Do Throttle Body Spacers Work?? - DYNO TEST Ford | 1995 Ford F150 

Pereke69 Thanks man! 🤙 I know right! Dudes have dyno videos out there and you have to watch 30 minutes before you get the actual dyno read out. Talk about lose the whole day. Lol

Use the 7 min to subscribe

Amused. Yah, it’s so they can monetize that shit.

Amen

Thanks man!!🤙 That’s the idea! It just seems so unnecessary to have 20-30 minutes videos demonstrating what is a 3-5 minute concept. Plus I want to give you guys more time to actually go and work on this stuff.

Indrid Cold Hahahaha! 🤣🤣🤣 I know right!

every one knows that to get real performance you must grease your muffler bearings.

Thank you Rodrigo! 🤙 I appreciate it! And thank you for taking the time to watch them!

I guess that’s one application where the throttlebody spacer will serve well as a transition. Although I don’t know much about it.

My gut told me the same thing and that’s why I wanted to test one.

Yeah it's not bad! My truck moves when I want it too! lol Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!👍

Ronnie Buhler Thanks man! 🤙 I sure will!

Thanks man!🤙

babak1969van Thanks man! 🤙 That was the idea! Glad you enjoyed it!

No problem man!🤙 I’m always happy to save people money.

No problem man!🤙 I’m just trying to help everyone out.

Nick Estes The dyno tech said the three pull method isn’t necessary. If the dyno is calibrated and up to spec then the read out should be consistent. He also said the only variation you would see would be 1-2 hp which isn’t much to worry about.

@@TheMinuteMasters doesn't matter heat generated from the engine will affect the horsepower

dontjudgeme As in the engine is warmed up or that the engine bay is hot?

Both, I thought this too.

I've seen people make 3 dyno pulls without doing a thing and it's a difference of more than 5hp easy

Alec Kigera Thanks man!🤙 I appreciate it!

Andrew King Jr. I guess there are people who didn’t appreciate the facts of this test. Oh well. Thanks man!🤙 I appreciate it! Thanks for watching!

No problem man!🤙 I’m glad I could help you out. No one needs to waist their hard earned money on a useless chunk of metal.

Lima Bravo You are exactly right! You can’t believe how many people insist the test is invalid because I didn’t try and tune an OBD1 truck to work with the TBS. Unfortunately, I bought the spacer and had it more than a month. Amazon doesn’t take returns longer than a month. So I lost $150. My reward was sharing the results with you guys.🤙 Thanks for watching!

Thanks man!🤙

Paul Ashton No problem man!🤙 Thanks for watching!

Thanks man!🤙 Unfortunately, I don’t have access to a tundra or forerunner.

Justin A. Yeah let me know what your test yields. I’m curious. At $40 that’s not too bad for 1 hp but $150 for 1 hp isn’t. Lol

FatMatt's Garage Thanks man!🤙 I appreciate it!

Thanks Bryan!🤙

You are exactly right. Not worth it. I attribute the throttle response to the fact that the throttle cable itself is tighter and your throttle plates are actually slightly open all the time.

What if I can get one for $20

Thanks man! Yeah I think most of us have considered getting a throttle body at some point. Definitely put that money toward another upgrade. A good exhaust is always a good idea!🤙

Spacers do benefit TBI.. with SFI and MPFI it's negligible or non existent

No problem man!🤙 Thanks for watching!

No problem man! 🤙

FloridaHardwood Thanks man! 🤙 I always hated long videos for what is otherwise a very short concept.

That’s fine for analytic and money reasons. It’s annoying I agree.

Lonzy R/T No problem man! 🤙 Too many “butt dyno” testers out there saying these things work.

No problem man!🤙

Michael Bicking Thanks man! Like an Oem vs a larger 61mm BBK?

Go Clunker I totally agree man! Thanks for watching!🤙

It increases plenum size on a carb. Injected motors already have a massive plenum

Mods vary from vehicle to vehicle. I think it would be worth testing it on the dyno for your civic.

Bengt Creations You’re welcome man! 🤙 Yeah I was skeptical because scientifically it doesn’t make that much sense.

Yea and we should give some credit to the engineers designing the engine for optimization. If it would be that simple as to increase throttle body space to add HP, well they would have built it that way in first place.

You’re welcome David! 🤙 Thanks for watching!

Macgyver1986 Thanks man! 🤙 You are welcome!

Yeah if you need a spacer for any other reason other than horsepower and torque, they are fine. Otherwise, get some decent speed parts and a proper time.

