Throttle Body Porting

89cobra · Feb 14, 2012

Hello all, I was just wondering if anyone would be interested in having their throttle body ported? I recently ported the throttle body on my 2000 3.0l Ranger because I noticed no one really makes an aftermarket throttle body, nor is there really a cost effective solution in having yours ported by someone else. I've ported the intake manifold on my '97 Cobra, as well as the throttle body too and I figured I'd give it a shot to see if I gained anything. Basically long story short, the Venturi (throttle blade) on a 3.0l flex fuel engine is 52mm in diameter. There's nothing I can really do about that with a stock throttle body without drastically altering some things, however, there is two lets call them "steps" where the diameter of the throttle narrows drastically at a sharp angle from the size of the coupler to the size of the venturi. What I've done is opened up the rear of the throttle body (basically gasket matched the intake manifold and TB) and made the size reduction extremely gradual, well also smoothing the the porous texture of cast aluminum and polishing it too. The end results are definitely noticable. I haven't been able to get my truck on the dyno yet (but hopefully this week) and see actual gains, yet I can definitely tell a difference in throttle response and higher RPM horsepower, that's still with the stock airbox/tube with a drop in K&N airfilter without a tune. I've attached some pictures of the end result. PM me, or respond if you're interested.

djluski · Aug 19, 2012

porting

how much would you charge for a ported throttle body? i have a 1998 3.0L v6 ranger

adsm08 · Aug 19, 2012

So you have removed all the swirl inducing factors that helps with atomization and mixing from the bore of the throttle body to gain what, maybe 3 or 4 mm overall?

daniel3507 · Aug 19, 2012

Actually BBK does make an aftermarket throttle body. Its rather expensive though. I dont see this thread lasting long though.

straycat · Aug 19, 2012

I did this years ago on all my race hot rods and my Corvettes, Camaros and Mustangs. I did the heads and tuned port injection setups on the Chevys. It is a very extensive procedure, but it does improve performance some. How much....only a dyno will really tell. The cars really ran better after the polishing was done and throttle response was a lot better and noticeable. I got a few kits from Eastland and they work great.

89cobra · Oct 13, 2012

These aren't "swirl inducing factors" if you've ever seen one of these throttle bodies stock, they're restrictions there is no swirl inducing contour to them at all. There is a literal step that downsizes the chamber by a few millimeters overall, what I've done is I basically have taken that step that air would basically ram into and then have to go up and over into a smoothed ramp that the air just smoothly flows up at an angle. You seem to have some understanding of how an internal combustion engine works so here; the gains are due to an increase in port velocity, not volume because the venturi (throttle blade which ever your wish to call it) is still the stock size because opening the bore anymore would cause problems at idle. The polishing aspect doesn't do a ton for performance however like weight reduction every little bit counts so yes, the diameter can be expanded a slight bit before and after the "step" however once again, it's not about volume it's about velocity. Now here is my hypothesis behind the step, all I have done to my truck performance wise is a K&N drop in filter, ported TB and I have tuned it using SCT's Advantage software. And when I was datalogging my truck while on the dyno so I could get an idea of A/F ratio's while in closed loop (WOT) and checking the timing tables, measuring load, etc. I have seen that with this particular MAF and housing on a 2000 3.0L Ranger that the MAF counts were 2-3 shy of what the maximum value the MAF was capable of so basically my point being that you cannot flow any more air because the MAF will really not even know the difference, yes it will be able to compensate some through long term and short term O2 values however that's an after the fact measurement instead a pre combustion measurement making it a lot easier to know how long the injectors should be open while the air is on it's way. That's just my theory and the reasoning for them doing so is because that throttle body is probably used on other vehicles as well so it has to be a modular item.

89cobra · Oct 13, 2012

Hello, I am a BBK dealer and I can tell you that BBK does make a throttle body for a Ranger/Explorer but I will tell you the only make one for the 4.0L's and not 3.0L's.

89cobra · Oct 13, 2012

straycat said:
I did this years ago on all my race hot rods and my Corvettes, Camaros and Mustangs. I did the heads and tuned port injection setups on the Chevys. It is a very extensive procedure, but it does improve performance some. How much....only a dyno will really tell. The cars really ran better after the polishing was done and throttle response was a lot better and noticeable. I got a few kits from Eastland and they work great.

