What Are Your Thoughts on Porting a Throttle Body?

[Bigredmariner]

I ran across this last night and wanted to get some feed back from our group. I am interested in hearing what you guys think about it. Is this another gimmick or is this something worth trying? Discuss.

Port & Polish Throttle Body

A home-ground throttle body is an easy way to get more air into the Gen. III engine. To perform this procedure, unhook the throttle position sensor (TPS) and idle air control sensor (IAC) connectors from the throttle body. The throttle cable and coolant hoses are removed also, then the three 10mm bolts holding the throttle body were removed.

The TB was taken to a workbench and mounted in a vise; a carbide bit and some 80- and 120-grit paper rolls were waiting for it. Porting the Gen. III's throttle body is done to remove a restrictive ridge in front of the throttle blade and to generally make the contours smooth. You want to take out the turbulence and increase velocity, but don't go hog-wild because the carbide bit can burn through pretty quickly. Use the 80-grit to smooth out the carbide burr cuts, and the 120-grit to polish the throttle body smooth.

Any sharp edge on the throttle body should be buffed down.

don't do heavy porting in the idle air bypass area--that will force air into this spot that doesn't need any more.

Mild port work is performed on the back side as well, and the throttle blade screws are ground down. Once the TB is cleaned up, it is ready for reinstallation.

 

[Cowboy Cadillac]

Makes sense to me as long as you don't grind around where the blade touches the tb, or around idle air bypass. I don't forsee much gain though.

 

[dietz4ibanez]

Well I think the TB on my black truck was about 68mm and I always thought about getting a 72mm... But the more that you think about it I don't think that you will ever be able to justify the cost of purchasing a new one...
I don't know how I feel about honing out the stock one... I wouldn't IMO...

I'd say that you would be just as happy sticking with an upgraded cold air intake and possible an aftermarket Mass Airflow sensor followed by a BB tune and you should be pretty happy with that..

 

[Draenor]

I dont think that little lip will make that much of a difference if it is ground down.Seems like a lotta work for minimal gains.

The Gen 3 TB is flow rated enough to be used on the 8.1L.

 

[Vmax2007]

I dont think that little lip will make that much of a difference if it is ground down.Seems like a lotta work for minimal gains.

The Gen 3 TB is flow rated enough to be used on the 8.1L.

I am betting an Edelbrock sticker would net you more gains.

 

[daddy]

That lip is designed to make the air rotate, like a built-in Tornado. Removing it actually decreases power. Dummies.

 

[EMS_0525]

I bet you wouldn't notice that much of a gain if any... my mass air flow sensor was going bad on my sonoma and i put an aftermarket high performance one on and it made a big difference, and i had a throttle body spacer and a cold air intake.

 

[Alljackedup408]

For a street vehicle.. this is just a waste of time and money.. IMO. If you race.. and have strict class rules like have to have stock TB and stuff.. then porting it would make all the sense in the world. A lil gain here and there adds up. But on a daily driver... i wouldnt waste my time.

 

[CJ Hungus]

I think that it increases throttle response some, but as said before, for a street vehicle with minimal other modifications, a waste of time.

 

[mr_bots]

I don't think that it'll do anything at normal engine speeds just because the air won't be flowing fast enough for the turbulence caused by that lip to affect the velocity of the air. At very high rpm's there might be a slight advantage, but I doubt you'd notice it. I'd put the time and money elsewhere.