spacer vs. cold air???
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RE: spacer vs. cold air??? - 12/12/2007 5:42:59 AM
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jcbst12
Posts: 58
Joined: 11/10/2007
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I have an Airaid Cold Air intake and a TB Spacer from a local speed shop. Paid $100 for both. I've never tried it without the TB Spacer but I still noticed a gain on the acceleration at WOT but that was it. When I tuned it, it made a bigger difference. From what I understand, there is only so much you can do to the intake before it leans the engine out too much. Most performance shops around here say that a cold air intake and tbs will lean the engine out too much. An aftermarket MAF will REALLY lean out the engine. A K&N filter only, or a K&N with a TB Spacer will be ok. Otherwise you'll need a tune to richen up the air to fuel. (You can also get away with using higher octane fuel, but the tune will give you more performance from the intake setup).
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RE: spacer vs. cold air??? - 12/12/2007 6:16:13 AM
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EuroGoldLS
Posts: 1985
Joined: 7/12/2007
From: Princeton, NC, USA
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The TB spacers are absolutely worthless on a Vortec engine. The vortec heads are designed to spin the air/fuel mixture like it already has a spacer on it.
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RE: spacer vs. cold air??? - 12/12/2007 10:38:48 AM
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northey87
Posts: 847
Joined: 10/17/2007
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how do you "tune" the air/fuel ratio? and I thought they didn't start using the vortec engines till '96?
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RE: spacer vs. cold air??? - 12/12/2007 10:43:53 AM
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northey87
Posts: 847
Joined: 10/17/2007
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And the S&B system I am trying mainly brings cold air into the engine, it lets a little bit more air flow than stock not not a ton more, at least that is what I have read from their wed site. would this still change the air/fuel ratio too much?
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RE: spacer vs. cold air??? - 12/14/2007 7:01:59 AM
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jcbst12
Posts: 58
Joined: 11/10/2007
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The only way to tell for sure would be a dyno or have someone time a few 0-60 times, a few with and a few without the intake modifications. With my truck it was a slight knock coming off of idel and if you punched it and heard this knock it would accelerate like it was pulling a load. The truck senses this knock and retards the timing, (in this case it was do to predetonation from a lean air to fuel mixture).
Vortecs started in 94 or 95 didn't they?
S&B intake I'm not sure of. You will prob be fine. Mine is a 3.5" intake and made a considerable difference on its own. After I removed the screen on the MAF, added the intake, the TB Spacer and removed the metal airbox base to allow more air in...it ran lean. I know this because I had someone log the data from the PCM with their lap top and the A/F ratio was leaning out causing the engine to retard the timing. Plus the knock I heard when accelerating. (Keep in mind, I live in a pretty high elevation too meaning maybe the truck needed time to "learn" that there was much more air coming into the engine, I dunno).
To "tune" it out you need tuning software or a Predator tuner. Something that will allow you to modify Power Enrichment, fuel injector slope, timing, etc.... You can find someone to tune your truck online or even go to a performance shop and have them do it. (i'd wait until you were done doing everything you want to do to the engine berfore you tune).
TB Spacer are pretty weak on a Vortec engine, I had a better gain with TBI using a TB Spacer. I have heard that the ones with the threads inside (torque curve style) do make a more noticable difference than normal spacers. Hypertech will not promise prefect operation of your engine using their tunes if you have an aftermarket intake or TB Spacer or both. So they have to change something enough to change the airflow.
Vortec heads are hard to beat on airflow, but getting the air into the intake quicker, with less turbulence helps, not by a landslide, but it helps.
< Message edited by jcbst12 -- 12/14/2007 7:04:41 AM >
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RE: spacer vs. cold air??? - 12/14/2007 8:40:06 AM
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northey87
Posts: 847
Joined: 10/17/2007
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How would I know if I have vortec heads on this engine?
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