Heated throttle body necessary?

[Rainy Day FZJ]

Just a random thought about an upcomming project. Is it truly required for the throttle body coolant lines to be extended when installing the supercharger? If the coolant is 190* or so it effectively is preheating the intake air for the blower. I have seen this discussion on other vehicles that are not force feed and people are having real results with a make shift, air to water intercooler that cools the throttlebody with seperate coolant from a reservor. Seems like a lot of work, yet on a VR6 transplanted into a beetle that was having pinging problems it made the difference. this perticular vehicle was being flogged in the Vegas area in N/A form.
My thought was to just run the 2 lines together and not heat the throttlebody. There maybe some concerns about the throttle icing up? also what do the folks that are forced run for ignition timing? stock? 3 degrees? or maybe less?

 

[RavenTai]

carburetor icing requires set conditions, generally 25-45* with high humidity, icing in the idle air valve (the heated part) would likely be similar range of temperatures but less likely as with a carb as we only have decrease in pressure to reduce temperature, not the evaporation of fuel and decrease in pressure combined, If you live in a temperate climate (FL/PRSC) you could likely get away without it especially with forced induction as it heats the incoming air.

 

[cruiserdan]

In the case of the blower, the throttle body is up-stream from the blower so icing could still be an issue.

What if one were to install a valve, like a mini heater control valve, to shut the flow off in warm weather?

 

[elmariachi]

In the case of the blower, the throttle body is up-stream from the blower so icing could still be an issue.

What if one were to install a valve, like a mini heater control valve, to shut the flow off in warm weather?

Would this be an automatic valve based on ambient temps or a manual valve?

 

[Scamper]

What if one were to install a valve, like a mini heater control valve, to shut the flow off in warm weather?

I like that idea! Am thinking of a valve like the one on the heater core. You could dial-in the amount of heat you want going to the TB.

 

[Rainy Day FZJ]

I am going to try it with non heated. I can't think of any real issues I could just extend them yet not hook them up and if any probs it would just be 2 small coolant lines and little spilled juice.

 

[turbocruiser]

I'd love, repeat LOVE, to have a way to shut off the heat to the TB during all but the coldest days. I'm thinking its sorta strange to go through all the trouble to intercool the intake charge and then heat it at least a little through the throttle body!!! I'm sure the net result is a much cooler intake charge still than stock, but, think of how much cooler it could be without that bypass to the TB!

So on that note let me ask Dan the man about a valve I used to have on my 4Runner for the rear heaters. On those you could control the amount of heat to the rear heater separately from the amount of heat on the front heater core. I'm assuming this is controlled via some valve smaller than the regular heater core valve on our 80's firewalls. IIRC the heater hoses for the rear heaters on those 1st gen 4Runners were in the 3/8 range(convert to metric of course) ??? If so it would be simple to swap something like that on our 80's coolant feed to the TB???? Am I hoping too much or is this realistic? Heck even a valve from a tercel or something would work provided the inlet and outlet sizes were close to what the TB uses for coolant feed. Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

[Rainy Day FZJ]

Go to HD motorsports!

HD = Home Depot. Look in the plumbing department for a 1/4 ID quarter turn ball valve to give you the adjustability, yet it is still under the hood, maybe not what you want. The coolant ( heated coolant) hose to the TB is about 1/4 or 3/8 ID the same hose that comes off of the lower inlet hose from the radiator around the front of the head up to the TB in the OEM position.
Thought! the hose could be some sort of recirculate for the back of the head, could anyone clarify?
I dont want to just stop coolant flow for something that may need it. Maybe a bypass hose to bypass the TB?

 

[landtank]

How about blocking one line of the TB off and then run that into a "T" in the heater circuit. That way you control it through the main heater control on the dash. All the way to the left = no circulation, and all the way to the right = full circulation.

Just a thought.