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My son wants to try and improve the mileage on his '04 F150 and asked his ol' dad what I thought about them. I told him I would check this out with the guys I really trust. Opinions?
Dono
I would have to disagree with Torque1st. I have workd in the design end manufacturing for the past 6 years and you can't always use the best materials out there in your design. It's easy to design something out of the best materials out there. It alot harder to design a good product that people can afford. Example K&N filters I don't think to many people would disagree that there better then the old paper filters that haven't changed in the past 50 years. But your not going to see them come on to many production cars and trucks any time soon.
Your money is much better spent elsewhere than on TB spacers, these spacers do nothing for mileage or power. I had one previously on a 2001 Dodge 360 engine that I had, the spacers will produce a whistle, but that noise is the only differnce you will see. You may see a decrese in power/mileage because anytime you have a whisltling noise in your intake system you have a turbulance condition. Turbulance is not assosiated with higher flow rates, performance, mpg or any improvements.
Thanks for the input! The TB spacer is out, but the new 1 into 2 muffler with stainless pipes went on today. I don't know if it will save any gas but it sure sounds better.
Dono
I have a little more experience than DBush. I have worked in design and manufacturing for 30 years and if something as cheap to make as a spacer gave 0.1 MPG improvement every car would have them. In fact it would be built into the intake. If you want an example of the lengths the OEM's will go for improvements. Take a look at the intake manifold on those 2.5L Duratech engine intakes with dual differential length intakes with runner controls. K&N does not have to meet particulate pass-thru tests for warranty claims like the OEM type filters have to. The maintenance costs of cleaning washable filters are too high for production use also. We used to use oil bath filters but the maintenance costs were high compared to just replacing a paper filter. Filter discussions are off topic here tho.