Then why do it. Push your intake? You not making any sense at all .

@@TheMinuteMasters what other reasons are thear do you know? Even have a clue wtf your talking about?

@@jayschmidt6070 Pushing the intake hose out farther, These throttle body spacers don't serve any other purpose.. They do however, Increase throttle response. But I've recently done a dyno tune since I'm now Cammed and headers etc.. And the TBI spacer actually hurt performance so I've since took it off.

@@jayschmidt6070 Exactly my point. There really are no good reasons to install one. Extending the TB out an inch does absolutely nothing for performance. A person could do it for cosmetic purposes or they straight up want to install a TBS.

Thanks man!🤙 I appreciate it!

Well said and 100% true! I’m told the heads and the exhaust headers on this particular engine are fairly restrictive. I’d love to swap them out with better flowing heads and headers in the future.

@@TheMinuteMasters Don’t waist money on headers. Just get two piece exhaust manifold. The ford engineers knew what they were doing. Just government emissions are the biggest choke !

@@flatheadfletch Good to know! I’ll keep that in mind for my HP mods down the road.

Tom Gray No problem man! 🤙 Glad you enjoyed it!

That’s where throttle body spacers came from. Carburetors and TBI systems benefit from more time in the intake. SFI and MPFI systems don’t really care, so it ends up being a net gain in plenum size.

Iain Kelly There is definitely a lot you can play around with to see if anything more can be gained from the spacer. However, the product as is, requires no tuning to be installed. At least that is how the manufacturer presents it. What I’m saying is, as a drop in mod. It left a lot to be desired, especially at $150 price point.

@@TheMinuteMasters true

I had the spacer, kn filter and dual exhaust on my truck. definitely made it more fun to drive. it could of just been All the cool sounds and throttle response. lol

@@TheMinuteMasters Yeah, $150 for a piece of shaped aluminum? No thanks.

You’re welcome Smyth!!🤙

ABDUL ALHAZRED I’ve heard the same thing. I wouldn’t rule out throttle bodies entirely. It did make torque and horsepower, just not enough to justice a $150 price tag. Yes, the additional down side of the space I tested is that it is that heat magnet aluminum. Honestly, if I’ve learned anything from these dyno experiences. It’s that if you want to know if these things will work in your specific vehicle and build, then it’s best to just go dyno it and see. I definitely think so mods work on older vehicles but not on new ones and some mods work on new vehicles but not on old ones. You could be the exception. The TBS did change the driving characteristics of my truck. The throttle was touchier and it idled higher. Both make it seem faster in the low rpm and stop light to stop light driving. Anyway, thanks for watching! I’m glad you enjoyed the video!🤙

@@TheMinuteMasters ANYTIME ,BRO, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK...

ABDUL ALHAZRED Thanks man! Will do!🤙

No problem man!🤙 I’m glad you enjoyed it! I have to keep these manufacturers honest!

I don’t have any opinions about the jet performance module. I’ve never tried it, but now that you mention it, it’s probably not a bad thing to test and report on.

You definitely feel a difference but I think it has more to do with the throttle cable being tightened.

No problem man!🤙 Thanks for watching!

I totally get the science behind the design. But you further prove my point in the video that $150 isn’t worth the small gains. 3 mpg or 10 hp gains would have been worth it.

Going from 9.4 to 10.5 mpg ads up really quick.

@@spacepope87 so is it worth it when combing with a SB cold air intake and a flow master catback systems ? It's what's on my truck right now thinking about the air spacer or do I put my money on a pair of shorty headers ?

@@mariomoreno6312 You can find spacers for under $50 everywhere and they're easy and quick to install. I don't know why people keep spending $150 for them.

You’re welcome man!🤙 Thanks!

According to the dyno chart read out, the only power being made was at the top end.

So a high flow throttlebody, say a BBK 61 mm, is what I would call a supporting horsepower mod. Basically it does nothing unless you have other mods added to your intake. People see gains with those if the upper and lower intake manifold have been modified.

The truck had a chance to warm up with the throttle body spacer, and then we pulled three runs.

Willlerd So I probably misspoke but as I saw it then on the graph and as the dyno tech explained to me. Combining the K&N filter with the TBS increased HP 5 and TQ 1. Here’s the specs: K&N Filter - +5HP and +3TQ Poweraide TBS - +1HP and +4TQ K&N + TBS Combo - +5HP and +1TQ Every time I use the K&N filter I get a 5HP gain. The TBS makes +1 more in TQ than the K&N. The combo only sees +1 TQ gain. So it’s not a reduction in stock TQ it’s a reduction from running only one mod at a time.

