Anderson Engineering Manifold Spacer install

Welcome to my life.

Feels similar to the rear end jittery these have, but it's not.
I half expect a misfire code but you won't ever get one.
Disconnecting the acis is said to help, it didn't in my case but many others claim it does.
One person tested it by forcing the truck to run on the upper fuel injectors and not the direct injectors, he said it ran great.

I don't believe that it is the TC or computer in any way, I believe it is a bad tune. The TC makes a racket on the firewall, sounds like 4 or 5 relays or light solenoids engaging and disengaging. I'm not sure if that is specific to the OR and Pro though since their brake system is a little different and the abs stuff is in a different spot

 

Get the manifold spacer and a KDMaxx tune. You'll thank me later.

 

I 100% agree with this.

 

So last week I finally got to drive the truck on the highway with the cruise on. Amazing! I live in Kentucky, so with all the hills here, you can't avoid the transmission downshifting. With the KDMaxx tune, it did it less. With the manifold spacer, it did it much less, and I always use my adaptive cruise control.
This truck drives SOO much different now and I love it.

 

Sure does drive better

 

Installed yesterday. Bolts going into the holes that had the studs seemed hatder to start than the rest, but a bit of anti seize helped. Hardest part was reinstalling the wiring harness bracket, mostly because I had to work around my hood strut.
Don't have many miles on it yet, but seems a lot peppier from a start, and enjoys 1500ish rpm crusing more. Shold add I'm running KDMaxx v10. Happy with purchase.

 

Part 1 of 3
Finally have basic data for my 1st-gen 4-cyl manual. Burned my first tank with the manifold spacer and saw ~10% better mpg. I'll be towing this weekend, so i'll be back with that mileage. The performance is subtle but SO nice! Basically, the 4-cyl now drives like one would expect instead of asking for endless rpm and down-shifting to stay with traffic. In general, she's comfortable one gear higher everywhere, and therefore quieter (= more pleasant), and has torque down low where there was none before.

The installation is not for the faint of heart, even on the old 4-cyl. Even though you can look at exactly where this simple thing will go, you gotta disconnect, i think, 17 billion things to even get there. It's not hard, but it's a lot to keep track of, and the instructions, while good, are vague in spots while hyper-detailed in others. There are a couple things they leave out, and a couple others that don't quite work and require a work-around. If YOU do this on a 1st-gen 4-cyl, i'm happy to share some hindsight - just ask.

 

>Disconnecting the acis is said to help, it didn't in my case but many others claim it does.

Does it throw a code/CEL if you do this? I'm working my way through the acis flap failure thread currently.

This weekend I'm pulling my sparkplugs. The on-again off-again feeling as if there's a misfire is still happening, but my code reader is not showing any multiple/random misfire codes, and no CEL. I ran two tanks of premium ethanol free back to back at the beginning of the month, did not help, so I'll check the plugs and see if there's any signs of improper gap/damage/carbon buildup, etc. I'm in the mid 11,8k range now. If I can identify and resolve this issue, I think the next step is to give the manifold spacer a shot.

 

Well I accidentally ordered one of these so I guess I’ll be giving it a shot too.

 

Let us know if you notice a difference.

 

No codes on my end and the few threads on the acis indicate it is the same for others.

The acis is a "dumb" device with no position sensing, in short just a motor that spins one way on command and then spins the other way when commanded. All of two wires in the connector iirc

Others claim disconnecting it will smooth out the bottom end but cause a loss in top end power. In my case I didn't notice much of a more smooth power delivery but I did seem to lose mid-range and kept the top end. I almost feel like I unplugged mine when it was in the opposite/open position, that doesn't seem to be possible however.

Same here on a lack of codes or any indications as to where the issue is.
I would like to eventually find another manual taco that is one of the "fast" ones. I feel like the ones that have the hesitation/miss and the "slow" ones are likely the same. I dont remember the engine roughness on the Taco I test drove, and I feel like I remember it being faster.

 

Could you elaborate on this? It is RPM dependent

 

As I understand it the computer just says "turn left" or "turn right" to the acis motor at certain times. There is no sensor to know if it IS left or right (open or closed). If you unplug it the computer still sends the commands but there is no system there to measure if it actually DID so, hence it is "dumb".

 

There is duty ratio % on the acis motor.
When rpms hit a trigger the duty ratio goes 100%, then settles to 17%. Once the load is down, the duty ration goes -100%.
perhaps you feel those flaps (red) on MT more than on AT?

 

I do think the MTs feel a lot more of the roughness in this motor and the AT guys feel.

Going 100% and then dropping to 17% would make sense to hold the valve open when above the rpm setpoint. You want to go 100% to get the valve open however to keep it open you don't need 100% power to the motor, that would just overheat it. Still, that doesn't align perfectly with your graph.

 

the damper on MT is different than AT. I'm not sure if duty ratio=power to the motor. I'll look for other acis pids to see.
Get the Techstream. Would be interesting to compare the data

 

Part 2 of 3
Towed the camper last week. We managed to comfortably stay with traffic maintaining 70-75 mph, mostly in 4th gear with more shifts to 5th than 3rd. This is a huge improvement from prior trips constantly bouncing from 4th to 3rd (no use for 5th) and rarely getting to 70 at all. The mpg was no better than before due to those slightly higher speeds, so on the return trip we kept it at 70 for an apples-to-apples comparison with before-spacer. When i refuel, that mpg will be my Part-3 post (outta town right now).

 

if there’s a difference, it’s slight. Don’t waste your money.

 

18 ft lbs of torque per their website, and no dyno charts to show the increase which to me says it’s not that much.

 

I’ll give a more detailed review in a few days