Placing a screen under the throttle body - Fuelly Forums

Click here to see important news regarding the aCar App

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 03-10-2008, 02:50 PM   #1
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 9
Country: United States
Placing a screen under the throttle body

In my constant quest to get better gas mileage in my 94 chevy truck I often ring up engine performance to mechanics that I run in to.

Well, an older man that I ran into told me that I should get 2 throttle body gaskets and place a wire screen from lowes in between. Making a sandwich out of the gaskets with the screen in the middle. I thought that he was just kidding with me but he swore up and down that this was an old trick to use on TB's because the screen will cause the gas to spray out into thinner molecules before it hits the combustion chamber.

Before I waste my time making this contraption does anyone see any benifit or possible problems if I do this? Has anyone ever heard about this before and does this contraption make any sense at all?

Thanks in advance,
Reishi
__________________

Reishi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2008, 04:42 PM   #2
Registered Member
 
GasSavers_Erik's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,027
Country: United States
I am doubtful that it will help. The gasoline will atomize when it is sprayed out from the injectors.

I would think that if it would really help, car companies would already be doing it on FE cars like the Prius, Yaris etc..
__________________

GasSavers_Erik is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2008, 04:44 PM   #3
Registered Member
 
GasSavers_RoadWarrior's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,652
Aluminum window screen has been known to oxidise and break up getting into the motor, so would be better to find some good quality stainless steel mesh. This was an old trick for carbs, which tend not to spray so good as TBI does. The idea is that it catches the bigger droplets, or busts them up and they evaporate off the mesh in the airflow. Is reported to work well on some vehicles, maybe lose a touch of throttle response if the mesh is restrictive. May work well in combination with a "warm air" intake. Haven't tried either myself, just have MPFI vehicles to play with, so this is just stuff I've picked up by osmosis hanging round fuel economy sites for years.
__________________
I remember The RoadWarrior..To understand who he was, you have to go back to another time..the world was powered by the black fuel & the desert sprouted great cities..Gone now, swept away..two mighty warrior tribes went to war & touched off a blaze which engulfed them all. Without fuel, they were nothing..thundering machines sputtered & stopped..Only those mobile enough to scavenge, brutal enough to pillage would survive. The gangs took over the highways, ready to wage war for a tank of juice
GasSavers_RoadWarrior is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2008, 04:46 PM   #4
Registered Member
 
GasSavers_RoadWarrior's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,652
Quote:
Originally Posted by Erik View Post
I would think that if it would really help, car companies would already be doing it on FE cars like the Prius, Yaris etc..
Modern higher pressure injection systems have a better spray pattern, so those would definitely not need it. TBI is typically lower pressure, around 9-15 PSI and droplet pattern is often rather coarse.
__________________
I remember The RoadWarrior..To understand who he was, you have to go back to another time..the world was powered by the black fuel & the desert sprouted great cities..Gone now, swept away..two mighty warrior tribes went to war & touched off a blaze which engulfed them all. Without fuel, they were nothing..thundering machines sputtered & stopped..Only those mobile enough to scavenge, brutal enough to pillage would survive. The gangs took over the highways, ready to wage war for a tank of juice
GasSavers_RoadWarrior is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2008, 04:58 PM   #5
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 73
Country: United States
Ditto. Usually results in fuel "pooling" on the mesh, yielding goofy throttle response and a host of other issues.

The idea was sound in certain carb situations, such as on race motors where atomization was less than optimal and the motor spent a lot of time at WOT.
__________________
Everyone wants to live inTheory. Because everything works THERE.
mustngr is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2008, 05:25 PM   #6
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 9
Country: United States
Thanks for the responses.

The guy I talked to was certainly a good mechanic in his day but I don't know if he knows much about the newer vehicles. Although he did say that he did this on the same model truck that I have so I guess I could give a try and measure its effectiveness over a few tanks.
Reishi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-11-2008, 01:58 AM   #7
Registered Member
 
lunarhighway's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 360
Country: United States
i was looking into mesh behaviour for a totally different reason (grillblock) but it turns out a fine grit will smooth out airflow and destribute the pressure over it's entire surface.

and the flow will remain straight for some distance after the grit after wich it will go turbulent again. so perhaps the grit will even out the turbulence caused by the throttle valve. on the other hand it might cause a slight restriction wich would cause you to run higher throttle setting for the same airflow.

if this guy has tried it as says it's successful i'd sure give it a shot... i don't see any huge problems this could cause if it's carefully constructed out of the right materials.
__________________

lunarhighway is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-11-2008, 04:02 AM   #8
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 170
Country: United States
Mesh screens are used to help even out the flow and pressure variations in the throttle body intake tract , especially where the butterfly can cause disrupted flows.

Not seen so much these days as most engines are multi point injection.

Cheers , Pete.
GasSavers_Pete is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-11-2008, 05:23 PM   #9
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 9
Country: United States
I went ahead and made the contraption and placed it under the throttle body this afternoon. I took the truck around the neighborhood and it feels really responsive. Almost like it isn't struggling as hard to get up to speed. However, this may be wishful thinking though so I measure any difference over the period of a few tanks of gas.

I generally average right at 11.5 mpg so I am looking for anything to help.
Reishi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-11-2008, 10:10 PM   #10
Registered Member
 
GasSavers_SD26's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 529
Country: United States
The screen obviously reduces the area of the intake. Might just help increase the intake velocity. I've seen that done with epoxy on some racing motorcycle intakes.

Looking forward to your follow up.
__________________

__________________
Dave
GasSavers_SD26 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Recovering faster from partial fill-up hufman Fuelly Web Support and Community News 12 01-12-2010 02:16 AM
Chart suggestions jeadly Fuelly Web Support and Community News 0 08-08-2008 02:46 AM
Things To Look For When Buying A Civic Hx panamacolin General Fuel Topics 9 06-06-2007 08:43 AM
Best way to do a lowering experiment? MetroMPG Experiments, Modifications and DIY 34 11-02-2006 04:01 PM

» Fuelly iOS Apps
No Threads to Display.
Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 12:06 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.