Throttle Body Spacer: Fact or Fiction

Flipping thru my latest Jegs catalog and they're having a "special" on Throttle body spacers. Those things supposedly designed to increase power and more importantly, fuel economy. I have a $15 credit with them and thought about giving one a shot. But are they really as good as they claim to be? Part of me (well, most of me) feels like its like any product that is supposed to increase fuel economy: Junk.

In the old days, they had ONE slight benefit: reducing the amount of heat soak from the hot manifold into the carburetor.
Heat soak isn't an issue today., so... I'd say 'junk'.

What I have read about it, is that the additional length it adds to the intake run, gives the fuel a better chance to mix with the air, thus causing better detonation = more power

I have one brand new out in the garage, just haven't gotten around to slapping it on...

You read this from the company selling it... right?

How many have you bought jimbeau?

lol... nun so far! My daddy dint raze no foo!

jimbeau wrote:

lol... nun so far! My daddy dint raze no foo!

So being a member of the catholic church your father saw no reason to burn any asian people.



Nick

phantom 309 wrote:

jimbeau wrote:

lol... nun so far! My daddy dint raze no foo!

So being a member of the catholic church your father saw no reason to burn any Asian people.



Nick

5 minutes later and I am STILL laughing. Thanks Nick......

The spacers are supposed to give you a longer intake run. This should raise the torque and HP curves slightly. It can aid in charging the cylinder at higher RPMs. In other words you will not get a lot more power, but what you do get, will be at a slightly higher RPM. If that helps gas mileage, you have to be the judge. The NASCAR guys found that the restrictor plates could be made to produce more HP than they originally thought, because it effectively gave them longer intake runners, and aided in charging the cylinders. (The decreased airflow cut HP considerably, but by carefully massaging the engine, they could get a few HP back.) Your low end torque will start at a slightly higher RPM as well.