Simply breath taking! Rocketbunnied FD Mazda...

This is now one of my favorite Mazda RX-7s. I cannot wait to own one sooner or later.

Simply breath taking! Rocketbunnied FD Mazda...

Simply breath taking! Rocketbunnied FD Mazda RX-7, wearing Nitto NT01's to complement it's legendary handling.... http://t.co/BlCNkKAZ2y

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Nitto Tire Ambassador Program

Watch Live KOH Coverage

While i work on getting more blog posts complete. Iylf you enjoy off roading. Check out the 2015 King of the Hammers live coverage!

Watch Live KOH Coverage

Watch live coverage of the 2015 King of the Hammers and see if the Nitto Tire team can reclaim it's crown!

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Nitto Tire Ambassador Program

Modlog #1 Throttle Body Spacer: Part 1

Been away waaaaaaay to long.

I can't really blame the move to Texas, can I? I've been here for six months now.
But, work has been extremely busy and after work I have not had time to get any projects done. But last week on what felt like my first day off in a while, I got my first mod done on the Scion FR-S.

That Mod is a Throttle Body Spacer.

Yes, you can consider it a mod. Other will say it is not a mod because it does not produce results on certain cars. But I can conclude it does respond well to the FA20 engine provided.

First Lets talk about the principals of a throttle body spacer.

What is a Throttle Body Spacer and what does it do?

A Throttle Body Spacer is a piece of metal that is placed between the throttle body and air intake piping. This adds "space" between the intake and throttle body modifying the airflow route into the intake manifold. You cannot order these from the manufacturer as these are aftermarket, many cars on the road today have these available for purchase. The claim for this item is to improve fuel economy, horsepower, and torque by allowing more volume of air into the intake. This mod is fairly cheep and easy to install to gain a small amount of performance.

Spacing in Operation

The throttle body opens and closes when the accelerator pedal is pressed, which allows air to enter into the intake manifold, making its way into mixing with fuel. As the Throttle is open, more air is brought into the system, with the addition of the throttle body spacer, more air is brought into the motor. This takes some work off your engine as it doesn't have to work so hard to bring in more air into the combustion chamber.

Pros of Adding a Throttle Body Spacer

Depending on your engine; may it be carburetor, fuel injection, boxer engines *Hint Hint IT WORKS!!!* and most multi-port fuel injection engines will benefit from this modification in the following ways

• Ventiuri or swirling  effect *more on that in another post* which helps atomize the air going in the system.
• Better Fuel economy of somewhere between 1-3 or maybe more depending on supporting mods.
• A small gain in Horsepower
• A small gain in Torque
• Leaves the Stock class in engine mods

Engine  Compatibility 

As I stated earlier in this post, not all engines respond well or respond at all to a throttle body spacer. Some Throttle body spacers have ridges or ports in them to induce swirling, a technique used to suck in more air efficiently like a tornado. some spacers shrink to create the venturi effect like how carburetors do. But because of the design of the engine the throttle body may end up just being a dress-up piece. In rare cases such as a badly designed throttle body spacer will cause a check engine light.

Warranty Concerns

There should be nothing to worry about here as this allows the engine to produce more power using less work. Your warranty should remain intact.


"Do you think this will fit on my Honda?"
*Mighty Car Mods joke* Yes If you find the spacer designed to match your Honda's throttle body and manifold port.

Conclusion

To be honest, I was really reluctant to purchase a throttle body spacer and put it on my own car because, I wasn't sure it was going to work. There aren't so many spacers being produced by well known aftermarket companies for the FRS/BRZ yet, but I was looking on ebay and saw a nice designed spacer and won one in a bid saving $10. To my surprise, I got it in the mail a week later, installed it in less than 30 mins and was out driving it around. It does feel different and there was a huge notice in the fuel economy area. It now leaves me wondering what will happen when I toss on some supporting intake mods. Throttle body spacers are a small affordable handy upgrade for those willing to make a small power gain in their vehicle.

