The engine of the tundra is much like a large air pump. The more air circulating in the motor, the more fuel is mixed and combusted to produce more horsepower. There are a good number of ways to help the engine "breathe" and reach its maximum potential. Most truck owners do this by installing air filters or cold air intakes, and the bolder ones even use superchargers to get the most airflow just to get that extra edge of more horsepower.

There are some products out there that claim to be able to improve on the already significant engineering that has gone into your motor. Some of these products, like performance air filters and cold air intakes, work as advertised. These accessories improve performance because they trade an increase in performance for an increase in something else. In the case of air flow, it's usually a trade between increased engine noise and an increase in power (not to mention expense).

Unfortunately, these simple enhancements sometimes state exaggerated increases in horsepower and fuel mileage. We have tested a few of these cold air intakes and, so far, none of them has matched the results that they claim on the packaging. With that said, none of them were disappointing. There is a product that I have hard time endorsing and this is the throttle body spacer.

One of these devices is called PowerAid, a product of Airaid, designed to go between the truck's throttle and intake. It is meant to atomize fuel better by creating a strong vortex of air, which is supposedly accomplished by the grooves carved on the device.

Unfortunately, there are some flaws behind the engineering in this device. From a common sense perspective, if it were really that easy to add significant amounts of horsepower or fuel mileage gains, then these spacers would be stock equipment from the factory. Automakers need every competitive edge they can get in today's market (especially when it comes to fuel economy) and none of them are leaving anything on the table in that area. The idea that a 'vortex' could help the air and fuel mix together is not a bad one, but in the modern fuel injected engine, air and fuel are not mixed together until they both find themselves in the cylinder just prior to combustion.

A spacer like this might benefit the older throttle body injection and other forms of fuel injection in which fuel goes directly to the throttle body where it mixes with air prior to combustion in the cylinders. It might also help on carbureted engines. However, this type of spacer will absolutely have no effect on the more cutting-edge multi-point fuel injection system that Tundra uses. There is a very little chance that the vortex will even make it to the cylinder.

My point is it's better to invest your money on something that can really improve your fuel economy and engine performance, instead of wasting it on a throttle body spacer that won't work on the more modern fuel-injected engines. For instance, the K&N performance air filter is only about half the price, but definitely works better.