Throttle body mod

[CanSpeed 3]

Since i bought my Mazda3 ive been reading a lot on the boards. Ive noticed this "throttle body mod" mentioned a lot. What exactly is it. Grounding the throttle body to achieve a quicker accel? If someone could explain it and tell me how i go about doing this or if i need to buy a special kit that would be great. Thanks guys.

Also if anyone reading this can think of any mods that you can do to the mazda3's yourself let me know. Im new to mazdas, but in love with my car! lol

[eqlso]

Run a wire from your battery ground to your throttle body. No special kit. Results are debatable. Should smoothen out your powerband.

[whiteomega]

there's also the throttle body coolant bypass, which will route coolant around the throttle body; using this is a bad idea in the winter, but during the summer, it supposedly results in 4-5 hp.

[3GFX]

there's also the throttle body coolant bypass, which will route coolant around the throttle body; using this is a bad idea in the winter, but during the summer, it supposedly results in 4-5 hp.

To clarify. Our throttle body circulates coolant from the engine. Obviously when the engine gets hot the coolant will be hot and that heat will tranfer to the throttle body. The mod is to bypass the throttle body, essentially taking it out of the loop and potentially reducing heat and thus warm air entering your engine. This has some benifits if you think about it, but at the same time its probably negligable.

One thing I'd like to note about this mod here in Canada. Because of our lower temperatures I wouldn't recommend this mod. Mainly because the throttle body could become very cold and because 'tight'. The moving parts within the throttle body are motor driven not cable and thus excessive wear from tight tolerences could affect the longevity (and potentially response) of the throttle body. Of course the adverse is true, but with expansion and heat the clearence are larger (very slightly) which i'd rather have. Microscopicly looser than tighter.

[CanSpeed 3]

Great replies guys. Thanks for the information. But as it was mentioned to not do this in canada i think ill take your word on that :) Thanks!

[theurgy]

But definitely do the Throttle Body grounding mod...nothing wrong with that one.. in fact... check out voltage condensers like the BuddyClub kit.

[CanSpeed 3]

Is there a writeup on how to dothis mod anywhere ?

[theurgy]

http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2400612

[CanSpeed 3]

Thanks urgy ! i went out an bought everything last night. When i get spare time ill ground that throttle body!

[Skarbro]

grounding the tb did nothing for me. I removed it.

[Noisy Crow]

Huh. I think I'm going to dig out a hunk of wire add a couple alligator clips to test with first before I attach anything permanent....

[Nextmod]

I have the Buddyclub condensers instock

[Gizzmo_jr]

grounding the tb did nothing for me. I removed it.

I'm considering the same. I've had this done since last summer. Someone mentioned some time ago and I agree, that there is a placebo effect with doing this. You want to believe it's helping with throttle response but nothing.

[bhrm]

I'm considering the same. I've had this done since last summer. Someone mentioned some time ago and I agree, that there is a placebo effect with doing this. You want to believe it's helping with throttle response but nothing.

It helped me. Especially with the A/C on, before the car would run rougher with the A/C on.

[bbell1984]

Interesting,
because my car runs so rough with the ac on, it is actually like the only thing i hate about the car. Runs great but when that ac goes on and its hot out the car feels like a slug in rocks

[TheLouch]

Personally I would recommend against both the Grounded Throttle and the Coolant By-pass mods.

While I do not claim to have a masters degree in either Electrical Engineering or Thermodynamics, some rather common sense principals suggest that both modifications have more potential do harm than good.

The coolant by-pass does sound like a good idea until you actually consider the temperature difference in the throttle body as a result of this mod relative to the volume of air that`s passing though it. If I`m not mistaken the air intake rate for an engine of our size is in the magnitude of several *thousand* liters a minute, where as the temperature decrease on the 2-inch long surface of the throttle body from the by-pass is probably a few dozen degrees at the very most. The effect would be very comparable to dropping an ice cube into a Olympic-sized swimming pool and expecting to see a temperature difference... not something worth the risk of having your throttle freeze wide-open on an ice-covered highway, that`s for sure.

As for the Grounded Throttle body, it`s truly the case of `too much of a good thing is not always an awesome thing`. It is entirely possible that the electronics that control the servo responsible for rotating the throttle plate back and forth are designed to operate with a certain amount of resistance in the circuit; it is also quite possible that the servo relies on varying resistance in that circuit to determine the *position* of the throttle plate. So in effect by creating a massive resistance `leak`, it`s possible that the entire time the engine is running the ECU thinks that the throttle is wide open, resulting in an increased fuel supply which could actually explain the `improved performance` claims.

Again, I`m not trying to ridicule anyone personally or their methods, just adding my 2-cents worth of opinions on the topic.