Yeah, it definitely did make a difference, I only picked up 2-3 horsepower if I do remember correctly (this was since forever ago and as you can tell by my delay I never go on forums haha) there was definitely a noticible difference in throttle response. I did dyno it and drive it before I tuned it so what I am saying is true it's not just a "Well maybe it was the tune.." type deal. To be honest with these little motors that were really never designed to be high performance increasing flow through the throttle body any more than this is basically useless without porting the U/L intake manifold(s), cleaning up the ports on the heads and having headers (assuming you deal with the pegged MAF issue) these mass production intakes and heads only flow so much because like I said they weren't designed for performance, they were made to last and to get you from point A to point B while also being compatible with emissions standards and obtaining reasonable gas mileage (and quite frankly in my opinion these motors are complete pigs my 2008 Bullitt with cams, FR intake, ported heads and 65 MM TB still gets better gas mileage with 100 c.i more.

doorgunner · Oct 13, 2012

Assssssssssssss usual.....there's two (or more) different ways to view the same modification....I recently polished & matched all the ports on both heads & matched the intake manifold-to-head ports of my vvvvvvvv-8.....the idle increased about 150 rpm....

American engine-uity :yahoo:

89cobra · Oct 13, 2012

doorgunner said:
Assssssssssssss usual.....there's two (or more) different ways to view the same modification....I recently polished & matched all the ports on both heads & matched the intake manifold-to-head ports of my vvvvvvvv-8.....the idle increased about 150 rpm....

American engine-uity

Well, theoretically then since your Ranger is carbed (I think according to your description?) there isn't any IAC to compensate for the increased flow of air, and if you didn't adjust the idle or any of the jetting it would be idling higher because it would be leaner at idle meaning you're flowing more air and you can add more fuel and make more power

doorgunner · Oct 14, 2012

89cobra said:
Well, theoretically then since your Ranger is carbed (I think according to your description?) there isn't any IAC to compensate for the increased flow of air, and if you didn't adjust the idle or any of the jetting it would be idling higher because it would be leaner at idle meaning you're flowing more air and you can add more fuel and make more power

There was a slight improvement in take-off/the air cleaner noise was slightly higher pitched...(Holley carbs are "over-jetted from the factory"...didn't have to increase the jet size)

adsm08 · Oct 14, 2012

89cobra said:
These aren't "swirl inducing factors" if you've ever seen one of these throttle bodies stock, they're restrictions there is no swirl inducing contour to them at all. There is a literal step that downsizes the chamber by a few millimeters overall, what I've done is I basically have taken that step that air would basically ram into and then have to go up and over into a smoothed ramp that the air just smoothly flows up at an angle. You seem to have some understanding of how an internal combustion engine works so here; the gains are due to an increase in port velocity, not volume because the venturi (throttle blade which ever your wish to call it) is still the stock size because opening the bore anymore would cause problems at idle. The polishing aspect doesn't do a ton for performance however like weight reduction every little bit counts so yes, the diameter can be expanded a slight bit before and after the "step" however once again, it's not about volume it's about velocity. Now here is my hypothesis behind the step, all I have done to my truck performance wise is a K&N drop in filter, ported TB and I have tuned it using SCT's Advantage software. And when I was datalogging my truck while on the dyno so I could get an idea of A/F ratio's while in closed loop (WOT) and checking the timing tables, measuring load, etc. I have seen that with this particular MAF and housing on a 2000 3.0L Ranger that the MAF counts were 2-3 shy of what the maximum value the MAF was capable of so basically my point being that you cannot flow any more air because the MAF will really not even know the difference, yes it will be able to compensate some through long term and short term O2 values however that's an after the fact measurement instead a pre combustion measurement making it a lot easier to know how long the injectors should be open while the air is on it's way. That's just my theory and the reasoning for them doing so is because that throttle body is probably used on other vehicles as well so it has to be a modular item.

Ok, I see where you are coming from here.

According to Ford anything that causes turbulence is a swirl-inducing factor.

But on the other hand, if you can increase intake charge velocity you will gain more performance from that than from mixing better. That is why Ford moved to IMRC/variable length runner systems.

doorgunner · Oct 14, 2012

adsm08 said:
Ok, I see where you are coming from here.

According to Ford anything that causes turbulence is a swirl-inducing factor.

Yeah..........like a 95mph 18-wheeler passing a 60mph Ranger......

but I got him back.....i ripped past him....good thing my truk is red so he noticed.... ;missingteeth;

ZMan · Oct 14, 2012

Every little bit counts, whether its worth the effort or not is up to you. I had a '92 3.0l 5spd a few years ago, I took the stock MAF and cut the center post out of it, a common mod I hear, and it actually did make a difference, it wasn't HUGE, but I did notice a difference, specifically when shifting into 4th gear going up a hill.

straycat · Oct 15, 2012

We saw these two naked babes on a dirt bike out in the woods and we rode up behind them on my Artic Cat and the babe on the back seat raised her butt and then we think she farted 'cause the bike took off like a rocket, Dude. So this swirl and combustion must work, Eh??

:icon_rofl:

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