Joaquin Pineda Pretty much! Lol

Yup, this is another expensive junk horsepower mod. A good sized free flowing exhaust is always a good upgrade. As far as going from 2.25” to 2.5”, I was always told 2.5” is max for a stop 5.0L engine. Granted there probably are guys out there with 3” exhausts on their 5.0s. But 2.5” is plenty. 2.25 is probably a safe bet for a 4.0.

@@TheMinuteMasters Exactly. There is such a thing as too big. The exhaust passage needs to flow as freely as possible in a range of conditions while still being just narrow enough to maintain the necessary exhaust velocity to scavenge exhaust gasses, particularly while under load. If you think about water pouring from a hose, if the flow starts slow, the water just dribbles out until you stop supplying water, at which point the last dribbles at and that's it. But if the flow is strong then when the supply is cut off and the water gets to the end it can actually collapse the hose because the water flows with such velocity that, multiplied by the coefficient of mass (it gets much more complicated but that's the simple way to say it), it creates enough energy that it compresses the hose on the way out. But you have to realize that energy is there all the time, and it's only being used to compress the hose when there is no longer a path of lesser resistance. While the water supply is still open, that velocity actually helps to draw water from the supply (to the extent allowed by other equipment upstream, etc.). The reason this matters is with engine exhaust there is no hose to collapse. Instead, that energy gets used to help suction exhaust gasses from the cylinders through the exhaust valves during the exhaust stroke. Any energy your engine is not spending trying to push exhaust gasses out is energy left to do other things. So by creating this vacuum (often missattributed as "backflow"), it's got a similar effect to increasing your air intake capability slightly, except better because then you can do both and all this amplified activity and volume is spread out across the 4-stroke cycle and engine components. At the micro level, a metaphor would be putting good grease on every wheel of a rollerblade instead of just putting expensive aerospace grease on the first two wheels and crappy harbor freight grease on the last two. Anyway, removing your cats (is illegal and) can definitely improve throughput and performance, but only if the computer knows what the new math is and guides the engine to harness the potential. Otherwise you are doing nothing nut making a vehicle that is loud, and stinks, and runs you the risk of legal trouble, and aside from all that, at best it performs the same as always.

@@allmycarsisbroke Thanks Nick! 🤙 I appreciate the scientific input.

Or more simply put, remember this: if you could increase hp/torque across the board by any amount, however slight (and therefore fuel economy) by simply increasing the diameter of your cat a quarter inch, auto manufacturers would just do that at the factory. They have all the incentive in the world to take advantage of low-hanging fruit where performance gains and fuel economy can be improved without unreasonably sacrificing reliability or adding complexity or cost to he maintenance the vehicle needs. This principle helps save me from wasting money on gimmicky "mods" like exhaust diameter, TB spacers, etc. inless and until I can be certain I fully understand what effects it will have. So many people "straight pipe" their cars without a clue or a care that the lack of O2 sensors means their ECU will retard engine timing and make the car perform even worse than it sounds.

@@allmycarsisbroke You are so right Nick! It’s kind of it’s “too good to be true test”. If TB spacers worked so well, everyone would have one. And, they would become standard equipment from the factory. Yeah I will never understand people going the straight pipe route without dealing with all the sensors and tuning their engines. I think there is a lot of “carb engine” know how that people still think applies to newer EFI engines.

It was the stock filter on the stock intake.

Yrusonoz 79 I really want to test one of those 61mm throttle bodies. I’m curious as to how much power it makes on a stock engine and intake. A lot of people don’t recommend them unless you install high flow heads or intake. But yes, the tornado thing definitely sounded like snake oil to me. Lol

@@TheMinuteMasters well my 5.0 is none stock other than the throttle body and I can see and tell a difference (no dyno) but more of the feel of character...I plan to port match my intake plenum to match the size of the TB as I get time

@@TheMinuteMasters my truck is also a daily driver lol...so time is of the essence 🙄

Yrusonoz 79 The porting should really help a lot with the 61mm. Haha! Love it! Nothing like a DD with some power!🤙

Thanks man!🤙 I appreciate it! I’m just trying to save everyone there hard earned money. Anyhow, thanks for watching!

