Throttle Body Spacers

[JennaBear]

This question comes up quite often in my PM box and emails, so I figured I would throw out my answers here.

Throttle body spacers (TBS) came about back in the time when TBI engines were the craze. The TBS did indeed help the TBIs as they helped to improve atomization of the fuel by changing the flow of air as the fuel was sprayed before the throttle body. The gains are minimal but are still there.

The TBS are a waste on the newer engines as the fuel is sprayed after the throttle body. The air is already "spun up" as it goes through the throttle body, so the TBS basically duplicates the effort. The TBS won't hurt your engine however, that being said, some folks wind up having problems with the spacer as it is one more thing to wiggle lose and cause leaks.

[tybardy]

i would like to add to this....

I believe you can find a TB spacer for about $40 if you shop hard for one.

for a mear $20 (HALF THE PRICE) i will add the same amount of power to your truck. here is how it works, you send me $20, i will then send you a picture of my truck you can put in your dashboard, not only does this thing add the same HP as the TB Spacer, but it is certain to up the coolness factor of your truck but a staggering 10%

[SFBerto415]

Lmao

[TMoNeE]

But they make a cool whistle that sorta makes it sound like you have a blower, thats like 50 whp right there.

[tybardy]

oh and BTW, jenna... thanks for posting this, i once was thinking about doing a TB spacer untill further looking into it... many people are still throwing money away on these things, good info again

[BlueTahoe2001]

Jenna,

Could you explain what gains could be achieved by adding a TBI Spacer, Cold air intake, BBK Throttle body, Under-drive pulley set, JET Chip #2, 180 Jet Thermostat, BBK Headers, Magnaflow Exhaust, and a JET Mass air flow sensor?

Is all this worth the effort and time? What gains could I expect to see?

Thanks,
Tyler

[tybardy]

there are several threads regarding many of these items individually all posted by Jenna personally... you will find that she does have an extensive working knowladge of automotive performance... but dont be affraid to use the search feature of the forum.

[HMFDZ28]

Jenna,

Could you explain what gains could be achieved by adding a TBI Spacer, Cold air intake, BBK Throttle body, Under-drive pulley set, JET Chip #2, 180 Jet Thermostat, BBK Headers, Magnaflow Exhaust, and a JET Mass air flow sensor?

Is all this worth the effort and time? What gains could I expect to see?

Thanks,
Tyler

I'll save ya some money:

TBI Spacer- waste
Cold Air- not a bad investment
Throttle body- Not needed unless you are runnin a big heads/cam setup. Port the stocker
Under-drive pulley- not a bad investment, just watch your alternator if you have a sound system.
Jet chip- waste of money.. get a real tune.
Thermostat- not a bad investment with a tune. Worthless otherwise.
BBK Headers- deff worth the money if you get a good tune with it.
Magnaflow- whats better then a bit more flow and a lot more sound
Jet Maf- complete waste of money, your truck comes with an 85mm Maf.

So Do the headers and catback, port the throttle body, get a 180 thermostat and pulley and drop around 300 on a bolt-on only dynotune and be much happier with the results.

[wmgood64]

I like the whistle!

[BlueTahoe2001]

tybardy,

Sorry, should have though of that first.

AND..

HMFDZ28,
Thanks for the help...Sounds like I was going to waste a chunk of money on something so useless.

So Is Blackbear Performance the way to go for a tune? I see and hear so much good information about them.

[tybardy]

there are a few good tuners out there if you search around, but Justin and Jenna are very involved and are VERY customer oriented. They are great about answering questions, they are always very informative while tuning.... Justin does GREAT work with these trucks man, I would recomend BB to anyone and everyone who is looking into a custom PCM tune. I dont know how Justin finds the time to take such good care of his customers, but he does

BB is the way to go

[JennaBear]

I'll save ya some money:

TBI Spacer- waste
Cold Air- not a bad investment
Throttle body- Not needed unless you are runnin a big heads/cam setup. Port the stocker
Under-drive pulley- not a bad investment, just watch your alternator if you have a sound system.
Jet chip- waste of money.. get a real tune.
Thermostat- not a bad investment with a tune. Worthless otherwise.
BBK Headers- deff worth the money if you get a good tune with it.
Magnaflow- whats better then a bit more flow and a lot more sound
Jet Maf- complete waste of money, your truck comes with an 85mm Maf.

So Do the headers and catback, port the throttle body, get a 180 thermostat and pulley and drop around 300 on a bolt-on only dynotune and be much happier with the results.

I pretty much ditto that. Me personally, I would not purchase the thermostat, the stocker is just fine.

[HMFDZ28]

Thanks for the help...Sounds like I was going to waste a chunk of money on something so useless.

So Is Blackbear Performance the way to go for a tune? I see and hear so much good information about them.

No probs bro... I honestly cant give an opinion on Blackbear since I know the F-body and Y-body markets as far as tuning goes, but from what I am let to read on here there is a ton of happy customers and that is what counts!.

I pretty much ditto that. Me personally, I would not purchase the thermostat, the stocker is just fine.

Its funny you say that cause Vinci Hi Performance had a whole write up of why you should keep the higher thermostat temp over say a 160*.

[JennaBear]

Bump, lots of threads on TBSs, figured this would be a good time to get it back to the top!

[Crazy Al]

Need some stickied items.

