I had my Plenum off the car this weekend to polish it and when I looked at the throttle body it was was filthy! I haven't seen any other posts on this but, I took a 3" steel wheel to it and got the gunk out along with a little metal, the backside of the plate had a pretty bad ring around it too. I hit the inside of the plenum with a flap wheel and sanded it down a fair amount just for the hell of it. When I put the car back together, I swear I felt a difference in responsiveness and acceleration. The car has 20K miles on it and it was the first time I cleaned it. Just wondering, how often do you guys clean yours or if you have at any time?

By the way, if you're thinking about polishing your plenum.....don't, just buy a polished one for $250 + core, it was an all weekend job and I'm not finished yet.

 

ya sanding down your plenum will take a long time. i've seen it done on a VW crossflow motor and it took that kid forever.

cant say i ever really thought about cleaning the plenum and TB and i just did my spacer two weeks ago. honestly cant say it was even that dirty to even think about having to clean it.

 

Yes, our TBs, plenums, etc. get VERY oily over time... and if your filter is not the best, you will get dirt in that oil (which basically equals sludge).

It is a very good idea to clean it out I'd say every 30-50k miles or so.

 

Whats the best method to clean it?

 

in the instructions for the spacer, it just says to clean it out with a clean rag. My car had 33,300 on it when i did my spacer and the plenum wasnt that dirty at all. I guess i always had a clean filter.

 

speaking of plenum, can we paint them? using car paint material. Will they stick?

 

If you paint it, I believe it has to be at least hi-temp paint (i.e. engine paint enamel). I'd say you're better off powdercoating it though since it's a lot more durable then paint.

 

I use carb cleaner to clean my throttle body.

 

to clean it, i thought we weren't suppose to touch the plate or am i wrong?

 

they sell throttle body cleaner, just spray and wipe down

 

http://www.valvoline.com/pages/produ...asp?product=52