MOW PEI There’s probably a lot that can be tested with the kinds of products. I drive this truck around for months with the TBS and I didn’t feel any difference. There also wasn’t a difference in fuel efficiency. I think the way to look at the dyno results is to look at the graph and see what RPM range makes the most power. My rpm sits between 1700-1800 at 55 mph. So if the graph only shows power gains above 3000 rpm then there won’t be any difference or gain cruising at 55 mph.

The graph I believe has other pulls on it from previous tests I ran. Those could be those other lines.

Sideways Squad I agree but OBD1 ecu’s aren’t tunable without modification. However, I have yet to find any tuner who thought TBS actually worked/worth the money.

Clapped Out Performance I was hoping that these mods I dynoed would make power at lower rpm. I still have the graph from this test and the TBS only makes power at higher rpms. The only mod that showed power increases at lower rpm and across the entire rpm range was deleting the mechanical radiator cooling fan.

Rick Knight That is possible. However, looking the air to fuel monitor for the dyno, it didn’t look like it was starved for fuel. I think it was a product that worked better for carburetors. The packaging has not tuning directs or dyno estimates like K&N does. So think it’s more of a gimmick product.

@@TheMinuteMasters I agree with that. Lots of people buy gimmicky products. They work on the "seat of the pants" Dyno but not on the real Dyno. I talked to a guy that poor one on his bronco and he swears it makes more power. I think it just changed the sound of the intake so he perceives more power.

Rick Knight So I left the spacer on my truck for over a week now. The throttle response is better at times but I thing that has more to do with the throttle cable being tightened. I’ve also noticed my truck sounds like it is idling higher do to the tightened cable. I’ll probably do a follow up video on the “driving feel” and mpg of the spacer.

You are definitely right! If it were this easy, they would have added TBS to every engine. I’m glad you appreciate the dyno test. 🤙 Believe it or not, there are people who still try to claim TBS work. Lol I guess they prefer lighter wallets. Thanks for watching!

Exactly! People fight me on this all the time. The dyno results don’t lie.

You’re welcome Lino!🤙

If it works for your setup, go for it. As for throttle response, that happens because the throttle cable it tightened. If you over tighten the throttle cable, you’ll get the same result.

@@TheMinuteMasters I installed it on a 2010 Crown Victoria P7B. Electronic throttle body.

@@TheMinuteMasters Any info on how it works on an electronic TB?

@@spacepope87 It should work the same. The TB on this truck is operated by a cable from the gas pedal.

@@TheMinuteMasters You mentioned before that the better throttle response due to the tighter cable and how you can just do it yourself without the need of a spacer. What about an electronic TB? It's not tightening any cable.

Gustavo D 1 hp and 5 tq

Erick Robles Thanks man!!🤙

oscar chavarria Nope, just stock manifolds. I’d love to add headers and dyno test them.🤙

Early in the video, I dynoed the truck stock and then I installed the TBS. Really? I never tested those together. You can always take them off and see what different there is.

@@TheMinuteMasters Thanks, I must've missed that. As for my Bronco, probably not going to notice much of a difference unless I went back with stock suspension and tires. Keep puttin out the videos!

@@davidmorgan5725 This is true. Suspension and tires are cool but they drink gas! Lol I sure will David!🤙

I have another video dedicated to the K&N drop in filter. So I compared those dyno readings to this one.

@@TheMinuteMasters thanks.....was just vid surfing about the controversy over the "paper weight" easy power adder......i cant seem to find vids of the tb spacer on an internally modded engine.......will these actually perform with internal mods or not kinda vid........but those dyno vids dont exist or i havent found any yet

@@robertboicourt I think most people have written off TB spacers for fuel injected engines. Even though they don’t work or know nothing about them at all. Even the dyno tech was surprised that I wanted to test one because he just about figured everyone knew they were junk. As far as putting one on a modified engine. I just don’t think it’s worth the money. And I doubt it will add anything. The concept of a spacer only worked on carbureted engines.

Nick Dodenc Thanks man! 🤙 I appreciate it! We both have the same pep peeve. I hated watching long videos about these that consisted of nothing but opinions and “butt dyno” feels.

Nice!🤙 Injection Connection is super close to you.

Like to add this spacer or just an upgrade say to the larger port TB?

@@TheMinuteMasters is there a difference with upgrading the throttle body with a spacer? Does upgrading the throttle body make any difference at all ?

