TwinTurbo.NET: Nissan 300ZX forum - My Throttle Body Cover Hack, literally
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Subject My Throttle Body Cover Hack, literally
     
Posted by robo (sebring1970) on February 03, 2023 at 5:05 AM
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Message If you have a front strut bar, this shows a couple of barely noticeable cuts you can make to your throttle body cover that will allow you to slide the cover in and out without having to remove the front strut bar.

I have a Carbing front strut bar. Without this simple little mod, the strut bar must come off first in order to remove the throttle body cover.


Blue arrows strut bar, red arrows throttle body cover

Doing this mod takes less time than removing and replacing the front Carbing strut bar one time, so you save time the very first time you do this, and even more time in the future, every time you remove the throttle body cover. Win-win.

Reasons for removing the throttle cover while leaving the strut bar in place include but are not limited to, working on the cruise control, adjusting the throttle cable, replacing the fuel damper or fuel pressure regulator, Dremeling out a fuel injector, and perhaps the most common reason, tightening fuel line clamps which is basically an annual ritual on these cars.

Removing and replacing a front Carbing strut bar is not as easy as it looks. You have to jack the car and remove just the right amount of sprung weight on the suspension to take the tension off the bar, while making sure the strut studs don’t fall back into the wheel well.

After this mod, you don’t have to touch the strut bar to remove the throttle cover. You simply cut off two small side pieces of plastic at the back of the throttle cover that are curved around the intake plenum runners #5 and #6. After that, it is possible to wiggle out the throttle cover from the front without removing tha strut bar.



Driver side, rear throttle cover (closest to firewall) before and after cut

I used a Dremel with a diamond cutting bit, but you may know a better way to cut the plastic throttle cover. I suggest cutting the throttle cover with it in situ but after you have removed the four, 5mm Allen bolts holding it in place. This gives a little more wiggle room to work.


passenger side

After making the small cuts on the back, both sides of the throttle body cover, slide the entire cover forward and toward the passenger side and then take a right turn with it as you wiggle it forward and free. The bolt holder in the back of the cover is what catches the most but obviously you won’t be removing that.

The throttle cover remains structurally sound with all the cuts shown.
When sliding the cover in and out I put a thin rag between the bar and the cover to help prevent scratches.

I smoothed the cuts with a file for better cosmetic appearance.
Note that that the cuts on top of the throttle cover under the red X's were already there to make room for the bar itself. My smaller cuts on the side are what enables the cover to slide in and out.


Driver side after cutting and filing smooth.


Passenger side

Below, cover reinstalled, after mod. I repainted the cover before reinstallation which is why it is hanging from a string in the above photo.

If the appearance above of the cover after the mod bothers you, then obviously you should not do it. Only a purist would notice the difference before and after this little hack, but we have more than our fair share of those here, and I respect their opinions.

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Peter Gregg

"We owe a lot to the dragsters.
They always break something,
figure out a way to beef up the part
and then the benefit trickles
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