Your Tundra's engine is generally described as one, big giant of an air pump. To produce more horsepower, huge amounts of air must circulate in your motor because the amount of fuel that initiates combustion is directly proportional to it. Various devices are available with the intention of aiding the engine in 'breathing', per se, and subsequently, make the most out of its performance. Cold air intakes, air filters, and superchargers are added left, right, and center just to achieve the edge that extra horsepower can bring.
There have been claims from various manufacturers saying that they can improve the way engines are engineered. Some cold air intakes and performance air filters are as good as their makers say they are. Such things rectify the motor's performance because not only is the engine's performance improved, other things are made all the better, as well. Take air flow, for instance; you can usually expect increased power and engine noise, as well as expense.
Sad to say, some of these simple enhancements don't really deliver their grand promises of fuel mileage and horsepower increase. Although none of the cold air intakes that we've tested proved to be disappointing, they still didn't deliver their promised results. There is one device, however, that I feel would be wrong to endorse, and that is the throttle body spacer.
Throttle body spacers like the PowerAid by Airaid are designed to be placed between the truck's throttle body and its intake. This brand has claimed that it creates an intense vortex of air that will help to better atomize the fuel when the two becomes mixed. According to its manufacturers, the so-called vortex is accomplished using a series of grooves that is carved inside the device itself.
This device is quite flawed. Simply put, the idea of a 'vortex' is a good one, but if it were that easy, then this would probably be already installed in the factory in the first place. After all, automakers are competitive, so they naturally think of everything. Indeed, to add considerable horsepower or fuel mileage gains, fuel and air are simply not mixed together in the cylinder until before combustion.
In the primitive forms of fuel injection, like the throttle body injection, when fuel was simply sprayed at the throttle body then mixed with air immediately before being coursed to the cylinders, perhaps a spacer would have more use. On carbureted engines, spacers can be actually of help to generate power. However, the technology in the Tundra's system of multi-point fuel injection prevents any useful effect from this device. Chances are very low for the air to still be feeling the effects of a vortex when it goes through the intake and into the cylinder.
My point is it's better to invest your money on something that can really improve your fuel economy and engine performance, instead of wasting it on a throttle body spacer that won't work on the more modern fuel-injected engines. For instance, the K&N performance air filter is only about half the price, but definitely works better.
There have been claims from various manufacturers saying that they can improve the way engines are engineered. Some cold air intakes and performance air filters are as good as their makers say they are. Such things rectify the motor's performance because not only is the engine's performance improved, other things are made all the better, as well. Take air flow, for instance; you can usually expect increased power and engine noise, as well as expense.
Sad to say, some of these simple enhancements don't really deliver their grand promises of fuel mileage and horsepower increase. Although none of the cold air intakes that we've tested proved to be disappointing, they still didn't deliver their promised results. There is one device, however, that I feel would be wrong to endorse, and that is the throttle body spacer.
Throttle body spacers like the PowerAid by Airaid are designed to be placed between the truck's throttle body and its intake. This brand has claimed that it creates an intense vortex of air that will help to better atomize the fuel when the two becomes mixed. According to its manufacturers, the so-called vortex is accomplished using a series of grooves that is carved inside the device itself.
This device is quite flawed. Simply put, the idea of a 'vortex' is a good one, but if it were that easy, then this would probably be already installed in the factory in the first place. After all, automakers are competitive, so they naturally think of everything. Indeed, to add considerable horsepower or fuel mileage gains, fuel and air are simply not mixed together in the cylinder until before combustion.
In the primitive forms of fuel injection, like the throttle body injection, when fuel was simply sprayed at the throttle body then mixed with air immediately before being coursed to the cylinders, perhaps a spacer would have more use. On carbureted engines, spacers can be actually of help to generate power. However, the technology in the Tundra's system of multi-point fuel injection prevents any useful effect from this device. Chances are very low for the air to still be feeling the effects of a vortex when it goes through the intake and into the cylinder.
My point is it's better to invest your money on something that can really improve your fuel economy and engine performance, instead of wasting it on a throttle body spacer that won't work on the more modern fuel-injected engines. For instance, the K&N performance air filter is only about half the price, but definitely works better.
About the Author:
Author Jason Lancaster operates TundraHeadquarters.com, a web site with info, news, and reviews of Toyota Tundra parts and Tundra accessories.
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