Was looking thru my JC Whitney catalog and saw:

FOR MORE ENGINE POWER,BETTER MILEAGE, INCREASED PERFORMANCE--HELIX PLUS THROTTLE BODY SPACERS!

Gives you up to:
- 4 more miles/gallon
-22 greater hp
-23 additional ft./lbs. of torque

This doohicky is supposed to raise the throttle body injection unit by 1" for better atomization of gas and supposed to spiral flow the air/gas mixture.

Cost:  about $90

So....do these things work or is it just a high gas price fad/scam? Theoretically is sounds legit but it sure as hell ain't no Edelbrock Hi-Rise manifold.

Would you put one on YOUR vehicle?

Bump because I am also interested in a TB spacer for my Suburban.

Yes, TB spacers do provide a slight increase in fuel economy and power.

It is not dramatic.

edited to add:  $90???  Hell no, not worth it.  Change your cap/rotor/wires/plugs/airt filter and be done with it.

Quoted: Yes, TB spacers do provide a slight increase in fuel economy and power. It is not dramatic.

Agreed. If coupled with numerous other aftermarket parts you will still only see a small increase in anything

Throw your $90 out the window as you go down the road, you'll get better use out of it, IMO. That tiny little 1" space don't do shit for "fuel atomization" or any other claim.

Making one's engine breathe better is the best bolt-on upgrade, i.e. headers, split or bigger exhaust & better air box intake. Better plugs, wires & a better grade of coil (not "hotter" coil) will help some too.

My .o2

Depends on what kind of injection system is on the vehicle.

If it is a throttle body injection, when the injectors set on top of the throttle body, IE: any Chevy or GMC V-8 from about 1988-1995, then yes, they do help.

If it is a port type fuel injection system, where the injectors are in the manifold, right before the manifold enters the cylinder heads, IE: 96+ Chevy and GMC, 94+ Mopar, or most Fords, then no it does not help.

The reason the throttle body spacer works better on a engine with true throttle body injection, is because it alows the air to swirrel and mix with the fuel better as it enters the intake. The same as a carb spacer, or high rise type intake works on a carberator equiped engine. Port type fuel injection has the fuel mix with the air at the very end of the runners of the intake, right before it enters the engine, so any mixing effect the throttle body spacer has, will be lost in the natural tumbling and mixing of the air traveling through the intake.  


EDIT: The $90 would be better spent on a good tuneup using quality parts, or if that has been done recently, then put the money towards a good intake system ,such as a Volant, K&N, or AFE. Any way to get more air in, more exhaust out, and burn closer to 100% of the available fuel will add to milage and power.

carb spacers usualy dont do much for HP other than move your powerband up. depending on your engine build combo it may help some hurt some or make no difference at all.

The key to the advertising is "gives you up to".

As long as they can prove 0.000000001% increase in your vehicle,
and they can demonstrate the advertised possible increase in THEIR
vehicle, they are not lying.

This is true for everything from fuel line magnets, to water softener magnets,
to shoe magnets, ....  funny, most scams revolve around magnets.

Anyway, carb spacers have been proven to be slightly effective.
Hence the "high-rise intake manifolds" which were popular in the '60s.
But the increased performance was only noticed in engines that were
already built for performance.  PLUS, these spacers seemed to improve
things during a specific RPM band.  

Not only do they allow for better air/fuel mixing before combustion which
allows for more efficient burning, they also move the carb farther away from
the intake which can prevent the carb from getting hot.  Nobody wants their
carb to get hot.  To get the most benefit from this, some places offer phenolic
spacers which actually insulate the carb from the intake.  

I have a 1" polished aluminum 4-hole spacer on my 450hp 383.
Does it make any difference in power.  None that I can feel.
But I needed the space for clearance issues.  

my understanding is it only makes a difference in the higher RPM range but since it's being sold by JC Whitney it might make as much difference as a ricer slapping a R-Type sticker on the rear quarter panel followed by adding carbon fiber looking gas and brake pedals,
The butt dyno may notice a difference but on a stock vehicle it won't do very much.

You want the fuel to be as close to the point it turns to vapor as possible while it is being metered into the engine. Cold fuel will not mix as easily. Intakes are tuned for a desired performance by the manufacturer and you are not likely to improve on their work. You can modify the envelope the engine was designed to operate within but you WILL lose some type of performance somewhere. Save your money and invest it in major improvements to exhaust or cylinder heads. Those areas will give you added performance without radically changing the engine operating envelope.

Quoted: Not only do they allow for better air/fuel mixing before combustion which allows for more efficient burning, they also move the carb farther away from the intake which can prevent the carb from getting hot.  Nobody wants their carb to get hot.  To get the most benefit from this, some places offer phenolic spacers which actually insulate the carb from the intake.

We run a phenolic carburetor spacer on our IMCA stock car.

http://www.kineticperformance.net/pdc_0176.jpg
NOT MY PIC, but close to what we run

Thing looks like it is made of wood laminate, but I believe it is some type of plastic.  

did you know about the cars and bikes forum?  might post it there next time..

if you want to spiral the air   kenne bell makes an awesome one for about 4000.00    works verry well

Work on cars all day, have tested and used a couple spacers on things, here is all I can say........

4MPG seems like an outlandish statement.  I closely monitored one and saw almost 1MPG if you babied the heck out of the accelerator.  Basically, you won't see poo for a difference.  Some of the junky ones can also cause driveability problems as well (Spend $100 and get more problems).  I would suggest you put the money towards gas or go buy some gun parts....you will be much happier.