New throttle body spacer from Vararam - my thoughts...
 

For the past month and 1500+ miles, I've been running a new product from Vararam on my Camaro. Some of you became aware of it through posts from 2SSRS but I've finally been given the OK to post up some thoughts on it.

Typically a throttle body spacer is designed to straighten out the airflow and provide some sort of swirl type action to help atomize the air/fuel mixture. Obviously over the years this has been pretty much panned as being a worthless mod with minimal benefits at best. Any benefit usually came from the simple increase in plenum volume the TBS added. Vararam took a look at what was out there and then began planning what could be done that would provide some sort of meaningful gains.

The result is a throttle body spacer that solves a very simple problem with airflow through the TB and into the intake. When the throttle is opened all the way, the throttle plate/blade isn't completely out of the way due to the angle at which the TB sits in relation to the intake manifold. This impacts the airflow getting through the TB opening, as well as creates additional air turbulence. The new spacer design from Vararam is actually wedge shaped to modify the angle at which the TB sits so the throttle plate/blade is now sitting at an angle where it doesn't interfere with the airflow.

The grand question is...does it actually work? From my experience in everyday driving with it installed, the answer is yes. Does it give you 30hp/30tq? Um, no. :laugh: Does it make a seat of the pants difference on acceleration, yes. Car definitely feels like it has a bit more power, especially from 2k on up. Below 2k and just puttering around, doesn't feel much different but punching it at freeway speeds, you can tell something changed for the better.

I have no intentions of doing before and after dyno comparisons for something as inexpensive as this part but Vararam has and should be able to provide dyno charts to back it up.

If you are just looking for any gains you can get using bolt-on parts that won't void your warranty, then I'd say this is probably a worthwhile part to consider installing. Would I be putting it on my car if I didn't already volunteer my car as a Vararam test vehicle? Yeah, actually I would because I'm trying to gain where I can without losing my powertrain warranty (for now).

I know a few others out there have this same part installed and hopefully they can chime in with their thoughts on it as well. As for when will it be available to purchase? Good question but one Steve (sales@vararam.com) should be able to answer.

Pictures attached...

I'd heard about this in the other vararam thread, thanks for your review.

Someone PM'd me and asked if I was sure this wasn't just a placebo effect gain...meaning I spent money so there must have been a gain. :D

This part didn't cost me a cent other than my time to install and post my thoughts here. I have nothing to gain by saying it works when it doesn't. If I didn't feel a gain, I'd certainly have let Vararam know so they could continue to work on it before releasing it. :thumbsup:

You have a pic with that and a Vararam Intake installed? Wouldn't the angle change cause issues with alignment?

That's what I was wondering too...

If it changes the angle enough to make the intake more open I would think it would also make alignment of cold air kits a bit difficult maybe... Just hypothesizing here

I'll grab a picture in the morning and post it. With the Vararam intake, there is enough flex in the connecting hose to allow for the alignment change. Since the hose has the fitting for the PCV line in it already, that actually causes a space between the rear of the VR intake and the TB so the two don't actually butt up against each other on a typical install.

For other aftermarket intakes, I'm not quite certain how much of a gap, if any, exists between the tail of the intake and the front of the TB. Guess it will depend on individual intake designs. I'd venture a guess that any intakes that use the hump hose as the connecting hose should be fine but I could be wrong.

What happens if you use a vmax throttle body with this? Will it cause problems or will they work together and create better gains???

Thanks

Guys please, both are really worthless! It's called new car(new suckers) tax and its an abuse, I wish these companies would pop up on Ls1tech.com !! Please stop falling pray to these products. I can't believe Vararam would even bring this product up. But hey theres a fool born everyday I guess.

Nothing changes. The VMax is the same size/shape as the OEM throttle body. It's just CNC ported.

Spend your wallet on proven technology & results.....:bonk:

I'm just not seeing it:iono:

I love their OTR intake but this has the appearance of pixie dust. Not saying it is, just that it appears as such.

I really wish that Vararam would have stuck to what works. I love my Vararam CAI, but they will get :flame: for this if people end up buying these for $100, and come here talking about their "seat of the pants" HP and TQ gains.


GM knows what they are doing with LS engines, and they put the throttle body at a certain spacing and angle for a reason.

Super Wedge!!!!
 

Great write up. Nice pictures as well.

We have let a few of these out over the past few months for people to test. We have been testing them in house for well over a year now.
It was born from our VRX intake manifold program .
It's called the "SUPER WEDGE"

Dyno gains on stock LS-3 cars has shown min gains of 10hp and 10 ftlbs of Torque with as much as 18+ftlbs and 14+ rear wheel HP from 2500-4000RPM! That's real power you can feel!
Modified cars with head and cam packages and or superchargers have shown even greater gains through the power curve.

Our web guys are running way behind but they are trying to bring the page live as it will answer many tech questions but here is the bottom line.

YOUR Throttle body is at an 8 deg angle of attack. The blade sits inside the manifold 1 inch deep when at WOT. The blade is sitting at an 8 deg angle blocking max airflow on the bottom section of the intake manifold.
There is as much as a 10% flow increase as measured on The MAF on a running car!
It does not matter who's throttle body you are running we have applications from stock to 102MM and it will work with them all even supercharged applications.

CNC machined from Zytel plastic right here in Houston TX !

This is a multiple Patent Pending product that has patents filed on everything from its angle to its variable Venturi . The Spacer will absolutely stun you with its Torque and HP improvement.


(When installed on a VR equipped Car the spacer will space the MAF closer to the throttle body richening up the Air Fuel by 4-5% . This does cost you some of the total power gain by about 5hp&5-6 ftlbs of Torque. This can obviously be tuned out for max power gains . When used with other cone and pipe style intakes this does not occur so the full power gain is realized without any need to correct the air fuel. Just bolt it on and GO!)

When you are at WOT, the ECM says the throttle is at 88%. I'll bet $20 that this "spacer" will correct it so that it reads 100% at WOT.

You can flame them all you want, but I know Vararam wouldn't have invested/built these if they didn't work.