wcc_71

i have 92 with a 3.0 in it and i was wondering if anyone could help me find where i can order a throttle body spacer for it. i looked and cant find one anywhere

stormin94

They don't make them anyway. I've heard they are good for a little more MPG tho.

86blue4runner

they do work! i know someone where i live that got for his truck. the problem is that no one mass produces them. i know that here there's a shop that if you take your truck to them they will make you one for only the cost of materials. just check around your area for maybe a metal shop that could custom fab one.

Matt16

I am forgetting the theory behind the TB spacer. Someone please refresh my memory.

scuba

im with matt

a4runnerfreak

, no that's something even I never heard of....

Jay351

TB spacers allow for better fuel/air atomization (I didnt spell that right). The theory is the more space will allow the air and fuel to mix longer and thus burning better.

They do NOT do ANYTHING on a fuel injected engine. The fuel is injected directly into the combustion chamber, not before the intake. These spacers will only improve power (not much btw) on carb'd engines with low rise intake manifolds.

Don't waste your money people.....

stormin94

I've noticed a gain on my dad's 350 TBI chevy. But that's more like an electric carburetor than a true EFI system.

Jay351

Yeah, its kinda inbetween. I could (in theory) see a possibly gain on the chevy TBI system, since its still based (loosley) on a carb platform.

stormin94

But it is definitely no where near the 10-15% advertised gains. Went a little further on a tank, too. Like 50-60 miles more than before. which is only like 1 MPG on a 42 gallon tank. Needless to say, the throttle body spacer is pretty much useless these days, since we very rarely drive the Suburban that it is attached to anymore.

abecedarian

on a port-injected system, the theory is the added distance between the throttle plate and the plenum allows some extra time for the turbulence from the throttle plate to be reduced and adds some volume to the plenum, which depending on the acoustical characteristics of the plenum, could also increase velocity down the intake passages to the valves.

stormin94

That's an excellent theory, but the real question is: does it work like the manufacturers claim? or even at all in real life?

On a second thought, isn't that the exact opposite reason that people polish their intake manifolds? To prevent turbulence, and allow a swifter, less restricted airflow into the combustion chamber.

abecedarian

I've often wondered why engine makers don't use exhaust system techniques to increase efficiency in the intake- like a header in reverse.

stormin94

Edelbrock makes intake manifolds with the same principles as headers, but mostly for carb'd engines. Why they don't make the engines like that from the factory is still a mystery to me.

Jay351

I recently watched a show where they did some dyno testing on a freshly built pushrod v8. They tried the two different kinds of spacers to no avail, their reasoning... the use of a hi-rise intake manifold that accomplishes the exact same thing.

In anycase I would never waste my money on it, for the gains you MIGHT get, its not worth the price...

X-AWDriver

I know they can't work on direct injection motors which I know the 3.4s are but I'm not sure about the 3.0s tho'.

Matt16

Because there is alot larger a volume of gases leaving the engine that coming in.