ProKurt

So while I was at my mechanic, a guy told me to look into a throttle body spacer for my car, recommending that it will increase HP and torque, and that it is not that expensive. I've researched throttle body spacers, mainly using Wikipedia as my reference, where it states that it enhances engine performance by "swirling or directing the air flow to maximize air volume to the manifold." Sounds like a good idea and all, my concerns are is it feasible on a FC? I cannot find on any website a throttle body spacer for an FC, but I can find ones for an FD. Was the technology not available for the FC's at the time or is it just not possible to put one in an FC?

misterstyx69

iTrader: (142)

he's full of crap.
The throttle body spacer on an Fc actually is a bit hollow and when you put the TB,the spacer and the manifold together the spacer forms a "port way" between the Tb and the Vacuum nipples on the Manifold.
You put a Spacer on there you will be losing your vacuum nipple ports.If you are stock they are needed.

You won't increase your HP by any significant amounts with the New spacer on anyways.
Look at getting air to the engine,Exhaust Out of the engine,and a little upgrade to the handling.That alone will let you enjoy your car more,without killing your pocket.

ProKurt

Thanks man, I appreciate the input. Is the way the 13B engine is designed or just not a good throttle body spacer? I guess he suggested it because he has a 2002 Toyota Camry or something haha What would you recommend parts-ways that I put in my car? I've seen an air intake made by K&N that goes into the Airbox, but can I get a cool air intake like piston-based engines?

misterstyx69

iTrader: (142)

the cheap and easy way is a K&N in the stock box.
If you go to a cone then you need to get cold air in.Just sticking a filter on the inlet will suck hot engine bay air.
as I said,Intake,Exhaust,good tune,suspension upgrades like a good set of shocks and springs or Coilovers,etc if you can afford it.
good brakes,good tires.
All this without even touching the engine make the car feel and handle better.
Lots of things you can do to the engine but you'd need to open it up.(porting)

ProKurt

Would a medium streetport on the 13b engine work well? And if I was to put a cone on, where would I get the cool air supply? Sorry for the consistency of questions, I'm very interested in tuning up my car for better performance

Cookboy

iTrader: (10)

Styx said it. Don't over think the thing. Exhaust must come 1st before any intake mods if they are to have any effect. The fc has a cold intake stock. Just get the k&n to put in the box.
Do your exhaust, get good at driving what you've got, and go from there. Big power will demand suspension upgrades to be safely useable.

misterstyx69

iTrader: (142)

If you look at the stock air box configuration,the air comes from outside the engine bay via a snorkel above the middle of the top of the rad.
NOW,if you put a cone filter on,where do you put it???..IN the engine bay,right Smack dab where the old air box was...and when you do that,you usually take out that snorkel piece to clean **** up.That leaves you 2 steps back from where you started before.Cone filter sucking hot air.
You can isolate the Cone filter by building a box around it,but really WHY?.when the stock air box is there and performs basically the same thing.

Look at the box when you get a chance.I've thought of using the box as an isolation chamber and keeping the snorkel piece for cold air.you place a Cone filter inside the area of the box..
BUT then again,when the K&N replacement is already MADE for the Box,why do that..
it's a Personal decision and it's not really a BIG mod that can produce big power.But it is a small price,none the less.So good enough to recommend.
Let the engine breath Check!..(strokes off list)

All in all,if you do slap on mods on an N/A you get what?..about 6-10HP maybe a couple more for ***** and giggles...Something you may not even feel.You may "hear it"'...and "think" it is like 50 big ones..but...you know,it's small stuff.
The bigger stuff comes in the firm or Porting the engine,or putting in another firm of power.Like a Turbo engine or YA,I'll say it a freakin v8.
BUT that defeats some of the benefits of the N/A.Which is if you tune it right and just maintain it,the damn thing will run for a long time.( I've had engines with over 240km on them)

By the way before we go any further,you should know that "porting" is not cheap.It is basically a rebuild with some metal removed.
If you are asking about a Spacer for power,then I hope your budget is gonna allow you to buy about 2000 of those things,as that is basically what you are looking at!

