3kgt throttle body spacer???

[lockylocke]

has anybody tried these things??.. I saw them on ebay, and it's just too good to be true (22hp gains) !!!.. Anyways I just wanna know if there is any recommendation for this? thanks

[GTO4Life]

show link please

[ash_94sl]

Don't think it is true if it sounds too good to be true. Had a cheap little spacer been good for 22hp I'd think Mitsubishi would have designed it into the car as a stock part and this car would have trumped the Supra turbo for horsepower bragging rights.

I would think the spacer would actually reduce power because air going into the engine would encounter more turbulence as it passed over the two seams created by adding a part between the plenum and throttle body.

If you really want more power have the intake runners and throttle body ported (diameter increased) and polished (everything inside is smoothed out). You will flow more air with less resistance and the engine will breathe better. Of course, on non-turbo cars this is really not worth the trouble and expense casue it is VERY EXPENSIVE. I'd say on VR4's a good porting and polishing of the intake system is good for arounf 30 poines. Have the heads ported and polished as well and you may get an added 100-150 ponies if you increase boost, upgrade the turbos, upgrade the fuel pump, and add more aggressive fuel injectors.

You might try the spacer but I really doubt it does much to help with power.

[ash_94sl]

Oh, here is a company that I've heard good things about with porting and polishing.

http://www.extrudehone.com/

[Igovert500]

Ok, so I just wrote a long response and it got deleted. So I will try and summarize it all again...
OK, so first of, lockylocke don't trust all on ebay, there are plenty of good deals and 90% bs. Also as far as 22hp gains, when a company says that they mean that they got 22hp when they put that part on the most restrictive car they could find in the world. So that may have been on a 1981 ford...not a 95 3000gt(or whatever...if you get what I am saying). 22hp is definantly bs. I wouldn't think it would be anything near that. They claim their "patent pending" technology breaks up air and allows it to burn better....there are 2 ways to get more air in2 the engine...forced induction(turbo, supercharger, nitrous) or get the air colder(cold air intake, intercooler..) a throttle body spacer wont do anything for the first, and only slight cooling the air as far as I can figure. There are intake plenum spacers that move the plenum slightly further away from the heat of the engine to keep the air cooler...but even that isn't good for 22hp... so my advice would be to save your money for something else.

Ash, I can understand what you are saying, but also keep in mind that Mitsu didn't set out to beat the Supra hp wise. They made a decent car, but there is always room to improve on the stock setup. Take the downpipe for example. it is really restrictive stock.. the aftermarket ones just change the bends a bit and are much more freeflowing, allowing for great hp gains. Even ferraris and bugattis stock setup can always be improved upon. Just because the manufacturers made it, doesnt mean they did hte best available.

As far as the port and polishing your heads..you are correct. that is a great thing to do and can allow 10-40hp. I don't know about 100-150, that seems a bit much even with all those upgrades. If you consider it, just remember to be careful when p&p and find a good company, many screw it up and just bore away, but you really need to do it carefully and measure correctly. You can't just make it as wide as possible, there need to be careful calculations. But I definantly agree with you, 22 hp for a throttle body spacer definantly isn't true.

[lockylocke]

thanks for clearing this up!!!

[ash_94sl]

I agree with you. However, stock parts are there for the best manufacturing cost, durability, and performance. Case in point, I had a harmonic balancer separate on me when I was out of town once. The repair set me back quite a bit and only a dealer had the part I needed.

I was very frustrated because cost was high and this part seemed to be a poor design cause it was heavy and the rubber sandwiched between the pullies seemed to be a stupid thing. I assumed aftermarket one piece aluminum lightweight versions were so much better. After all they would not break and the light weigh means less load on the engine. I did not want underdrive pullies...the 3SX performance type is what I am talking about. Anyway, the rubber is there for a reason. It reduces the vibration on the pullies side to side. Eventually after hundreds of hours the threads which the balancer bolts into get damaged and eventually break. If that occurs you are talking big money even assuming the end of the crank can be machined and the damage repaired.

But then again, I agree that all engineering perfections are never built into the car from the factory. The downpipe you mentioned is a great example of a poorly designed part since it is very restrictive.

Actually, I think non-turbo 3S cars should have been RWD since they already engineered a way to bolt up a rear differential in the car. FWD models have TONS of space back there in front of the gas tank. The exhaust should also have been true dual exhaust with separate banks for each head.

[ikOnone]

i would agree about the 22 hp spacer being bs.

also i wanted to say that the head work and such could see massivly different gains depending on the quality of the work and the other mods on the car. maybe it would be good for 150 hp if you were running 20G turbos but i would think more like 30 on the stock setup. correct me if i am wrong but the head work increases the volumetric effiency of the engine and that will make a lot bigger difference when you are running more cfm and psi than if you are running stock.

as for this:

Originally Posted by ash_94sl

Had a cheap little spacer been good for 22hp I'd think Mitsubishi would have designed it into the car as a stock part and this car would have trumped the Supra turbo for horsepower bragging rights.

and this:

Originally Posted by ash_94sl

However, stock parts are there for the best manufacturing cost, durability, and performance.

i would have to disagree with. mitsu could have run 13psi on the stock setup which is higher than they ever did stock and it would have not cost them a penny more or affected the engine in a negative way. maybe to some VERY minute extent but nothing that would outweigh the slight differences in every stock engine, turbos, etc. that would have put the vr-4 at about 330 hp... aka more than the supra.


EDIT: i would not totally disagree with you, i would just say that they did not make the car perfect in every way that you mentioned stock, for example in the way i just described. they did optimize a lot of things for what they were doing though. also i might add that there are a lot of other factors, for example emmissions. they could have lowered the cost and increased performance if they did not have to worry about that.