Actually, what kills me about the TBS (and yes, I have one, although I don't believe it has provided any gains) is all the reviews of people claiming to feel 5-10 hp gains with their butt dyno. The TBS may or may not provide any gains (although I am leaning towards not), but anyone who says they can feel a 5 hp gain (which amounts to less than 3% on a ~230rwhp vehicle) is plain flat out lying or deluding themselves.

Dave

 

Hey Dave, don't you know the TB Spacer "straightens" the air. LOL Good one

 

I know that people have felt gains with this mod, and a few have seen some decent increases at the track with it as well. I've spoken to some of them myself.

However, I tried one of these out back in mid/late June. With conditions being nearly identical, and no other changes to the car, I lost about 2mph in my trap. Cheryl's car, with no changes, so no difference in trap speeds.

 

Elaborate. As far I've read, no one has talked about their track experiences with this mod.

I'd trust your and Cheryl's findings since you two are legit racers and understand drag racing, launch technique, and condition factors.

 

Hi Mike,

I was certaint of it based on my own design testing, but after testing yours on your car, I was convinced they don't work at all.

Remember, after we uninstalled yours, your car dynod exactly the same on all parts of the curve.

And yes, I am sure it was the ECU. Even before testing, I explained ECU changes can happen. And they typically move upward after a few pulls on the dyno and reach a plateau.

If the TB spacer was making gains, your car would have lost power after it was removed. But it didn't.


For the ones that did show gains, I would give it a second thought if they were consistant in their magnitude and RPM. But they haven't.

Without strict testing controls, you could take a fleet of cars, dyno them all, and redyno them 30 minutes later and the vast majority of them will dyno higher the second time around. The ECU needs to be normalized for both sets of tests for the test to be valid.

I'm not bashing, taking sides or trying to rain on any parades. I'm just saying what I know from test experience.

And believe me. If there was any real HP to be made from a TB spacer, I would exploite its engineering to the max. ...But its just not there.

Tony

EDIT: I was going to stay out of this thread but when I saw reference to my name and testing, I had to make some clarification. Otherwise, I'll try to avoid TB spacer threads.

 

Thanks for you input, Tony. I appreciate it and I'm sure others that are on the fence about this mod do too.

I'll be very curious about OCG35's response. What really intrigues me is that the infamous DaveO thinks that this mod works and he apparently supports it. Your testing seems to show just how variable these cars are on dyno and that there is no definative proof that the TBS works. DaveO surely would have seen/known about your results since you've worked with OCG35 on this. I just find odd that DaveO is a claimed automotive expert and a writer for a performance magazine, yet he seems to discredit (whether intentional or not) other findings that do not support his own. I would bet we'll see a write-up in the G/Z performance magazine showing that this particular spacer makes power.

I have no doubt that throttle response can be influenced by the spacer, but that doesn't necessarily mean there's more power. I can change the configuration of my OEM intake in four different ways and I'll get a different type of throttle response with each different set up, but the overall WOT performance won't change.


I've noticed this too with the G/Z cars. I don't know about everyone else's car, but my G is amazingly consistent on the strip which proves to me that it's making consistent power, run after run, cool down or hot lapping. I'm talking about MPH and not ET. On my first run on the day, I'll know what my trap speed will be for the entire day within 0.5mph. My ET can vary a bit due to 60 foot difference, but the MPH is spot on, run after run, which tells me my G has to be making within 5whp or so on every run.

 

That's odd. I typically trap at least 1.5mph lower on my first run of the night versus my fastest run of the night.

 

I don't want to name names, as I'd like to respect the privacy of the individuals with which I have spoken. But, I've heard second hand of at least two people have experienced at least marginal gains at the track with this mod.

 

I think it's probably a factor of the automatic. With my Maxima, my traps would vary by 1 to 1.5mph. The traps were heavily influenced by spinning the tires into 2nd and sometimes 3rd. With my G auto, I don't have to contend with that.

Also, when I run my car in the cooler months, my track is only open from 12 to 4 so there isn't much change in the ambient conditions which could influence power. My track doesn't open unless the temp is at least 50 and sunny. I wish I could run at a track that stayed open in the evenings and let us run in 30 degree weather. I'm sure I could grab some 14.1s.

 

Thanks Hydrazine for the reply. Until I see definate proof, I going to defer to your information. I've always found you to be very subjective and honest about mods.

 

Wouldn't that show up on a dyno? ie.. less dip in the graphs? I didn't see anything like that in the one dyno I looked at. Well now it's deleted

 

thanks for the writeup Tony.

just reviving this thread since someone was selling a TBS in the marketplace.