Vortec Throttle Body

[silverado13]

i did mine a long time ago because i had the same theory about it, i actally superglued those rivits back to it and it idles perfect and looks absolutely normal, i did notice some positive performance , i also ported and polished my MAF sensor for less restriction

 

[1BadBowtie]

i did mine a long time ago because i had the same theory about it, i actally superglued those rivits back to it and it idles perfect and looks absolutely normal, i did notice some positive performance , i also ported and polished my MAF sensor for less restriction

how do you port and polish your MAF?

 

[silverado13]

ohhh lord its a pain in the ass, you start off by taking the MAF sensor apart into the 3 pieces that you can seperate it to, take the black piece and put it to the side because you really dont want to mess with it, they are really easy to break, thats why i have few laying around, then you get the 2 aluminum pieces and use a hack saw to cut out as much of the bars going through it as possible, then i used a dremel and grinded it down till the whole thing is round and as smooth as possible, you can leave it at that or you can get a porting tool and port it out a couple more millimeters, then i just used some polishing compound and the polishing rag attachment for my dremel and made her shine, then just put her back together, you can go to my profile and look in my album and see pictures of it and my throttle body, also i dont know how man people know this but you can also remove the piece of honeycombing out of the MAF sensor and it makes it alot less restrictive

 

[Aloicious]

i dont know how man people know this but you can also remove the piece of honeycombing out of the MAF sensor and it makes it alot less restrictive

DO NOT REMOVE THAT SCREEN IN THE MAF! I would never recommend anyone take that out...you will gain nothing from removing it, it isn't restrictive enough to hinder anything and it is there for a very important purpose. the airflow over the MAF sensor wire must be consistant and laminar, going through the filter, and air ducting with bends and irregular shapes introduces turbulence to the airflow, that screen helps reduce turbulence and provide a laminar flow across the sensor so that it can provide an accurate reading for the PCM to make airflow (and thus fueling) calculations from. if you remove that screen you have a VERY high likelyhood of providing inaccurate data to the PCM which can incorrectly effect your fueling and many other tables, its kindof a crapshoot if you will or won't get any noticeable issues from removing it, but it isn't much of a restriction, and you won't see any benefit from removing it...

there are MAF sensors from the factory without the screen for various vehicles, but those vehicles air tracts are designed to provide an accurate flow across the sensor. ours trucks arent....

if you feel you need more flow through the MAF, you can buy larger MAF sensors. but unless you're running like forced induction, with like 400+ HP, you won't really need to. even forced induction kits like the L31 whipple use the stock air filter, filter box, fender inlet, air ducting, and MAF and don't have a problem with airflow.

 

[silverado13]

i removed mine about three years ago and i honestly havent had a single issue with it, i think im going to go to the local yard and grab one with the honeycombing and tinker with both the ported and stock and see if there is any difference, im curious as to if itd make any mileage or performance difference so im going to run some simple test like run the truck down empty and put 5 gallons in and run it back down both with stock and ported, then try some 0-60 times as a comparision, i know what your thinking, i must be some sort of rocket scientist but contrary to popular belief i do not work at NASA lol

 

[Aloicious]

if you are able to, try and monitor your O2 sensor trims and voltages for both MAF's (and clear the LTFT's for each one if you can)...I bet they're having to correct alot more with the MAF that has the screen removed...you may have gotten lucky and don't have noticeable problems, but like I said, its a total crapshoot, I've seen some guys remove that screen, and the truck runs like garbage and they cant afford to get a new MAF since they're quite expensive. and really that screen is such an insignificant thing, the real flow limitations come from the intake manifold itself, the air ducting and MAF will handle way more power than the stock manifold will be able to support....and the airflow isn't even the first limitation, you'll run out of fuel with the vortec setup before you run out of airflow.

the only problems with running tests like that is there are WAY too many variables to make a accurate comparison, you'd really need to get it on a dyno in a controlled environment for an accurate comparison. but if you want to give it a shot, it couldn't hurt.

 

[454ss]

is that restrictor on the throttle blade on the 454 also ?

 

[silverado13]

yeah im jst going to tinker with it and see what i get lol

 

[JonZ71]

So this is a positive thing to do then... i was wondering the same thing when i was cleaning my TB

 

[TwoPedal98]

I just did this today and removed the vortec box and put a rubber cap over the hole, great cheap little ways to get better throttle response, there is definitely a difference, and I like it! Used rivets to fill the holes and no negative affects what so ever, thanks guys for the little tricks!