A funny thing happened during my cautious trip through Modville… a clever little trinket popped its quirky head not once but twice…. and peaked my interest.

“Has anyone tried a Throttle Body Spacer”? ‘What the hell could it possible do’ has always been my thought. I mean really, adding an inch of aluminum between the throttle body and plenum isn’t going to change a thing.

Well, in one Driver thread a particular spacer was questioned and as usual I had the same initial thought until someone mentioned a very reputable tuner Shawn Church had dyno’d this spacer and saw gains.

So I called Shawn and he concurred in fact that he had and after picking his brain I began the quest to find this TB spacer’s manufacturer.

I won’t mince words – that was a pain in the @ss!!!! My persistence prevailed. I located the manufacturer and obtained 2 test units. One stayed with me, the second one went to trusted source for testing. My testing was simply before and after dynos, which ended up being about 30 pulls all together thanks to the kind and gracious offer of Motordyne Engineering’s owner Tony Collete (Hydrazine). The other source would be testing timed runs, G-Tech results and real world driving conditions.

After 6 hours of Dyno with Tony and a very nice meal & chat after wards, it was determined even though there was an initial 10 HP gain in the first 5-6 pulls of each set, the G went back to base line numbers after that. Therefore, the increase really wasn’t the TB spacer but the ECU playing tricks.

So there I had it… Myth Busted! The TB spacer does nothing as I expected initially--at least on my AT sedan. Maybe Shawn saw something different because the MT coupe has something else going on?… Maybe (and I truly believe this is a fact) the MT coupe ECU is programmed differently and the funny business that Tony and I concluded was more an AT Sedan thing?… Who knows and by then I didn’t care. I took the thing off, intending to slap it back on later for a quick drive before returning it to manufacturer.

As you can see I was in no hurry to test the spacer on the street and a couple of weeks passed by. I spoke to the other tester to see if he’d at least completed the “real world” impressions… I got nothing. I figured he was dragging his feet too because he wouldn’t say a peep other than “before you conclude anything, just install it for ***** & giggles” Okay, I planned to do that anyway in fairness to the manufacturer.

A couple more weeks go by before I finally get around to installing it. And well, I was literally flabbergasted.

This may sound fabricated… I promise you it is not! Since I expected absolutely nothing, I was truly baffled that I felt more than a little something!!! Of course I’m not talking neck jerking FI power, but I really didn’t expect to feel anything… absolutely without a doubt I felt more torque in the low to mid rpm range!!!

I wasn’t sure how to react. After sharing my amazement with the other tester – he divulged that he had the same impression. He didn’t reveal his results initially because he wanted to make sure it wasn’t just a fluke.

So I was off on a new quest--get some of these TB spacers on other Gs and Zs and see what happens.

To date twenty units have been installed on mostly Gs and a few 350Zs… some stock, others slightly modded, a few heavily modified. The results, as of today? The TB spacers have been installed and/or tested on 22 cars. The score? Two yielded nothing—nadda! Two owners were not sure. The others, including many on Driver, are smiling members of the BB Mod users group. (* For those scratching their heads wondering what a BB mod is – Bumble Bee… in theory, a Bumble Bee can’t fly – and I suppose if you took a rendering of it’s anatomy you would conclude that in fact it can’t… unless you actually saw one do it’s thing!)

I must say – this has been a long, sometimes PITA process – but without a doubt this little mod is a good bang for the buck! This is an unbiased review of a mod I had initially dismissed. Take it or leave it; this is one mod that, until you test it, you’ll probably not believe it works. Trust me, I was one.

I invite the other BB Mod (TB spacer) owner/testers to offer their impressions.

 

who was the manufacturer of the one you tested?

 

Designed Chaos Engineering

 

How much? I want one.

 

Review from this TB user (from a different thread):
Anyone that has tested or installed this particular mod your impressions are welcomed - good, bad or indifferent

 

The wife (auto sedan) and I (revup coupe) are members of the BB Mod group.

Edit: Dynoed both Gs today. Bigger smiles all around.

 

Ive had this on for about 6 months and you can tell it is there for sure it isnt a lot of power but it is still some and some is better then none. right now I have a crawford z plenum, jwt stage one cams, tbs, injen cai, ichiba ss headers, nismo cb exhaust, jwt clutch and flywheel and when u take it off you can tell its not there its worth the little money.

 

the only one I've seen on Ebay was $100...

 

^ yeah I paid 120 for mine so that sounds close

 

I'm very happy with my TB spacer! Went for a few before and after runs and definitely didn't want to be driving without it!

 

where to get?

 

Yeah but I'd prefer to get the one that you have been using. I have read all of your comments before doing the test and your review after and you sound pretty convincing to me.

 

Here is my review even I don't have one on my car yet.

I didn't believe it work either until DaveO installed the spacer on a AT sedan. I took a ride in the sedan before the TBS and after and I could tell the difference as a passenger!!! Granted it's not neck snapping torque, but you can tell there is more torque there than before.

I decided to test 2 of the spacers for DaveO 1 for my FI G and a 350z. I installed the spacer on the 350z after taking flak that it wouldn't work. I told him if it didn't work I would take it off and he pays nothing. Well he took it out for a highway run came back and said he wanted it definately and his passenger could tell also it was there. The guy in this 350z is a street racer so he is looking for anything to give him a edge. (not promoting street racing)
Mods: injen intake and injen exhaust

The 2nd spacer was going to go on my G to see if it works with F/I or not, but due to delays I installed the spacer on another 350z.

The mods on the car is borla exhaust, borla headers and k&n filter. The owner of this 350z said the same as everyone ,that you can tell that something more is there.

If anyone is wondering both of these cars are 6mts and one has a cold air intake

I would compare it to installing a spacer to your car you can tell it's there.

If you look at most TBS spacers they are smooth, but this one has grooves cut in it to spin the air before it goes into the plenum which for some reason helps I guess.

I know most of you are like that's the same concept as the tornado or turbonator, but both of those products block air from getting to the plenum this one doesn't.

I will try to get another spacer for my car since I get it back next week and see what it does with FI. I will have before and after dynos and I will see if I can get one of my friends with the TBS to come with me to dyno also.

I think it's a good product and for the price you can't beat it for a little extra torque.

 

I think this TB spacer argument would be more convincing if it were tested on the strip. Since it's such an easy mod to install (matter of 5 minutes) and the fact that many of you Cali guys run at the strip on a regular basis, if would be very easy to do a before and after. If the power increase is really that noticeable, then it surely should have an impact on 1/4 mile performance.

I'm all for cheap, simple, and effective mods, but from what I've read and seen (1/4 mile comparions, dynos) with Hondas, F-Bodies, and VQ Maximas, the spacer did nothing (negative nor positive). I have a hard time believing the G/Z VQ behaves any differently, but I could be wrong.

 

here is a review from one of the 350z guys with the spacer he has a 06 6mt.

I was a little hesitant at first that a throttle body spacer would help much. The spacer was an easy install and only took 10 minutes. After I drove the car with the spacer on, it definitely felt like I had better and more even power through the higher rpm's. Usually I would feel a slight drop of power at 6400-7000. after the install of the spacer it felt like I had fuller power through all rpm's especially through 6400-7000.

the spacer is definitely worth the price and you will feel the difference at WOT and all the way to redline..