Cheap and Easy Throttle Response Mods

[Rock Hard Concrete]

Hello all I believe this may be my first post here so might be kinda long but here goes. Got me a '90 Sierra SLE with a 350 and only 73,000 original miles a few months back. One owner, very well taken care of, dealer documented service, etc. Stock as hell and kinds gutless unless ran high into the rev range, but would pull hard once she was wound up a bit. The high gearing doesn't help.

I am a huge believer in big gain for little money as long as it isn't crap. I looked online right away for cheap power mods and found the infamous lid flip. I flipped the lid and found a bit of gain but was left with more to be desired. Over the last few months it has lost some weight (canopy and ac delete) as well as had the oil changed to t6 and the spark plugs replaced and some other cheap tune up stuff. Oh yeah, It also has a 3 inch straight pipe off the cat about 2 feet long and exits behind the passenger. Sounds great and was a huge performance gain in the mid to high range and had slightly better off-idle response. Best part it only cost $20 in off the shelf parts from orreillys.

Though all I've done has helped power, response, and gas mileage by quite a bit, I was still left wanting more immediate throttle response.

Keeping with my thrifty belief, I decided to cut the housing around the stock air filter down to make it a legitimate open filter. Free, and I recon damn near as good as the $200 k&n that does the same thing. Took a couple of hours, but I did it right and it looks great. I also bought a $1.89 spring to use as a throttle assist. I mounted the spring on what looks to be a spring mount for a carb (could be totally wrong) and attached the other end to where the tv cable attaches. Had to tweak the spring a bit, but eventually found the perfect tension.

These two mods have increased throttle response and driveablility so much I am now sorta pissed I didn't do this the weekend I bought the truck. Cost me almost nothing and coupled with my exhaust and recent tune up this thing really boogies now. The assist spring also helps keep the converter locked up when I let off the gas and helps keep it in overdrive at lower speeds which I'm sure will help my mpgs.


Sorry for the long post but I guess it counts as my introductory as well. Anyway on to pictures!

Before:

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After:

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Closeup of the spring:

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[superdave]

I'm of the opinion that your perceived performance improvements come from the increase in engine noise from the open air cleaner. "Flipping the breather" is an old school thing when we'd do that so you could hear the secondaries kick in with a 4 barrel carb. You are now pulling in hotter air from under the hood instead of cooler air from the fender. I don't have a clue what the spring is for.

If you are happy with it good.

 

[Rock Hard Concrete]

Haha that stock stovepipe is there to reduce intake noise from the factory and flows like **** especially at lower revs. Flipping the lid itself months ago gave better response but removing the shrouding around it doubled what flipping the lid did initially. The air in the engine bay only gets hot when the vehicle is stationary for long periods but more hot air still runs better than less cool air. That janky spring in my first post has been relocated and replaced with a much nicer one. The spring reduces the amount of pressure required to move the petal because the throttle body has two springs, and the tv cable has quite a bit of tension itself. It makes the petal feel more like a regular newer car which really helps with response.

I was so surprised by how much it helped that I was inspired to share it on here as my first post.

 

[michael hurd]

Do you have objective data to support your assertion that the stock 'stovepipe' flows like **** at low RPM? Or any objective data at all to show what your engine requires at even 3000 rpm for airflow?

Factory air inlets that draw from in front of the radiator core support gives cool air to the engine at all operating conditions.

 

[90halfton]

If you're happy that's all that matters man.

 

[Rock Hard Concrete]

Do you have objective data to support your assertion that the stock 'stovepipe' flows like **** at low RPM? Or any objective data at all to show what your engine requires at even 3000 rpm for airflow?

Factory air inlets that draw from in front of the radiator core support gives cool air to the engine at all operating conditions.

The objective data is that I don't have to press the firm ass gas pedal halfway down anymore to get the ****** to move. Now I barely gotta touch it and it gets down. I don't know what sort of vibe I let off on forums but no one ever takes me seriously which is kinda funny and ok as well.

I posted this for any fella with a stock truck wanting more t response cause if I'd have known how much it helps I would have done this much sooner. But now this will only be remembered as 'that one weirdo with the open filter and reverse spring.'

And that's okay too. I'm absolutely happy with my damn-near-free driveablility mod.

 

[BerHntr]

reverend....

 

[Shiny]

The objective data is that I don't have to press the firm ass gas pedal halfway down anymore to get the ****** to move. Now I barely gotta touch it and it gets down. I don't know what sort of vibe I let off on forums but no one ever takes me seriously which is kinda funny and ok as well.

I posted this for any fella with a stock truck wanting more t response cause if I'd have known how much it helps I would have done this much sooner. But now this will only be remembered as 'that one weirdo with the open filter and reverse spring.'

And that's okay too. I'm absolutely happy with my damn-near-free driveablility mod.[/Q

Did you ever put a fuel filter on it and run injector cleaner through it. Should help a lot.

 

[Rock Hard Concrete]

Yeah did the filter when I did the plugs a few weeks ago and ran injector cleaner around the same time. Runs fabulous.

 

[Rock Hard Concrete]

reverend....

Online ordination for an online alias.