber yard will be the best place to start, if not they can tell you where you can usually find the more exotic woods...or someplacethat does boat hull repairs for the marine stuff.

If all else fails, look up some laminate stock makers for guns. They usually sell the raw laminate for people who want to make their own stocks. The best part? They're typically a birch laminate and they've already been treated with a resin to adhere them together and resist warpage.

http://www.woodworkerssource.com/Hickory.html

try that ... ?? if not you can search the site to see hardness of the wood, good one to spend time and look at everything

Hickory is some hard a$$ wood. I installed some hickory cabinets, and they definitely had to be pre drilled. That stuff is sick hard.

and im guessing thats what u want corey??

still debating. there are all sorts of wood that im looking into. Ipe and jabota see, to be the best

guys at your local lumbeyard should b able to help you out

yeah, thats what im going to do tomorrow... or tuesday. Im sure they can show me something ive never even heard of, lol

Corey's looking for some hard wood? and you drive a Miata?

anyone else seeing a pattern here?...

hah j/p Corey. so if hood clearance isn't an issue, what are you doing? no hood?

how big of a space are you going to make?

ahh move the motor so it isnt transverse then put in a sbc and hen a huge belt

What's the belt for? Connecting the crank to the transverse tranny?

Apparently you aren't up to date on Corey's blower through hood thread:

http://www.clubgp.com/newforum/tm.asp?m=4569314


Wood spacer:
http://www.clubgp.com/newforum/tm.asp?m=4572464

Wood intercooler core:
http://www.clubgp.com/newforum/tm.asp?m=4180258

lol, you caught me. Im gay.

Im going to put the blower outside of the hood.

I might just make my own intercooler core with the spacer integrated into it.

Don't use wood for the spacer.

It won't hold up to the temp changes and moisture even if sealed or if you use marine grade.

Spend the money and use phenolic. You'll only run into issues if you use wood.

i don't check out clubgp ever so no, I wasn't up to date on his hood. Thanks for the link, i'll have to check it out.

If you are really going to do wood, I would try looking up what old wood roller-coasters did to the wood. That stuff withstands the pressures of the coaster and the heat, the cold, the rain and snow. They must pre-treat the wood with something.

I must agree with Herc tho, you may spend all this money on using wood just to have it blow out after your first pass or less, then you've wasted all the money on the wood, the time on cutting it, drilling, assembling everything and the night of racing. Then you'd have to spend the money on using some other material.

What if the wood did blow out? What damage would those splinters cause?

I would love to see a cheap, mid 12 second car but I don't think that using wood for the spacer should be where you save the money, it may turn out to be more expensive in the long run.

Wooden coasters are a completely different beast. Your not trying to get an airtight seal between wood and metal.

If dense wood was a viable option don't you think it would have been used long before any phenolic materials were used?

I agree that phenolic is a much better material, but wood carb spacers are still used today.

Im going to try it, if it doesnt work, then i will try something else. If it does, then its gonna be pretty cool

but do wood carb spacers have to withstand 15 psi and the heat that comes along with it?

dont do it trust me just machine a piece and it wont look silly
...no offence my 2 cents

he's looking for cheap, machining a piece of aluminum definitely won't be cheap. the aluminum itself will be pricey.

you can paint the wood black or w/e u want, you won't notice it. And I don't think he'll care what it looks like.

i'd love to see the wood work, i'm just afraid it might be more of a headache after all is said and done.