Throttle Body Mod Help?

[ranger450]

I been putting together a new 3.0 motor in my spare time, the shortblock is a 2007 and the upper manifolds and Throttle body are off a 2003 3.0, the question i have is has anybody or can i install a much larger Throttlebody maybe off a 3.8 or something?? without throwing CEL's, is there a write up on it somewhere?


the truck its going in is a 99 ford ranger

 

[stmitch]

I've seen guys use custom billet adaptor plates to mount mustang 5.0 throttle bodies onto their trucks. The escape throttle body has been made to work too, but requires building up a mating surface using something like JB Weld. It's far from bolt on, and a bit "shadetree" if you ask me.

 

[ranger450]

t/b

on the escape what year? do you know the size of the T/B, no cels?

​

 

[TomB1269]

If you are building it up, form what most have said here, your extra time would be better spent with port and polishing heads and intake, spending money on things like 1.7 or 1.8 roller rockers.

If you can get more air through the engine then there is no need to be able to put more in................ 3.0s are 3.0s there is little that can be done that will make any real pwoer increase without major rework and $$ (IE Stroker kit/ Boosted intake)

 

[ranger450]

Computor

If i just put the upper and lower intake along with the throttle body from a 2003 3.0 and install it on my 1999 3.0 with my stock computor will i have any issues? CEL's

 

[ranger450]

Tuner OR Programer

if i move up to a lager throttle body would i have to get a Tuner or Programer, if so which one is the best?

 

[stmitch]

The throttle body from any Vulcan 3.0 98-up should work without issue as far as I know. If you're only increasing the size of the throttle body a couple mm's, you shouldn't need a tuner. But why would you only increase it a little? What are your plans for the motor? If you're doing other breathing mods (headers, roller rockers/cam, heavy porting/polishing,etc.), they could compound one another and require a tuner. If that's the case, an SCT x-cal3 would be the ticket. They come highly recommended. Even if it wouldn't be required, you could see benefits from a good tuner with custom tunes.

 

[ranger450]

Tuner

Well i have ported and polished the heads and the lower manifold myself already, am using a 2003 upper intake and would like to go with the 01-03 escape throttle body i here that is much bigger, pretty much the rest of the motor will be stock. Should i use a tuner? if so what is that exactly am not to familuar with that! any suggestions? don't want to throw a ton of money at it.

oh yeah! underdrive pulleys,live wire and coil pack.

 

[stmitch]

With those mods, a tuner probably wouldn't be required, but like I said, it wouldn't be a bad idea either. There are different kinds of tuners out there. They basically reflash the stock computer with new parameters for fuel/air mixture and spark advance. There are cheap generic ones that just have a "one-size-fits-all" tune, but these could actually negate some of the gains you'd see with your mods, or at the very least, not take full advantage of the work you've done.
The SCT x-cal that I suggested stores 3 tunes, plus your factory tune so that you can return it to stock at any time. Basically, you tell an SCT liscensed tuner what you've done to your truck, then they take all of that into account and custom write 3 tunes for your truck. Examples could include tunes for fuel mileage, different fuel types, or torque if you tow a lot. It's the best way to get the most out of what you've done.
As for the escape throttle body, like I said, it's far from bolt on, and you probably wouldn't see much in the way of gains by simply opening up the throttle body a few mm. If you have to have it, the mating surface between the escape throttle body and our upper intakes isn't an exact match which leaves gaps. The only way to fill those gaps would be to use something like JB Weld, which may cause vacuum leaks if you can't get it smooth enough. Plus, if any of the JB Weld ever broke off, it would get sucked straight into your engine and ruin all of your work. The gains just are not worth the time/money thats required, and the risk of check engine lights, vacuum leaks, or worse. At least in my opinion.