ProKurt

Last question I swear lol so what is the difference between the N/A engine and the TT engine? I understand the TT engine already comes with a stock turbo, but can't you mod the N/A engine the same way you mod the TT engine, or are you not supposed to do that?

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

The two engines are very similar, with the same nominal displacement.
Obviously the big difference is in the forced induction, and sequential system, and ECU, and fuel delivery, and exhaust systems, and intake systems, the ignition systems....

ProKurt

Sweet! Thanks for all the info guys, so basically with a lot of time and resources, I could make my N/A engine as legit as the TT one? Cool stuff, thanks again, I appreciate all the feedback

misterstyx69

iTrader: (142)

..drum roll..
badabadabadabadabadabadabadabadabadabadabada...TIS HHH(that's supposed to be the cymbal!)
Google....LOL!
Rotary Resurrection home of the budget rebuild.
The (Almost) Complete Guide To Turbocharging The Naturally Aspirated Second Generation RX-7

ProKurt

Since I feel that it'll be much harder to convert my N/A engine to turbocharged rather than just swap out my engine for the Turbo II engine, I looked into one and it only has 65k miles. Would an S5 engine fit into my S4 and is $1449 a lot to ask?

rotorhead_izzy

iTrader: (36)

Yes the s5 engine will fit, you're gonna have to do some harness modifications due to the fact that it's s5 and not s4. If you are looking to just swap a t2 engine in, then go s4. Mind you making a 6 port turbo takes some time and money, its not uber hard to do. I have 2 6 port turbos, 1 is my 1989 gtus and the other is a 1984 gsl-se. Good luck on whatever you decide to do

CT9AIX

if you do plan on swapping in a forced induction engine, do your self a favor and find a stock harness to go along with it. makes the swap way easier and cleaner as opposed to you trying to incorporate any additional wiring into your non forced induction harness

misterstyx69

iTrader: (142)

No,it's not harder.
If you look into this the only thing that is a lot harder is putting in a engine that is not the same series as the car.Mind you a couple things need to be done like extend a few wires,snip a wire or two but nothing drastic.

And if you are looking at an engine that is $1449 Then I am guessing a JDM engine from EBAY???
Please DO some RESEARCH in that first before you shell out your money on what I personally call "Lawn ornaments".

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

Your mechanic is one of the following:

1. Idiot
2. Misinformed
3. Trying to extract money from you (possibly due to reasons 1 or 2).

To make a long story short about throttle body spacers, they are 90% bunk.

All a throttle body spacer does on an EFI engine is increase plenum volume. If, and that's a big if, the manifold is not optimally designed, then a throttle body spacer could help. But that can only be determined by actually making the calculations or running the vehicle on a dyno with various spacers. In many cases, changing plenum volume is just going to shift the powerband slightly. So the car may feel slightly better down low for example, at the expense of some power at the top end. Or vice versa. Or by de-tuning the plenum with a spacer you may lose power all the way around. Or it can have no effect.

Way back in the day when carburetors lived on the top of manifolds, spacing the carb up had several benefits. Most important was thermal isolation. A thermal break helped prevent fuel boiling in the bowls and vapor lock in the lines. And yes, moving the carb up a little could certainly allow a little more room for the fuel to atomize. However this was not universal for every manifold. "High rise" manifolds already move the car up pretty high so another 1/2" won't matter, so the only benefit is the thermal break. Frankly, part of the reason carb spacers were used back in the day was because the manifold designs by the "big three" were abysmal. Little attention was paid to runner and plenum volumes.

In some sense, we still see this today. Up until the recent past, the manifolds from the "big three" were still far from optimized and throttle spacer may have helped in some circumstances. The RX-7 need not apply as the manifold has been well optimized by Mazda for the engine (read up on the 6 port induction system).

And on the most basic level, if a throttle body spacer was an immediate improvement, why didn't the manufacturer just include it and advertise the HP/economy gain?

ProKurt

I guess most manufacturers are looking for short term gain rather than long term gain, so they don't reconcile for the fact that most people want powerful engines. Basically they want to jip the customer, but that's prevalent everywhere. Thank you for the insight, I guess he suggested it since he has an engine built by one of the "big three"