454tbi thermo lines..remove or leave??? 454tbi gurus

[camiswelding]

If you own a 454tbi then you know about the weird thermo adapter under your tbi . Cooling lines run through it...it heats the water for the tbi which makes the tbi lean out faster.... unfortunately for several reasons its not such a great thing for performance
1) it heats your fuel which can't be a good thing... in cold climates this might not be a concern but in the 100 degree west coast temps it cant be helpful

2) In my case I have an edelbrock tbi performance manifold... so its running fluid thru the aluminum all the time which as we know is corrosive to some extent over time even if maintained properly...

3) It would sano up the manifold by removing colling lines on top of it... might even flow better as the lines would go back directly to the water pump...being less restricitive

So I was going to bypass and plug mine (which is built into the manifold)... the regular adapter could just be removed. My smog guy agreed he thought it was a good idea.



454tbi gurus,,,, any thoughts?

thanks
cam

 

[Afireinside]

What year truck?*My 1994 does not have that.

 

[dyeager535]

You've listed a few reasons, performance would be the last one I'd think about.

Hot fuel atomizes better, you're dealing with a wet intake, at low intake air speeds, heat is your friend.

Cooler air makes more power, but the fuel won't stay in suspension as well. Half a dozen one way, 6 the other if you ask me. I'm talking truck here, and non-race at that.

Main concern from GM I'm sure was icing, I know it can happen with ambient air at above freezing temps, so you need to be careful. People that have removed stock "non-icing" components HAVE had trouble, but I guarantee that depended on climate.

 

[camiswelding]

sorry about that...
88-91 v and r series 454 tbi have this

comes out of the heater core ...goes to the rear of the carb...thru (underneath) the carb out the carb to front of the manifold and back into the cooling passages of the motor...

I was hoping to bypass all of this and just loop back to the water pump....


anyone done this ...or see why it would work
hows your later model loop?
thanks
cam

 

[camiswelding]

ttt.... anyone with an 88-91 remove theirs????

any problems?

thanks

cam

 

[Thunder]

As Dorian said. The main reason that plate is there is to stop icing of the throttle plates. You can take it off if you want. But you run the risk of your throttle sticking open. Not really a good thing to happen on a curvy road or if you have to come to a stop. Icing can also make your truck run crappy and get bad fuel MPG.
Icing can occur in above freezing temps if humidity is right. On a big air gulping 454 I would be inclined to leave the heat plate on just to be on the safe side.
I had a built 300 6 cyl with a holley 4 barrel on it. It would ice up all the time in the winter. I had to put a heat plate similar to the ones on 454s to cure the problem. It didn't hurt performance a bit. I even gained a bit on the low end because it acted like a carb spacer.

 

[desertrat67]

I have bypassed mine (straight heater hoses)for a few years now. I have had no fuel related problems since then. I have not lived in a cold climate area either though(El Paso, TX and Columbia,SC) I did not remove the spacer.