I was in a shop getting tires mounted and a guy with a Trans Am was working on his car. It had the N/A 3800II engine in it. he pointed out a throttle body spacer that he put on the engine.
That got me wondering. Does anyone make a spacer for the stock throttle body for the SC3800? What are the benefits of having a spacer on the throttle body?
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06:52 PM
PFF
System Bot
86GT3.4DOHC Member
Posts: 10007 From: Marion Ohio Registered: Apr 2004
I was in a shop getting tires mounted and a guy with a Trans Am was working on his car. It had the N/A 3800II engine in it. he pointed out a throttle body spacer that he put on the engine.
That got me wondering. Does anyone make a spacer for the stock throttle body for the SC3800? What are the benefits of having a spacer on the throttle body?
No and None.
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07:44 PM
FastFieros Member
Posts: 2698 From: Dallas Texas USA Registered: Nov 2000
The main reason is heat management of the TB. It blocks the water from the blower to getting into the TB. It blocks the heat soak effect of the blower to the TB also.
Is your TB going to freeze up ? No...
Loyde
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07:48 PM
Mar 21st, 2007
darkhorizon Member
Posts: 12279 From: Flint Michigan Registered: Jan 2006
Its more or less just a trick to make the computer give more timing, or less fuel. I wouldnt worry about one, it doesnt really offer any benifits that are worth your time other than a nice place for nitrous to go.
O and that "scientific document" on that ZZP page, looks to be real quaility work. Although he has no proof that the actual OUTLET temperatures of the blower are anything noticable. In reality, the temperatures of the casing, are not really relivent to anything, at least unless they greatly effect the temperature of the air
So if you want a cold throttle body, and maybe a 1hp improvment (on a dyno), then feel free to spend $50+ on this chunk of aluminum.
[This message has been edited by darkhorizon (edited 03-21-2007).]
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12:25 AM
topcat Member
Posts: 5486 From: Charleston SC Registered: Dec 2001
The article on the ZZPerformance link is impressive... he quites a 69 degree temp drop at the throttle body. While it is true that he never measured the air that is actually entering the blower after it passes thru the throttle body, I'd think that dropping the external temp of the throttle body has to equate to some sort of temp drop for the air going into the engine.
The article on the ZZPerformance link is impressive... he quites a 69 degree temp drop at the throttle body. While it is true that he never measured the air that is actually entering the blower after it passes thru the throttle body, I'd think that dropping the external temp of the throttle body has to equate to some sort of temp drop for the air going into the engine.
Im sure its some sort, just nothing that could be measured.
The air is passing over the throttle body for less than a hundreth of a second, whoosh and its gone. On top of that, only very small portion of that air actualy comes in contact with any surface of the tb. Not to mention, unless the material is some uber insualtive material that does not pass heat, its not going to help much at all, even insulator materials are going to pass the SC heat, and cant do anything about the fact the TB is sitting right over the exaust in a scorching engine bay.
TB spacers might work on carbs (and not for thermal reasons), but are nothing more than snake oil on a fuel injected engine. I saw some clown installing an aluminum one that had a threaded texture on the inside, supposedly this 1/8" deep thread, on a spacer that is only 1/2" thick, was supposed to impart a spin on the air and help the fuel (which isnt even injected for another 20" and 300* of rotation later) mix better. Some people will believe anything just because someone (who coincidentaly is selling said product) tells them it will help.
[This message has been edited by 86GT3.4DOHC (edited 03-21-2007).]
Got one and love it. Well maybe not love cause I never ran without it and I have no data to say yes or no as far as it doing anything. but for a stock eng. I'm pretty quick....
I had one for 3 years (took it off when I switched to the N* tb). I had no noticeable gain from it in 1/4 mile times or scans for timing/kr/maf.
Though it makes your tb slightly cooler, the air is getting super heated by the blower after that point.
The point made earlier is the same thing that I thought about it. The tb is only a couple inches long, how much air actually comes into contact with it and for how long is it in contact. The gains are likely to be so small they are unmeasureable.
------------------ Thinking about dropping the L67 from my gp into a Fiero. 12.466 @ 114.15 INTENSE S1X/ZZP IC/TOG Headers
[This message has been edited by crab daddy (edited 03-21-2007).]
I had one for 3 years (took it off when I switched to the N* tb). I had no noticeable gain from it in 1/4 mile times or scans for timing/kr/maf.
Though it makes your tb slightly cooler, it is getting super heated by the blower after that point.
The point made earlier is the same thing that I thought about it. The tb is only a couple inches long, how much air actually comes into contact with it and for how long is it in contact. The gains are likely to be so small they are unmeasureable.
I know that some NA engines benefit from larger intake manifolds, like the Holley vs stock 84 Duke intake which is much larger. The blower effectively separates the throttle body from the intake manifold anyway in the 3800, so there is no benefit to using it.