I was looking under a guys hood last night that has a gt and he had something inbetween the throttle body and the plenum that was called a t/b spacer. Do those give much or any hp?
Throttle body spacer??
- Thread starter Hunter-White
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twogts4us
15 Year Member
I cannot imagine how. Oh, but was it the turbonator? Now that is worth 20-25 HP right out of the box....
<not>
Now we have an intake spacer on the 01 - that does some of what the aftermarket plenums do - that is, to raise the plenum and soften the curve into the lower intake. Not worth much, but more than a spacer between the TB and plenum.
<not>
Now we have an intake spacer on the 01 - that does some of what the aftermarket plenums do - that is, to raise the plenum and soften the curve into the lower intake. Not worth much, but more than a spacer between the TB and plenum.
1LowGT
New Member
03ghoststang
Well-Known Member
Nater
New Member
CanadaStang
New Member
One of the suppliers gave me one to try, and at the track after a series of back to back runs with and with out the spacer, I noticed ummm..... well no gains whatsoever.
Heh nah I had no want to buy one..I was just curious if it was gonna help him out any at the race track.
do not buy a a plenum spacer. that will produce the same amount of hp as taking the money and burning it.
crapola 
i've been p&p a stock plenum so i picked up a plenum riser on ebay. like twogts4us said the plenum spacer beefs up the bottom of the stock plenum to help the curve and i've port matched it to the bottom of the plenum for optimal efficiency.
for 10$ more they had a combo with the tb spacer so I picked that up at the same time to 'check it out'.
bottom line, i'm not putting the tb spacer on the car, there is absolutely no point in it. but it makes a cool car freak paperweight for my work desk!
for 10$ more they had a combo with the tb spacer so I picked that up at the same time to 'check it out'.
bottom line, i'm not putting the tb spacer on the car, there is absolutely no point in it. but it makes a cool car freak paperweight for my work desk!
propellerhead
New Member
Wow! Lots of slams towards the throttle body spacer.
A friend sold me his spacer for $20 so I put it on just for fun. I can't say I can feel a difference but that can be said for many many mods we spend our money on. Another friend of mine dyno'ed 3 rwhp more with just a throttle body spacer, but that's within the noise level of most dynos. The dyno sheet he has before the throttle body spacer and after were like a month apart. So there's nothing really conclusive there.
If you read the description of the Trick Flow plenum it says it is raised. I believe the idea here is to lengthen the travel between the bend of the plenum and the lower intake. This is intended to smooth out the airflow and have less turbulence. Does it add velocity to the air? I don't know. Either way, there has to be some gain there, even though it may be too small for our calibrated butts to feel. I wouldn't say it is a waste of money. I just classify it like the rear seat delete. It helps a little but not enough to really feel a difference.
A friend sold me his spacer for $20 so I put it on just for fun. I can't say I can feel a difference but that can be said for many many mods we spend our money on. Another friend of mine dyno'ed 3 rwhp more with just a throttle body spacer, but that's within the noise level of most dynos. The dyno sheet he has before the throttle body spacer and after were like a month apart. So there's nothing really conclusive there.
If you read the description of the Trick Flow plenum it says it is raised. I believe the idea here is to lengthen the travel between the bend of the plenum and the lower intake. This is intended to smooth out the airflow and have less turbulence. Does it add velocity to the air? I don't know. Either way, there has to be some gain there, even though it may be too small for our calibrated butts to feel. I wouldn't say it is a waste of money. I just classify it like the rear seat delete. It helps a little but not enough to really feel a difference.
Purple_Stang
New Member
Spacers work really good.............on carburated engines.
The concept behind a spacer is that it allows for your fuel and air mixtures to have more time to "swirl" together for better atomization prior to being ignited. This only works if the spacer is located at a point after the air and fuel have mixed (hence why it works so good when placed beneath a carburator). In our case, the point where you install a spacer is at the throttle body. Air and fuel are not traveling their together, just air. So applying a spacer to that could, at best, do nothing, and at worst, be even more restrictive. You would be requiring your air to travel farther, giving it more time to slow down and to heat up, both of which rob power.
Here is more on this if your interested (as tested on a Ford truck):
http://www.truckblog.com/story-444-fuel_economy_myths_throttle_body_spacers
The concept behind a spacer is that it allows for your fuel and air mixtures to have more time to "swirl" together for better atomization prior to being ignited. This only works if the spacer is located at a point after the air and fuel have mixed (hence why it works so good when placed beneath a carburator). In our case, the point where you install a spacer is at the throttle body. Air and fuel are not traveling their together, just air. So applying a spacer to that could, at best, do nothing, and at worst, be even more restrictive. You would be requiring your air to travel farther, giving it more time to slow down and to heat up, both of which rob power.
Here is more on this if your interested (as tested on a Ford truck):
http://www.truckblog.com/story-444-fuel_economy_myths_throttle_body_spacers
the98stang
Active Member
Purple_Stang
New Member
McTeague said:I thought carb spacers were all about keeping the carb insulated from the heat of the intake
I never heard that. A TB spacer is going to get just as hot as the intake its attached to as the heat transfers through the metals. So i'm not really sure how it would "insulate" you from the heat of the intake as you said. I suppose it could help prevent vapor lock in carb engines by lifting the carb up some to prevent the radiant heat from evaporating fuel in the bowl or in the attached fuel lines. However, it is marketed as a performance mod mostly for the reasons I stated, not as a anti-vapor lock mod.
propellerhead
New Member
Ok. I was thinking of the space that goes between the plenum and the lower intake, not the throttle body to plenum. I guess it has a different name but I called it a throttle body spacer out of ignorance. My bad.
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