@@chrissimmonds4898 Good questions. I didn’t go down that rabbit hole. The larger bore TB from BBK I’m told is a “supporting” mod. Basically, unless you upgrade the intake plenum and the heads, you won’t see any benefit. With that said, I doubt you’ll see any benefit, upgrading the throttlebody and adding a TBS.

So I ran this for a while and I don’t recall any changes in fuel economy.

@@TheMinuteMasters any idea what kind of fuel economy you're getting?

@@lvlikeyV at the time my around town was 11-12 mpg and highway was 17.5 mpg.

GunFuMaster That is true with combining mods.

Same conditions as what? The truck is in the same location and hasn’t moved between tests.

@@TheMinuteMasters day to day same engine will make different power. It all depends on the density altitude. Testing in the morning will make more power then testing in the afternoon.

The dyno tech doesn’t set the machine for day to day readings. He uses a national standard which is pretty stringent.

Absolutely you could tune for one of the TBS. My issue with the product is they don’t state that. It’s sold as a simple bolt on power adder.

@@TheMinuteMasters oh yeah. That's usually how it goes. Because these retailers are under the assumption that a professional is installing and tuning a vehicle.

@@TeamDrif-Tastik exactly! But there’s another issue, OBD1 isn’t a plug and play tune able ECU. You have to rebuild/mod it to be tunable. (The truck in the video is OBD1)

No problem man!🤙 That's what I like to hear! Thanks for watching!

E 8a No problem man!🤙

I do have a video on those but it’s not a full install. There were a set of lights on the truck which I replaced with LED. So the video is for the install of the LED ones.👇 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qciQvR9pLGo.html

@@TheMinuteMasters thank you Steve for that

@@nickpanhead7209 No problem Nick!🤙 Thanks for watching!

Chris Hunter Increasing hp and tq should also give the feel of increased throttle response. However, if you feel your vehicle is sluggish during throttle then something needs to be tuned. Either a good TB cleaning or some ignition or fuel related part needs to be addressed. Installed a TBS would be a band aid for a sluggish throttle response.

@@TheMinuteMasters My vehicle is fine. Mine was just a reply that if dyno numbers don't show an improvement, then people say a product like this is useless. I'm saying that throttle response isn't measured by a number from a machine, yet it's still very real.

Chris Hunter Ah I gotcha! That is true.

No problem man! 🤙 I’m glad I could help ya out!

You got it!🤙

I suppose it still looks cool on direct inject too haha

@@HeadSetGamers The little slice of red does have a cool Fast and Furious look for sure.

I would add up the cost of all these mods and then compare it to buying a set of heads. I’ve been told by many many engine builders that you might see 15-20 hp from those modes. A set of aluminum heads will get you that alone. I’d start with GT-40 heads and shorty headers first.

@@TheMinuteMasters with a set of .027 head gaskets, ported gt40p, ported upper and lower intakes, bbk throttle body, 1.7 roller rockers, roller cam conversion, upgraded 24lb fuel injectors, this is my stageII and hope all comes together with a reprogrammed chip. Thanks for the info, nice truck.

@@michaelmoreno4250 Love it! Thanks man!🤙

Joshua Maas I’ve had hundreds of discussions about TBS and the general consensus is for they price they are garbage. $150 could be spent on actual horsepower modifications. Carburetor spacers have proven results because it fakes a high rise intake manifold. I believe TBS are trying to be carb spacers.

@@TheMinuteMasters I mean I would never spend 150 bucks on a spacer like I said it's not a hp adder like claimed but rather something to use in combination with other things I wouldn't use a spacer in almost any situation but you be damn sure it won't be over 40 dollars if I did and yes they work exactly like a carb spacer you are never going to make more power by making the intake taller but like I said you will get throttle response and combined with a high rise and the right cam basically the only time I would ever use one is with high rpm application

You are exactly right! If it were that easy, Ford would have installed them as a performance package.

could it have been a noise related restriction from the manufacturer that caused them to not implement right away?

@@jacksonwalker3278 could be all kinds of things, why did you have success?

@@atmosrepair not on this specific vehicle, but after driving my FJ with it installed the low RPMs feel better. I feel happy with my purchase.

@@jacksonwalker3278 okay what is FJ? A lot of times when it comes to adjustment like this, you never know until you try!

Bill Chaput Ford 5.0L has some grunt!🤙

Yes, I told them about my channel.

Michael Mcneal I feel ya man. That’s one of the main reasons I started this channel. Produce good quality videos, cut the extra crap out, and get right to the point. Thanks for watching!🤙