i have an 06 f150 4.2 i've been messin round with it tryin to get some extra mpg and power where i can, such as cold air intake, superchips flashpaq programmer... i was lookin to get a throttle body spacer but readin reviews online i've heard good things about puttin them on FI and a few negatives what is the recomendation?

 

Hi and welcome to FTE.

This subject used to come up a lot years ago. Several guys tried them and best I remember saw no improvement in anything.

I always looked at it like this: If a simple spacer installed made for a performance improvement, then I would expect the engineers who designed the engines would already have a spacer there.

Granted there are performance gains to be had by some aftermarket products. But there is always a trade off (generally lower mpg).

If a TBS made more HP, then the spacer would be there by design and the higher HP utilized in the course of design to provide higher mpg or similar overall benefit.

to coin a phrase, you don't get something for nothing

 

well that factor would apply to a lot of things that does a difference though... why dont engineers design vehicles to have a cold air intake, or tune them better for fuel economy or more power instead of having the consumer purchase those things for high dollar. otherwise i was reading reviews on spacers and the majority of the FI engines claimed they did see a differnce and the others said no change at all. i just dont really wanna throw away the money and get nothing for it

 

I don't doubt that somewhere along the way, somebody has seen a "benefit" from installing a TBS.
But........
I did a quick look at 2 sites that sell TBS:

FIRST EXAMPLE:
"By having your vehicle equipped with throttle body spacer, the quality of the air flow coming to the combustion chamber will be greatly improved. Throttle body spacers like the Street Performance Throttle Body Spacer speeds up and smoothens the entrance of the air coming to the engine without any whistling sound and unfamiliar noise. It allows better air condensation and efficient fuel burning or combustion. Along with these improved operations, the throttle body spacer also provides various benefits to the vehicle's running performance.

It helps the engine to produce higher amount of energy during combustion process for the vehicle's proper supply of torque and horsepower. It increases the vehicle's mileage and also helps in achieving tremendous gains in the mid-range power and overall efficiency of the vehicle. The throttle body spacer nowadays comes with some special features like the unique dyno-proven helix bore feature. This feature alters and causes spinning action to the incoming air charge passing through the spacer, and carries it directly to the combustion chamber."

A few things that ring the snake oil alarm:

"it speeds up and smoothens the air flow"
The only way it could "speed up" the air flow would be if it acted as a nozzle, constricting the air flow so that the velocity had to increase to provide the same CFM (basic Thermo principle)

"It allows better air condensation"
first problem: "air" does not condense. Individual gases in the atmosphere condense when the combination of temperature and pressure drop below the dew point for that gas.
Second: in a FI engine, you want the fuel/air mixture as atomized as possible, not condensed.

"It increases the vehicle's mileage and also helps in achieving tremendous gains in the mid-range power and overall efficiency of the vehicle"
All this from a $5 piece of aluminum? And the manufacturer failed to figure this out along the way? Not likely in my book.

"This feature alters and causes spinning action to the incoming air charge passing through the spacer, and carries it directly to the combustion chamber." I thought it said above that the TBS "smoothens" the air flow? Now it says it causes a spinning action. Which is it?


SECOND EXAMPLE:
"The throttle body spacer causes the incoming air charge to tumble for better atomization of the mixture downstream in the combustion chamber.

In other words a throttle body spacer will yield a much greater fuel burn efficiency, which in turn will improve performance and improve fuel economy!"

more alarms.......

"The throttle body spacer causes the incoming air charge to tumble for better atomization"
I'm confused ?? The other guys mentioned smoothens and spins, but these guys say "tumble". These guys mention better atomization, the others mention better condensation. So what is actually going on with this device?

"a throttle body spacer will yield a much greater fuel burn efficiency, which in turn will improve performance and improve fuel economy"
Again, all this from a $5 piece of aluminum and the manufacturer failed to figure this out somewhere along the way? Not likely in my book.

My point, the products are marketed in a vague manner to appeal to our DESIRE to drop in an aftermarket part and see a big improvement.
We WANT to believe there is good, untapped power, left undiscovered by the OEM, and all we have to do is add a nifty little aftermarket item and the benefits will become instantly noticeable.
This is extremely rare in my experience and opinion.

There is ALWAYS a trade off. Period.
You never get something for nothing.
The closest thing to doing so is improved efficiency and that is where the OEMs spend millions of $$. They are not going to ignore a small block of aluminum if that is all it takes to getter better mpg numbers.

personal experience: I changed the exhaust on my trucks (2000 and 2005). no discernible improvement in anything. I just liked the way it sounded.
I changed to aftermarket air intake/air filter in both. No discernible improvement in anything. I just like washing the filter and reusing as opposed to buying new.

There ARE products that provide more HP, etc. but they don't just create it out of nothing.

We just bought a 2011 mustang with the 3.7 V6 ( 30 mpg/305 HP; one impressive piece of engineering)
It comes with a factory Cold Air Intake.
6 speed auto (main driving force = better mpg).
True dual exhaust with cross over pipe.
Independently variable dual overhead cams (for performance while still managing 30 mpg on the highway)
and other trick bits of top notch design and engineering.

But....................

It does not have a throttle body spacer.

And that is the point I'm making.

 

Almost all vehicles I have owned from the mid 70s have had a factory cold air intake. Some after market CAI will flow more air and are usually noisier than the OEM ones.
The only EFIs that can benefit from a spacer is some of the TBI units. On TBIs and carbs the spacers would sometimes improve the flow into the intake.
regards
rikard

 

You give me the money you plan on spending on a tb spacer and we will call it even. Thats about how much good one will help your engine!