Daddyape

Would anybody out their know anything about the two major thottle body spacers out there(i.e. the Helix Power Tower) and the Poweraid (TBS)?

Toysrme

Throttle body spacers wont do anything for you. Tho they apparantly have been generally accepted to helping when the fuel is mixed BEFORE the spacer (throttle body injection/carb) you don't fall into the group.

What you can do is take the gasket going between your intake manifold, and the upper intake and transfer that to a wood, or phenolic plastic spacer. (the high insulation plastic being preffered) You get one benifit, and one possible benifit.
The benifit is that your entire intake before the spacer is going to be much cooler. (along with anything attached to it)
The possible benifit is if you're trying to pick up higher rpm hp. Because you've made the intake runners X amount longer, you'll probably trade off a tiny bit of low rpm power, for higher rpm hp. More than likely nothing you'll know without dyno'ing until you get to atleast 3/4" longer runners depending how the factory tuned them.



For get any spacer, or insulator that has "throttle body" anywhere, or used in any way.

jimbo74

throttle body spacers suck... i mena if you really have no other place to spend $ and really want that extra maybe 1 hp then sure spend the major $ on it... otherwise its a waste

Daddyape

So what your telling me is they don't mix the air/fuel mixture any better? If so, why would the Helix Power Tower make claims of up to 20 more hp, as well as improved fuel economy. Poweraid "throttle body spacer" claims it produces a super-atomized mixture. They both say they have Dyno tested. Please help! be more convincing.

4RUNR

Why do we need to be convincing? Go buy one. Even 2. It's your money.

Daddyape

Have you got one?

Daddyape

I'm not a moneyman. So I'm trying to research this through the many people that might have hand on knowlegde of these products.

Mickdady

They really are a waste of money. Toysrme's arguement is sound. You do not have throttle body injection so there will be no increased atomization, no increased airflow, no (or nominal) powergain. They may advertise HP gains of 20hp but you can't believe everything you read. I also would not recommend the small resistor placed on your MAF to increase performance. These are gimmicks and can damage your vehicle.

It is good that you are researching these products before purchasing but to be honest, there are better ways to spend that kind of money.

Toysrme

^
It can't help atomize, or mix anything. The fuel injectors are (i'm guessing) 2 1/2 to 3 FEET of pathing away.

All a TB spacer will do for you is increase the length between the valve and the throttle body flap. That has got to be the least important parameter of the entire intake system.


Look I don't deal with trucks, or SUV's, but fuel injection is fuel injection on any same-style engine LoL!

boyzWidToyz

those throttle body spacers have been around for years now... if they were worth their weight in pennies, the companies would have included them as part of the STOCK engine intake.

Just think about how much the companies would love to up their horsepower ratings!

Bigkahuna808

I got suckerd in to buying one back in 2001. Waste of my money. All I got out of it was the O shaped gasket. And got rid of the old D gasket. If you want the cool pshhh sound go buy one, other than that dont waste your money like I did.

Flamedx4

Those throttle body spacers, AFM resistors, turbolater inserts, etc all work EXACTLY as designed. They are designed to separate a fool's money from his wallet and put it in theirs, and they do that very well indeed. We all want those claims to be true, but they're not.

Do you REALLY think a $5 piece of plastic (or a $.08 resistor, or a swirly shaped propeller in the pipe) can give you 20 hp when headers and a complete exhaust system might, if you are really lucky, give you 15 hp? If it was that easy - do you not imagine that the automotive engineers would put them in? That spacer actually can not "swirl" the air flowing past it - but Even if it DID, why would that improve anything?

Use Google. Search. Read. Treat those claims for what are - entertainment.