Hey Guys,
As the title says, this thread is for performance mods that do not work. I'll go ahead and start out with a few. Feel free to add others. Maybe we can save people some money.

1) Turbonator
2) Electrical "Super Charger"
3) Tornado
4) Throttle body spacer on a vortec



BTW, If someone wants to start a thread with mods that DO work, go for it .

- ebay juice boxes
- hypertech/jet chips
- Granatelli MAF (not worth the cost for very minimal gain)
- fuel line magnets (clame to increase MPG)
- true dual exhaust on 4.3
- descreening MAF

[quote=blazee]Hey Guys,
As the title says, this thread is for performance mods that do not work. I'll go ahead and start out with a few. Feel free to add others. Maybe we can save people some money.

1) Turbonator
2) Electrical "Super Charger"
3) Tornado
4) Throttle body spacer on a vortec



What makes you say the Tb spacer doesn't work>>?? I put a poweraid spacer on my 1996 Jimmy (4.3 Vortec) and seen gains of about 3-4mpg alone!!! not to mention the mid range power just seems to pull forever now.... and it whistles like a turbo when it really starts drawing air. In my opinion not only do they work they kick your ass for 150.00ish. What are you basing this on?

It's based on facts: The Ford 2.3 HSC (High Swirl Combustion) engine, the Honda CVCC (Controlled Vortex Combustion Chamber) engine, the Chrysler Hemi, and the GM Vortec engine, are all designed to do what the add on, aftermarket spacers claim to do, which is to thoroughly mix the air fuel mixture. The main difference is these engines do it in the combustion chamber on the compression stroke. FAR more effective and saves 150.00ish ;) Whenever anything is installed in the air intake, the air flow is restricted which requires the engine to work harder, which reduces fuel mileage. The whistling noise is an indication the air intake is restricted.

The throttle body gasket is a very common place for a vacuum leak. Installing the add on spacer requires a new gasket. If your old gasket was leaking, replacing the gasket alone would gain more than 3 or 4 mpg.

It's based on facts: The Ford 2.3 HSC (High Swirl Combustion) engine, the Honda CVCC (Controlled Vortex Combustion Chamber) engine, the Chrysler Hemi, and the GM Vortec engine, are all designed to do what the add on, aftermarket spacers claim to do, which is to thoroughly mix the air fuel mixture. The main difference is these engines do it in the combustion chamber on the compression stroke. FAR more effective and saves 150.00ish ;) Whenever anything is installed in the air intake, the air flow is restricted which requires the engine to work harder, which reduces fuel mileage. The whistling noise is an indication the air intake is restricted.

The throttle body gasket is a very common place for a vacuum leak. Installing the add on spacer requires a new gasket. If your old gasket was leaking, replacing the gasket alone would gain more than 3 or 4 mpg.

My air upper air plenum gasket was in good shape and it had no vac leaks prior to installation. I still recommend one of these bad boys for any vehicle, and the whistle I am hearing is the air actually vortexing into the plenum caused by the helix bore on this spacer. Maybe you just bought an inferior brand name, because you can't explain the mid range power boost I got after the install. I'll agree that those engines you described are DESIGNED to do what the spacer does... the spacer just does a much better job of it. (which is indicated by the performance gains I recieved) To each his own I guess, my opinion is that they DO work, very nicly I might add.

The spacer is designed to create turbulence in the air inlet flow to help mix the air fuel mixture more thoroughly. Carbureted and throttle body injected engines could theoretically benefit from it. However, an engine with port injection, such as the CSFI and CMFI engines, fuel is injected at the intake valve, well past the spacer. Any turbulence created by the spacer essentially does nothing for performance, other than restrict the air flow. There may be a psychological increase in performance, but that's as far as it goes. I understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, in your original post you asked what this was based on, I gave you facts.

I'd have to agree with OM on this one. TB spacers on the 96+ 4.3 offer no performance advantage because the function the spacer is suppose to perform is already done by the engine during compression. Save the $70 and spend it on something else. The only spacer that could yield any performance gains on the newer 4.3 is the v-max spacer for the upper intake manifold.

Well what you are saying actually makes perfect sense to me, it is unlikly the turbulance created by this spacer will reach the intake valves before it disipates completely. It just makes no sense to me how I can bolt this bad boy on, re use the gaskets and see a whack of gains. I know everything was in good order before I installed it because I just finished repairing the intake manifold gasket, so I had to buy an upper intake Fel-pro gasket kit.

Where the hell did the mpg and power increase come from, your guess is as good as mine :P

Thanks for the info tho my buddy was thinking of putting one on his 97 Blazer, I think I'll tell him not to.

I don't think im going to taking it off, since it doesn't seem to be harming the engine at all, maybe just my MPG due to more restriction like you said. I can't see this hurting my engine though can you??

It won't hurt the engine, the only thing it will affect is fuel mileage due to the added restriction. It's hard to say how much, but with fuel approaching $4 a gallon, it would be worth removing it.

Did you replace the intake gasket at the same time you installed the spacer? It's possible the intake gasket was leaking vacuum. That could explain the improvement in performance after replacing it.

I slapped the spacer on about two weeks after the intake repair, It really seemed like it made a difference, it is possible it might actually perform to about 5-10% of what the company actually claims for my cmfi. This forum seems to be filled with a vast knowledge from many people, so I will take your word for it.

-Im going to leave it on just because it sounds cool.:sunglasse

-Thank you again, this forum gives me hope for ''the plague'' my 1996 jimmy that is just hungry for parts.:grinno:

i drive a 2001 olds Bravada with the 4.3 Vortec. I put the TB spacer, AEM Cone air cleaner and a Magnaflow High flow muffler. I put them all on at seperate times and noticed a significant boost from each. Now, it's probably likely that the 'power boost' from the TB spacer was 'psychological' but I agree with Jimmy Riggin'. It sounds cool! I know for a fact that the other mods I mentioned, helped. My opinion.

Hey Guys,
As the title says, this thread is for performance mods that do not work. I'll go ahead and start out with a few. Feel free to add others. Maybe we can save people some money.

1) Turbonator
2) Electrical "Super Charger"
3) Tornado
4) Throttle body spacer on a vortec



BTW, If someone wants to start a thread with mods that DO work, go for it .
But does a thottle space work on a 2.8 S-10 non vortech heard so many yes and no's lol aaaaahhhh i need to get a elderbrock thollte body any way but any help would be great.