[3GFX]

...it`s possible that the entire time the engine is running the ECU thinks that the throttle is wide open, resulting in an increased fuel supply which could actually explain the `improved performance` claims...

Hmm, if that explains the improved performance....not a super bad thing but not good either.

[yearoftherat]

Here's some info regarding this mod:

http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=44300.0

[lancesir]

I did throttle body the first week I got the car, haha. It was cheap and easy to do, couldn't see any reason not to do it :)

[Harbour Rat]

I grounded my throttle body and I'm not sure it really made much difference. Maybe the throttle response was a bit more precise but it was hard to be sure. There was certainly no adverse effect.

When I ran ground wires from the fuel rail mounting bolts to the battery negative terminal and chassis I noticed a definite change in throttle response, much like what many describe after grounding the throttle body. It became noticeably easier to modulate the throttle, with much more consistent and predictable response to small pedal movements, especially when lifting off the throttle slightly. This makes the car much easier to drive smoothly at very slow speeds, like in crowded parking lots. While driving at normal road speeds I also find fewer minor throttle trim adjustments are necessary to maintain a constant speed, even on winding country roads with lots of hills.

[hood]

So in effect by creating a massive resistance `leak`, it`s possible that the entire time the engine is running the ECU thinks that the throttle is wide open, resulting in an increased fuel supply which could actually explain the `improved performance` claims.


Electricty takes the fastest way to ground, and i dont think your intrupting any circuits, so by doing this arent you just makeing an easier route for the electricty to flow to ground therefore resulting in a slite preformance increase because of that direct path?

[dj_adamix]

I dont really think that would do anything. Im an electronic engineer and from my point of view, adding an extra ground to the circuit sure it would make it 'safer' but speed wise you wont see much difference. it all breaks down to how much current TB circuit draws.If the stock wire is too big gauge for the ammount of curent flowing then there will be heat generated in the circuit and the wireing which will slow down the electrons flowing through the wires (basic physics). So assuming Mazda engineers put some thought in it. they probably picked right gauge to the current flowing in the circuit. just think- coolest = faster electricity speed so i think this wouldnt do much difference. It would just split current through oem wire and added wire which would result in less 'load' on the stock GND wire. It might do something but not much. again it all depends on the ammount of current flowing.

Following my thought, TB coolang bypass would do more effect than GND mod. cooler TB = faster response allso = cooler air=more hp.

[Kappa]

make sure to try and keep the wire as short as possible.. when i had a long wire it didnt work then when i made it shorter it did work

[Harbour Rat]

Grounding and coolant bypass have been discussed to death so I'll ignore them.

You can physically modify the throttle body by smoothing internal contours, profiling or knife edging the throttle butterfly, cutting down the throttle shaft and counter-sinking the screws which attach the butterfly to the shaft. I recall seeing articles in hot rod mags 25 years ago showing how to do this sort of thing to Holley/Carter/Rochester carbs and it was old news then. Not something I'd recommend unless you are comfortable destroying parts that could cost you hundreds of dollars to replace if you slip with the Dremel.

[Donutz]

Cordova motorsports offers tb optimization. They also have a how-to on their website.

[slam525i]

Has anyone actually put a voltmeter to see the difference in voltage between the throttle body and the ground?

[Donutz]

Yes. Search m3f.

[Harbour Rat]

Has anyone actually put a voltmeter to see the difference in voltage between the throttle body and the ground?

Yes. Well, sort of - I measured resistance but whatever. Before installing the ground wire resistance between the throttle body housing and battery negative was infinite, no continuity, no possibility of any current flow. In other words there is no designed ground path between the throttle body housing and the battery negative terminal; grounding is accomplished via the ground circuit in the wiring harness.

With a 6 gauge ground wire in place resistance dropped to 1-2 ohms and the placebo effect ran amok.

I will restate my pet crackpot theory on this mod - the ground wire may drain static charge buildup in the throttle body, or something similar, which could conceivably result in a cleaner signal to/from the throttle body control circuits by reducing interference. But this is basically just a wild guess to explain unverified claims made by "people" about whose very existence I don't care enough to verify.

[Souls]

LOL at a 2yr dead thread brought to life...

I did this too and noticed zero difference as I mentioned in another (current)thread with this topic. Although...I did do this and the coolant bypass on my former VR6 (cable driven TB plate), I did notices crisper response, but I wasn't cool with my TB freezing up once (was on a long drive)

[dj_adamix]

once again... adding better ground on your TB will not increase your preformance. It will make it 'safer' but thats about it. no change in response time. if there is, you would need to hook it up to a scope to see the difference (were talking in mili or even nano seconds).

[T-Max]

As there is no adverse effect, the tb ground is worth a try.

[nuttygent]

Cordova motorsports, check out their website.