Installed CAIK and TBS

[Dino03TJ]

While I was busy working on the Jeep I decided to throw on the Cold Air Intake Kit and Throttle Body Spacer. I went with the Rugged Ridge simply because it was almost $100 cheaper then the next competitor and for this equipment I was not worried about the name brand, can't really mess up a 1" block and a cone filter.




It went on as easy as could be expected, sounded great, and looks so much better! I also ordered their hand grips, color scheme I wanted and I like the thought of a tripple strap if I did actually have to use them.

[Navydoc8778]

That TBS does nothing for your motor. It is just spacing the throttle butterfly up higher. It does nothing to change fuel/air mix, or volume int he plenum.

[Dino03TJ]

I have heard different thoughts on the actual benefit of having the spacer, but it came with the kit I bought and it doesn't hurt to add it, so it is on. I think even if it only helps a minor bit it will be worth the 5 minutes it took to add it.

[Navydoc8778]

Fair enough.

[SavageSun4x4]

I have heard different thoughts on the actual benefit of having the spacer, but it came with the kit I bought and it doesn't hurt to add it, so it is on. I think even if it only helps a minor bit it will be worth the 5 minutes it took to add it.

Not sure what year your Jeep is, but it appears to be a Rubi, if then you NEED the TB spacer like you need an accordion on your next deer hunting trip.

That said I know of no testing or opinions that sez it will be a detriment. Nor do I think so. Free, so be it.

Where did the whole TBS thing come from? Its wrapped up in various lore, I came across them way back in the 60's in my racing days. I have seen them made out of wood to Aluminum. 1/2 in thick to 4 inches and I am sure beyond.

The racing industry answered by building "Hi-Rise" intakes. In addition the spacers also served the purpose of keeping the carb cooler IF you used something other than metal for the spacer.

In the case of Jeep, here is what I was told by a good friend who was at that time a jeep engineer. There were two versions of the in line 6, one had and 'advertised' 10 extra HP over the Jeep Wrangler version. This 10 HP came from an improved intake, which happened to be approx 1 inch longer in the intake runners. Somewhere around the late 90's or early 2k, Jeep added this the Jeep Wrangler. Here it gets fuzzy, even among Jeep engineers. Some think it was in 2001 and some think it was for the '03 Rubi. Jeep never really said hey folks, your engine has an additional 10 HP and this was purely for marketing reasons.. The bigger Cherokee got the 10 extra hp, so did the Wrangler, just a bit later. WHY, cost savings. Jeep was making 2 different intakes.

Bottom line is on older Wranglers they can and do indeed benefit from the TBS which is just a way of fooling the intake into thinking its got longer runners. It works and a hellva lot easier than swapping intakes.

HOWEVER, that extra 10 HP (which is not really 10, but I was told it was more like 8) does not show up until you hit PEAK HP. Reality, you are not gonna ever see it or use it.

HOW does it work to gain the extra HP? As I understand it works by increasing the Volume of fuel/air and as you make the runners longer the 'air stack' the more it weighs and the longer runners also increase the velocity of the air stack, which these combine to push a bit more fuel/air into the combustion chamber or a ever so slight 'supercharger' effect that increases as the RPM's increase and at PEAK HP this gives you some extra Hp.