Throttle body spacer - Aside from the leveling kit, I would like to add one more performance upgrade before the end of the year. For around $100, a throttle body ...

Aside from the leveling kit, I would like to add one more performance upgrade before the end of the year. For around $100, a throttle body spacer is said to add about a dozen hp,torque. I would like to believe this. But, thinking about the physics, how can a little serrated edge increase air/fuel admix that much more efficiently? Yet again, I find myself at this awesome forum wondering If any one of you have put one of these on your truck. If so, was it really worth it? I've read yes and no. I've read that it causes a whistling sound. It just doesn't sound too promising. Please, let me know. Thanks again.

i put one on my truck, and love it i notived a difference right off the batt, all it does is causes turbulance in the air/ churning it up. I havent noticed any noise at all but you cant hear much over my exhaust, but i have had friends that have put them in and it has a turbo blow off valve sound to it.

Lets see if this makes sense. You put a throttle body spaced on there to cause turbulence after you put on a cold air intake to smooth the air flow.

Sounds more like seat dyno than real world performance increase.

Save your money. You would probably get as much performance increase as waxing your truck.

I agree you'd be better off piutting your money into a set of headers & a good flowing exhaust system

HOTROD HELL wrote:i put one on my truck, and love it i notived a difference right off the batt, all it does is causes turbulance in the air/ churning it up. I havent noticed any noise at all but you cant hear much over my exhaust, but i have had friends that have put them in and it has a turbo blow off valve sound to it.

I'm not buyin this BS at all. A throttle body spacer on a carburated application works because it increases the plenum volume. This is different however on a Vortec V8 application, due to the Vortec design. The name "Vortec" is because the design of the intake actually swirls the air into the chambers from the factory. A spacer that causes turbulence would disrput this function, thus causing a performance / fuel mileage decrease. I.E. The less turbulence you have on the intake of a combustion engine, the more power you will generate. I strongly believe spacers are a waste of money, and to respond to above...how could a little piece of metal between the throttle body cause a turbo blow off like sound? Obviously you don't understand the functions of a turbo charged system / how a BOV works. I think the sound you're hearing is cause by the suction though the air filter, as a NA engine only produces Vacuum...no boost involved.

Z15 wrote:Lets see if this makes sense. You put a throttle body spaced on there to cause turbulence after you put on a cold air intake to smooth the air flow.

Sounds more like seat dyno than real world performance increase.

Cold air intake smooths AIR flow before being mixed with fuel! A spacer makes turbulence after said air is mixed with fuel, you want turbulence to mix the fuel and air together. So it makes perfect sence!

91k2500- if you feel like wasting your money i'll sell you the spacer i took off my truck last month. i think most everyone is talking about MPFI/SPI not trottle body injection like im sure you have on your 1991 k2500. i could see there being a difference with TBI but not SPI/MPFI

HOTROD HELL wrote:i put one on my truck, and love it i notived a difference right off the batt, all it does is causes turbulance in the air/ churning it up. I havent noticed any noise at all but you cant hear much over my exhaust, but i have had friends that have put them in and it has a turbo blow off valve sound to it.

The stock intake flows quite a bit, so unless you do some engine work, a CAI won't give you any real gains. And it's louder because the stock intake has baffles built into it, which quiet the engine noise. As for the spacer, they are uesless on modern Fuel Injected engines.

91K2500 wrote:Cold air intake smooths AIR flow before being mixed with fuel! A spacer makes turbulence after said air is mixed with fuel, you want turbulence to mix the fuel and air together. So it makes perfect sence!

The fuel is mixed right above the intake valve or in the chamber on Direct Injection. Gm hasn't used Throttle Body Injection since 1995 and the spacers only worked on Carbs and TBI's since it allowed for the fuel to mix better. On CPI, SFI, MPFI, MPI, TPI, SCPI, etc.....the spacers just cause the air to turn which actually hurts the harmonics of the intake. If the manufacturer saw an easy way to gain power without hurting mileage or anything else, don't you think they'd design the intake to already have the spacer?

OP, save your money for real performance parts or a tune.

take it easy people geez, the guy just asked a question lol. i had one on a 98 i did hear a little whistle after the install that wasnt their before the TBS but it also didnt sound like a blow off valve...also i didnt feel a performance gain because my truck has 2 sets of injectors it had regular injectors and spider injectors which put the fuel directly 2 the plugs...

I believe they are a waste of money brother and i woudlnt recommend one to you. Seems to good to be true i know, and in this case it is...heck there are these little chips out their claiming to add 50 HP and you install in to our computer they are like 50 bucks on ebay if not cheaper....i wouldnt trust that either