Carb Spacers and heat shields.

The 2171 intake has a really small mounting surface so requires a carburetor plate.  The Edelbrock tech said the 8725 is the best sized spacer for the intake and I can then drop the carb plate.  He said I could run a the Edelbrock 4 hole spacer, but I'd need to run the carb plate and the spacer. Seems like too much potential for vacuum leaks to me. 

Any thoughts?

how much hood clearance do you have to the filter housing?

think about if you want to maintain the divided plenum or take advantage of some cfm sharing between the 2 sides.

most 2 plane intakes have a notch cut out of the plenum divider, it seems to improve performance significantly.

this is the traditional divider notch

this is the Airgap with it's enhanced notch that is surely a reason the intake performs as it does,

with no user complaints of diminished low end

you could use a short open spacer to create a similar sharing capability, or remove the center strip of the split spacer.

just don't leave anything that could break off, cut it near the edges so what's left is strong enough to support itself

pretty sure i put George onto the origin of the plenum notch, the first time i saw a Holley 3bbl i knew why it's there. darn thing won't open without the notch! from there i think it was just a lucky accident that it was discovered to improve all around performance with any carb on the manifold. smoother idle and improved TQ through the midrange all the way to an increased redline. the modification got attached to Holman-Moody at some point, they described the mod as being a full 1" deep cut into the divider, that's quite a bit and more than i'd recommend for a driver. i think that huge H-M cut is why George goes conservative on the notch, i wouldn't doubt there's some downside in the low end with the race cut. George has been known to advocate for an intact divider wall whenever possible, i'm not sure what his current feelings about it are today?

and Panteradoug, i enjoy his 1 man arguments for sure

the cool part is if you mod the spacer it's minimal to reverse it