throttle response

w0158981 · Post by **w0158981** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 12:31 pm

So i've been reading and reading and i think my throttle respose problem has to do with my SRI. Pic at the bottom. so heres my thoughts let me no what you think,

From what i've been told/read the bellow tube plays a part in throttle response, so by me increasing or decreasing its length with a straight pipe i will change the response but by changing to much i'll make it bog. So i'm curious as to everyones past expierence for the best throttle response what do you recomend?

As for the actual intake, i'm told SRI are good on cold days but thats about it, so i have several options, leave the sri and replace the filter with some sort of k&N highflow filter,

place a cone filter directly on the throttle body,

same as abover but put the box back in with or without the lid,

look into a CAI or custom fab a cai from what i got.

In the end i'm looking to maintain the same beautiful intake sound, but get my throttle response back, my car just isn't responding like it did, and as always you don't want to lose power lol,

anyway i'm going to continue my reading before i do anything to it but i'm curious as to what others have expierenced, and think about it all?

OB · Post by OB » Fri Feb 27, 2009 12:38 pm

There are a few things you can do to increase throttle response. The intake probably isn't affecting it as much as you might think. First off, the threshold between off idle airflow through the throttle body and the IAC can be tuned with your idle control screw on the accel lever on the TB. By bringing the idle position of the throttle plate as close to being open as possible when off-throttle, the tip-in response can be made much more sensitive, thus increasing response. Secondly, getting rid of the slack and play in the throttle cable is a great way to improve pedal feel and response. This can be done with a spacer of some sort at the end of the cable (where it attaches to the pedal). Also, deleting the throttle spring will give a much more direct feel to the pedal. Beware though, removing the spring from the pedal will make for a much more raw feel, and can even feel sticky from time to time depending on the condition of the throttle spring on the accel lever on the TB. Your best bet is to experiment and tune the idle screw and throttle cable slack to a point that you like, and maintain your TB with WD-40 or some type of lube at the spring.

Donkeypuncher · Post by **Donkeypuncher** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 12:03 am

OB wrote: Secondly, getting rid of the slack and play in the throttle cable is a great way to improve pedal feel and response. This can be done with a spacer of some sort at the end of the cable (where it attaches to the pedal).

I used a big heavy duty wide zip ties from home depot to take the slack out, it's just the right size and leaves the smallest bit of slack. It feels weird at first because the gas pedal is nearly level with the brake pedal. Feels much more solid like the newer drive-by-wire cars.

w0158981 · Post by **w0158981** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 9:41 am

do you have any pics? i'm really curious i'm just tired of sitting at a light or somthing, hitting the gas and it feels like 'im waiting forever for the car to kick in to move

Adionik · Post by **Adionik** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 1:51 pm

If you really want throttle response, get the 60mm TB

arlenok · Post by **arlenok** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 2:35 pm

I'm confused about the taking the slack out part... Do you mean attach something (like a ziptie) to the cable, and tie it off on something, pulling the throttle cable?

Donkeypuncher · Post by **Donkeypuncher** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 6:36 pm

No you don't tie it off to anything, you just pull the zip tie as tight as possible around the end of the cable so act as a spacer. If you look at the top of the gas pedal, you'll see where the cable comes through. There is a white spacer attached to the pedal that acts as the cable stop, you want to put the zip tie between that spacer and the plastic clip on the very end of the throttle cable.

If you pull the pedal up with one hand, you can grab the end of the cable and pull if forward to see how much slack there is. There was about a 1/4" of slack on mine so I got the widest zip tie I could find, which were 24inch heavy duty ties. I just pulled it as tight as possible and trimmed off the extra 23" of zip tie sticking out. Someone lost my camera so I can't take pictures, sorry.

This also stops that annoying flopping pedal noise every time you let off the gas.

OB · Post by OB » Sun Mar 01, 2009 9:21 am

My slack was more like 3/4".

The pedal travel also increases with this mod, so you can feel WOT rather than actually having to put the pedal to the floor. Range of motion is better and you get a better sense of how much throttle you're actually using. Also makes heel and toe shifts possible, which is the best part of all.

Donkeypuncher · Post by **Donkeypuncher** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 2:04 am

OB wrote:Also makes heel and toe shifts possible, which is the best part of all.

I was going to say that exact same thing. I noticed today that I was catching the gas pedal while braking, and tried it around a couple corners. The higher gas pedal really helps me because I shattered my ankle some years ago, so I have nearly zero mobility in my right ankle.

It feels so much more natural to have to gas pedal even with the brake pedal, especially with an mtx where you go from gas to brake hundreds of times a day. I had already drilled a hole in the throttle plate and adjusted the throttle stop before, but I liked the feel of this mod much better.

Tomorrow I'll be replacing the TB to IM tube with a straight pipe and see how that helps any. After that it's time for a mustang TB if I can find one cheap, or the 60mm from modern.

w0158981 · Post by **w0158981** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 1:29 pm

ok thanks for the tips guys, i'm going to try both those, i just want to fix the problem of feeling like when i hit the gas at a light i just sit there for a second feels like before i get moving.

arlenok · Post by **arlenok** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 5:01 pm

I just did that zip tie thing. I was a little skeptical at first, but I'm really surprised at how much different the throttle feels now. I never realized that there was that much slack there. Thanks for the tip man

sneakers O'toole · Post by **sneakers O'toole** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 6:26 pm

i just did this too, wow, was there a lot of slack and i didn't think i could still bend the way i had to to reach the damn thing.

Swordfish2Cowboy · Post by **Swordfish2Cowboy** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 6:41 pm

sneakers O'toole wrote:i just did this too, wow, was there a lot of slack and i didn't think i could still bend the way i had to to reach the damn thing.

lol that's what she said.

Post by **occasional demons** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 8:08 pm

sneakers O'toole wrote:i i didn't think i could bend the way i had to to reach the damn thing.

If we all could do that, the human race would become extinct.

sneakers O'toole · Post by **sneakers O'toole** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 9:12 pm

sneakers O'toole wrote:i just did this too, wow, was there a lot of slack and i didn't think i could still bend the way i had to to reach the damn thing.

yeah I probably could have worded that better, hahaha.

aperson · Post by **aperson** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 12:57 am

It's been a while since I had my TB off but isn't the end of it threaded for adjustment?

Post by **occasional demons** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 7:13 am

No adjustment in the cable. The idle screw would raise the idle, and prolly add more slack to the cable.

Donkeypuncher · Post by **Donkeypuncher** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 3:11 pm

I finally got my camera back so I snapped a picture of the zip tie. It was a pain to get a clear picture under there though.

NickKo · Post by **NickKo** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 10:25 pm

Donkeypuncher wrote:I finally got my camera back so I snapped a picture of the zip tie. It was a pain to get a clear picture under there though.

"A picture is worth a thousand words".

Thanks for the pic !!

- Nick

Post by **occasional demons** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 4:35 pm

The shiney thing behind the black part is a spring. It seems to do a nice job on mine keeping the slack out. But then the Mustang 60 mm TB doesn't have much of a return spring on it compared to the oem TB, so I imagine it isn't compressing nearly the same.

(It barely pulls the weight of the pedal back in place)
I'm thinking of putting a retun spring on the pedal arm, just to get it a little more civil.