Results

After taking a trip to Wichita Kansas, my normal Highway MPG went from 32.3 to 34.4-35.3MPG  *based on the built in Avg. MPG reading after a reset before and after taking the trip*
While my total tank distance, driven until the gas light comes on went from 342 miles to 360 miles coming from a high compression motor with a 12.6 Gal. fuel tank, that's not bad. But thanks to the new Corvette, it could be better. That's what a tune is for! :P
Keep on a lookout for part two in video form as I go through the steps on installing the throttle body spacer.

Driftadega Nights: The Ballad of Vaughn Gittin Jr.

Driftadega Nights: The Ballad of Vaughn Gittin Jr. Beautiful, this needs to win an award.

Driftadega Nights: The Ballad of Vaughn Gittin Jr.

What happens when you take Formula Drift superstar drivers Vaughn Gittin Jr, Matt Powers & Matt Field out of their comfort zone behind the wheel and place th...

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Nitto Tire Ambassador Program

Live From SEMA

SEMA! An event I wish I could attend or put my car in, someday..... someday. #dreams We all have them, and this is one of mine.

Live From SEMA

Nitto will once again be bringing the SEMA Show to life and allowing you to get behind the scenes of the largest automotive aftermarket industry event that is normally closed off to the public. Visitors to LiveFromSEMA.com will be able to see what’s trending in real-time and catch the show highlights that they may have missed. Users will once again be able to submit photo requests to get exactly what they’re looking for. Be sure to tune in all week and see everything in real-time.

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Nitto Tire Ambassador Program

Nitto Tire on Adam Carolla's CarCast

Never knew what a Jack Stamp was..... Now I kinda know.

Nitto Tire on Adam Carolla's CarCast

Nitto's William Hong and Tyler Tanaka talk turkey about tires on this week's show. They answer Adam and Matt's questions about how to get the most out of your

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Nitto Tire Ambassador Program

Kiwi MPG - Product Review

      Hey guys, I know it's been a long time since I've made a post in the blog. I just finished and graduated from Linn State Technical College, and other stuff going on, but I will talk about that later.

ONWARD!

      I have been wanting to do this product review for quite some time *Since like... What a Year now.. but my bad, I had no money* and now I finally got my hands on the product, I'd like to thank the awesome people at Carsponsors.com for hooking me up with a discount for this product.... Does that sway you enough that car sponsors.com is real? No? well contact me if you have any questions about them. They are MUCH better than those unsponsored Jips.... Ouuuh! Shots fired!

If you are interested in promoting various companies for a chance to earn free car parts, apparel, etc... Or 10%-100% off performance parts and accessories, Follow this link and fill out the application, pay a one time startup fee and the deals will really starting rolling in when you find the products you want. If you have any questions, talk to me about it. I definitely wouldn't mention something if it wasn't true.

http://www.carsponsors.com/dap/a/?a=21343


COMPANY BACKGROUND

PLX Devices is a United States based company that began in 2003. Since then they have been innovative in the aftermarket automotive industry with products that monitor various components and monitors in your vehicle.... Be your vehicle having OBDII or oxygen sensors. They have cool little multi gauge setups along with a ton of sensor modules to give your ride the cool funky fresh data logging race car look yo! For more information about the company, check out http://www.plxdevices.com/ for a huge selection of their products. "Bringing the Future" is there motto, and so far they're doing just that.

PACKAGING

      You receive the small package in a bigger box. Like you should... After all, it was shipped to you and you want to make sure the package is in great shape with no signs of damage.

PLX Devices Kiwi MPG in its packaging

 Un boxing the product you get exactly what you need to use the MPG analyzer properly.

1 - Instruction Manual

1 - PLX Devices Kwi MPG

1 - Packaging of (2) Zip ties and (2) Sticky Adhesive pads

That's all you need to operate the device in your automobile. The package is basic, shows and tells you what the product inside is supposed to do. There is no use of basing the review good or bad based on simple packaging.

INSTALLATION/SETUP

      Now comes time to setup the Device. This task is pretty straightforward due to the device being operated by plugging into your OBDII Port.

