What's the truth
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 1,799
Likes: 579
From: Mays Landing, NJ
What's the truth
So today going through my emails I had one from Amazon for a Corvette Air Foil Throttle Body Booster. Makes a claim that it cuts down on turbulence and improves throttle response in addition to increasing HP by 11. Obviously, I take such claims and file them away with the wild clams of increased performance from those selling cold air intakes.
Interested to hear your thoughts on the many claims for this product and many others that make claims without any real testing proof.
Interested to hear your thoughts on the many claims for this product and many others that make claims without any real testing proof.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 2,830
Likes: 147
From: Gainesville FL
So today going through my emails I had one from Amazon for a Corvette Air Foil Throttle Body Booster. Makes a claim that it cuts down on turbulence and improves throttle response in addition to increasing HP by 11. Obviously, I take such claims and file them away with the wild clams of increased performance from those selling cold air intakes.
Interested to hear your thoughts on the many claims for this product and many others that make claims without any real testing proof.
Interested to hear your thoughts on the many claims for this product and many others that make claims without any real testing proof.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 6,192
Likes: 750
From: near the thumb in the mitten
Super Chevy & TPIS published dyno test and did show an increase of 11 hp on a modified 383 LT1. 11 hp was about 3% which maybe a better way to look at it. SOTP I don't know you will notice the difference. The 11 hp was at 5500 rpm not at a engine speed commonly driven at. A different study I stumbled into a study showed air flow increased 40 cfm. The extra cfm only really helps at wot, provided engine can actually use the extra airflow.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 6,528
Likes: 752
From: South Dakota
The amount of gain is very small, however they do some.
I had a different exhaust and throttle body airfoil on my '87. Those two changes made it so that I would get a bog at certain speeds when I pushed the throttle. I took out the air foil and it behaved normally again. Later I put an SLP chip in the computer and then with the airfoil installed it ran fine again. I think it made enough difference that the computer could not handle it with the stock chip.
The tests I have seen show some hp improvement, but so little it could simply be testing variation from test to test. The only test that I believe in was a test that simply measured the pressure drop and air flow across the throttle body with vs without the airfoil. The airfoil did show some slight improvements.
So I believe it does do something, but not much. I could not feel a difference in performance. I don't believe it is worth the small cost of the part.
The other thing is not performance related. The way most of them are attached to the throttle body, there is a screw/nut that tightens it on. They recommend a thread locker on it. The down side is that if the screw/nut comes loose, it will get sucked into the engine and could cause a lost engine. Is that risk worth the performance gain that is too small to feel?
Good luck.
I had a different exhaust and throttle body airfoil on my '87. Those two changes made it so that I would get a bog at certain speeds when I pushed the throttle. I took out the air foil and it behaved normally again. Later I put an SLP chip in the computer and then with the airfoil installed it ran fine again. I think it made enough difference that the computer could not handle it with the stock chip.
The tests I have seen show some hp improvement, but so little it could simply be testing variation from test to test. The only test that I believe in was a test that simply measured the pressure drop and air flow across the throttle body with vs without the airfoil. The airfoil did show some slight improvements.
So I believe it does do something, but not much. I could not feel a difference in performance. I don't believe it is worth the small cost of the part.
The other thing is not performance related. The way most of them are attached to the throttle body, there is a screw/nut that tightens it on. They recommend a thread locker on it. The down side is that if the screw/nut comes loose, it will get sucked into the engine and could cause a lost engine. Is that risk worth the performance gain that is too small to feel?
Good luck.
Last edited by QCVette; Dec 28, 2018 at 10:18 AM.
Racer
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 259
Likes: 38
From: Volcano CA
I bought one for my stock TB on my LT1....and while I had it apart for an intake, I had a "catastrophic dumba$$ failure" with my stock TB and it never was installed. I ended up with a BBS TB instead of buying a new (or find a used) GM unit. I still have the foil on the shelf. To me, cleaning up any of the breathing or airflow is a good thing, especially for such an inexpensive piece.
