I've been feeling less power than usual so I decided to start small. Picked up an OEM cap and rotor yesterday and removed the ISR pipe to get access. Saw that the TB was dirty so I cleaned it out really nice. My alternator cable even though it is super thick now, was still burned through the outer loom (Boyle alt puts out a lot of heat or something) so I wrapped the alt cable in thermo tape and clamped the tape so it wouldn't unroll.
When I removed the cap and rotor, I remembered that these were not OEM caps and rotors, they were Jacobs ignition supplied Toyota caps and rotors! I had completely forgotten. The rotor was black along the metal tip, looked like crap next to the OEM rotor. I replaced the cap and rotor, and then set timing a little higher, at 12btdc. (I started at 15 but had way too much ping so lowered it to 12.

The combination of cap/rotor, timing boost and tb cleaning made a really nice difference! A cheap and nice summer tune-up. Thought I'd share. I wish I had taken more pics, but I just have a comparison shot of the jacobs vs oem rotor. Try to guess which is which. Notice the cheap construction of the Jacobs. No-name Denso! So glad the last remnants of that crap ignition system are gone from my engine. The cap was also a cheap Denso imitation.

TW

 

Time for someone to get a new camera

 

Ha! Yeah those pics were shot with my cellphone. It's crap resolution. Sorry! But, you should be able to see the difference between Toyota Rotors and the ones Jacobs sold. The contact points seem much better on the Densos.
I'll use my camera next time.

 

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wish i had a turbo toy!! glad to see you got her runnin to full potential again

 

Sound like it was money well spent.

 

That is great news!

What did you use to clean the TB with?

Thank you....

 

hi geminiroq, I just used some spray TB cleaner but then I used a lint-free cleaning cloth (microfiber) to clean it with. Last time I used standard paper towels and they got lint all over the TB. I opened the throttle plate and got in there with the cloth too. I have a bored out LCE throttle body, it was good to see it nice and clean again. It was pretty dirty.
For a cheap tune-up, cap rotor and tb cleaning is a nice start. It would be even better if I changed all the plugs and wires too, but I've got iridiums that still have a lot of life in them, and the stock plugs still seem fine so I can't justify the $ for a whole new set. The last step for now is searching for any vacuum leaks, I suspect that I have a few minor ones and I'm looking for a MAPP torch or smoke-checker.

 

Thanks for the info....

I am going to do this too mine.

A question I have.....how is the performance on upgraded TB and was it worth the price and work?

Secondly....how do you like the iridiums? Are they worth it?

Thank you...

 

Hi geminiroq-
good questions, I will be honest with you and say that I don't really think that either the iridiums or the bored throttle body are worth the investment on the 3vze. I love LC Engineering and they did a beautiful job but the improvement on the TB just isn't that big. It's one of those psychological boosts. I really felt the ISR mod made a BIG difference tho, it might not have been such a difference w/o the bored TB but it's hard to know for sure.
The iridiums are expensive and last a long time, but the drawback for me, is that I like replacing my plugs on a regular basis to keep performance high. WIth iridiums, being so expensive, you keep them much longer but I'm not sure if i'm taking a performance hit because of them. Next time I am going to go with stock plugs again I think.