Anyone have an opinion on Tornado

[sjb]

I have a 2004 Yukon XL with a 5.3L engine in it. I am seeing more and more of these magazines that have products in it like the "Tornado" and throttle body spacers that once installed, give you more power and better gas mileage. Of course, every MPG counts, so it has me curious. Have any of you tried any of these products? If they do, is there a tradeoff? It would seem that if it were that easy, the automakers would love to advertise better fuel efficiency, and do it. The skeptical side of me thinks it can't be that easy...

[JackBauer]

I looked into it, I read though it's a waste of money and doesn't work.

[pbsfolks]

Its junk...not at all like the popeil pocket fisherman

[blaxer]

The only benefit from a Tornado would be that you eliminate the stock airbox on the intake. The Tornado principle is already employed in all the Vortec engines.

[70GTORAG]

Throttle Body Spacers (Primarily the "Helix" style):

These spacers do not provide any gains in HP at all. They claim to increase TQ and MPG but we tested one and it gained nothing. The Dyno showed no gains in HP or TQ. We also had contacted one of the manufacturers for their comments on them and here's the direct quote (from email):

--------------------------------------------

From: AirAid Info
Subject: Re: AIRAID.COM Contact Form
Date: Fri, 09 Mar 2001 09:20:36 -0700

Dear Sir, thank you for your inquiry in our products. The spacer makes no HP on the Dyno. It makes all of it's power in torque in the low end. If you haven't noticed any power on the Dyno or the track then it's doing what it's supposed to. You would not see any gains down the 1/4 mile or increases on the Dyno. The idea of the spacer is to improve overall drivability and fuel mileage. In most cases when people install a bolt on part they expect better mileage and power, what happens is they are into the throttle a lot more than before trying to test performance and that's when the decrease in mileage happens.

Sincerely,

<Airaid Technician>