**Word of advice. OBDII is found in vehicles produced after 1995. Its tricky because you have 1996 models produced in 1995 which can still have OBDI, someone source me on this one. It may, or may not work on early 1996 vehicles produced in mid 1995-early 1996. I tried testing on my 1996 Mitsubishi Eclipse *produced in the summer of 95 so it went on sale as a 96* and It would not read, most OBDII readers wouldn't read my car unless it had an OBDI feature. So make sure this supports your vehicle!**

The hardest part of this installation is routing wiring and making sure to keep the wiring out of the way of your vehicle operation. ***Serious harm or damage may occur if the wiring interferes with driver/vehicle operation.***

Find a suitable mounting spot for your hardware, the most common spot would be between your steering wheel and Gauge cluster like so.



      Now that the Kiwi Device is properly installed, start your car *Don't forget to start your car before turning on the product, they recommend this... I don't wanna know why, but just do it before starting the car*, and then flip the switch on the side of the Kiwi MPG to power it on. CLICK!

OPERATION

This little analyzer has a ton of features out of the box for $40 (My discount, normally $60+shipping) that will help you observe the efficiency of your vehicle and depending on your driving habits... save you gas. and even.... EVEN READ YOUR CHECK ENGINE LIGHTS! I'm not kidding.

When you start the Kiwi MPG Meter it starts in the basic Instant MPG mode where it... shows you or gives you a ideal of the instant MPG you car is using. Now you have two basic buttons. The "Mode," and "Set" buttons. There are 4 modes to choose from with their own set of functions. You can see how much fuel you have used on your current trip, how much fuel you have remaining, your RPM, vehicle speed, throttle position, coolant temp, etc...

The basic Instant MPG mode.  I can say that it is pretty accurate in readings as I tested it on a new 2014 Scion FR-S. It gives a faster instant MPG reading while the FRS updates its instant MPG every 3-5 seconds. The number ranges from 0 way past 100 MPG which is probably all you really need unless your car is some magical being power by wind and motivation for a cleaner future.  It also matched up well when it was tested in a 2010 Chevy Cobalt LT Sedan.

Using the Vehicle speed mode gave good results, but I'd be careful with this one if your wheel speed sensors are going bad as this could display differently than your normal speedometer.

I gave the Distance until Empty mode a try after I set up the Size of my Fuel tank in the device. It was pretty cool finding out that my Scion FR-S gets close to the same amount of fuel distance as a fuel efficient 2012 Chevy Cobalt. Why do I keep comparing A Cobalt to a FR-S? Because though the FR-S has a .6 gallon larger fuel tank, they are pretty close in EPA Fuel Economy ratings if you drive appropriately. 

Now this little device isn't perfect as it will not work with some 1996 vehicles produced in 1995. Also the fact that you only navigate and operate through the menu and make selections with 2 buttons... But the user manual clears up the confusion and you should get used to it after a while of using it. The device is very light, which will throw some people off, but thats not the problem, if you do not install the device properly the OBDII cable will drag and pull on the device possibly interfering your driving operation. Beware of that, but does it take away from the overall use of this Kiwi MPG? Not really. They are just small things I have noticed.


SUMMARY

Spending about a month with this cool little gadget, I am impressed with all of the features it comes with out of the box. Some will argue that some aren't necessary, the price is a little high, that it's different. But I say spend some time with this product instead of just plunking down the money and only using it once or twice. It provides you with some very nice info about how your car is running and gives you a basic rundown of your Instant and Average MPG. I am overall satisfied with the Kiwi MPG Meter as it actually works. Is it for you? Depends on what you are looking for in a product, there are many alternatives as now the Android and Apple market now have applications and Bluetooth adapters where you can view various parameters and information on how your car is running.

I know I took a little longer than usual to get this written up, as I may have missed some information. I will be working on a Video on how to use this product. If you have any questions or know something that I missed in this typed review, feel free to politely let me know as I will try to cover it in the video or comments section.

Interested in this device? you can get it  here from PLX Devices for $59.99 plus shipping:
http://www.plxdevices.com/product_info.php?id=SCANKIWIMPG

Thanks for viewing, I hope to have more interesting posts to come.