[NoChrome]

From what I have seen, yes I had one forgive me, this is the best use for one.

http://speed-eng.com/store/images/AirAid%20TB%20Spacer%20NOS.jpg

[02 Cat Cutter]

Mine's rocking a volant ram box, granitelli maf, and a helix tbs, followed up with the hypertech touchscreen. also, my catalyic converters just 'fell out' one day. straight pipe welded back in, dual in/out flowmaster, and no tailpipes. auburn gear 3:73 rear too. thing sounds like a beast now. The first 150 feet are good the 6700 lb curse takes over.I tried adding the same throttle body your'e talking about, had to send it back. I followed the procedure for acclimating the computer to it, but the truck kept tripping right back into safe mode ten minutes into the road test every time. anybody know why? I was looking into an lsx manifold kit for better top end. but I'm afraid I'll just run into the same problem and don't wanna go through that p.i.t.a

---------- Post added at 07:57 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:53 AM ----------

the man's got a point. the power tower sounds good, but it doesn't do squat. save yourself the space and get an electric fan, and if they make them for our model trucks, an electric water pump. lots more money to spend, but if you can buck the "$20 at a time" performance plan ( no offense I figured this out the hard way myself.), you start to notice some real gains.

[JennaBear]

Your aftermarket MAF is leaning out your mixture and your hypertech can't account for it. You might want to try putting your stock MAF back in and seeing if that fixes your problems. Check out my thread on aftermarket MAFs as well...

[NoChrome]

Your aftermarket MAF is leaning out your mixture and your hypertech can't account for it. You might want to try putting your stock MAF back in and seeing if that fixes your problems. Check out my thread on aftermarket MAFs as well...

Dont the granailli mafs have a hole in the middle that air can flow through un-accounted for?

Either way still not worth the money, if I were to get one it would be the lingenfelter (sp?) 100mm

[HitandRunDriver]

They do make a great paperweight though.....

[Toadster]

i would like to add to this....

I believe you can find a TB spacer for about $40 if you shop hard for one.

for a mear $20 (HALF THE PRICE) i will add the same amount of power to your truck. here is how it works, you send me $20, i will then send you a picture of my truck you can put in your dashboard, not only does this thing add the same HP as the TB Spacer, but it is certain to up the coolness factor of your truck but a staggering 10%

can you photoshop your truck yellow? I hear from the Integra type R crowd that Yellow adds 5+ HP :mexsmoke:

[Z-56 Hoe]

lmao. yeah get a Tune I would use Black Bear but I hadent found this site when I got mine I Love Mine tho its from thunder Racing. There is also Nelson Performance too.

[STEALTH]

can you photoshop your truck yellow? I hear from the Integra type R crowd that Yellow adds 5+ HP :mexsmoke:

haha i wish black added hp lamo :signs8:

[01TX_Tahoe]

you guys just saved me some cash... i've been thinking of getting a TBS but have debating on it after researching the internet and asking a few other people. i've still got the 5.3L stock except for an intake but i'm looking to beef it up now..

[jpaeltz]

Had a friend put a TBS in and it caused all sort of problems with ideling, etc.

[withac]

there are a few good tuners out there if you search around, but Justin and Jenna are very involved and are VERY customer oriented. They are great about answering questions, they are always very informative while tuning.... Justin does GREAT work with these trucks man, I would recomend BB to anyone and everyone who is looking into a custom PCM tune. I dont know how Justin finds the time to take such good care of his customers, but he does

BB is the way to go

X10. The thing I like about BB is that with lots of other tuners, you send them the info on your truck, engine size, tranny, mods, etc and they tune for say a generic 2000 Tahoe with a CAI, 'Vette servo, shift kit, and 265/75 tires etc. With Justin if you do the full tune he sends you the parts to plug directly into your ride, you then take a drive with a laptop hooked up and it stores data SPECIFIC TO YOUR VEHICLE, and lets face it, every 2000 Tahoe with a 5.3 is not the same. He even diagnosed a slight air leak in my intake manifold gasket from half way across the nation and never seeing my truck. So instead of having a tune for a generic 2K 'Ho with the 5.3, CAI,'Vette servo etc, I have a tune for exactly how those things are running in MY 2k 'Ho with the 5.3 etc.. Black Bear FTW.

[KrautBurner]

my TB spacer is good for a little over 100HP at the rear wheels in current setup (came with the parts to make it good for 250rwhp)


http://nitrousoutlet.com/catalog/product.asp?category=35&section=51&group=187&product=993

http://nitrousoutlet.com/img.asp?p=/images/dealers/large/NO-00-4205.jpg&h=600

[KillerBrandHoe]

Throttle body spacers are completely pointless, a waste of money, good for nothing except making the stupid whistling sound... but, ive had one one all my trucks lol

i also heard that a better upgrade than a TBS would be new muffler bearings and brake light fluid. guess they add about 10-15 hp a piece? anyone have any experience with this?

[tybardy]

little roid rage right there!

[withac]

The difficulty with the muffler bearings is two fold, first you need to get the right ones, there are some real crap ones out there, then you need to have someone that knows what they are doing install them, you don't wanna tackle it on your own. Then of course if you have a custom tune you need to get it re-tuned too. I mean, don't get me wrong, I wish I could afford them for my ride, it's just that you gotta be careful, but then, hey, anything worth having is worth the extra trouble, right?

[Splatmaster527]

if only they made fart cans for big blocks...I hear those are like 20hp and an inch or two in your pants...
maybe a huge wing for the back lift gate?? those really snag the ladies

[chacho44]

Any YouTube vids of the stupid whistling sound,lol. I wanna hear it!!!!!!!

[denali93314]

Any YouTube vids of the stupid whistling sound,lol. I wanna hear it!!!!!!!

It was kind of quiet on my 5.3, but I liked it.