Changing plastic 48mm throttle body on Freelander 1.8

Hello All

Its been a while but still enjoying my Freelander

So i was getting a strange drop in revs when coming to a halt after a long run. It would almost stall but recover. Bit of research suggest on old Freelanders like mine (1998) they plastic throttle bodies can cause problems when hot. It also seems fitting a larger 52mm Alloy one from a MG160 improves this and has some performance benefits also.

So onto EBAY and get one second hand for £29.99. Fitted in under an hour and just back from a test drive... On my word what a difference! Much more responsive, seems more touque and generally much more fun to drive and the stalling issue seems to have gone.

If you have an old 1.8 with the plastic throttle body it really is the best £30 you'll spend.

Cheers
Struan

There's no actual power benefit to fitting the 52mm TB to the plastic inlet manifold. However because the 52mm TB has 12% greater flow capacity, the throttle plate allows 12% more air to flow at all pedal positions This brings the power on sooner at the pedal, giving a more snappy pedal response. This gives the impression that more power is being gained, but it's not. Only the perception of power changes.
If you dyno the standard FL1 K series with a 48mm and 52mm TB fitted, you'll see there's no actual difference in maximum power.

The 52mm is better made and looks the part too.

Agreed I believe there is a small 2 maybe 3 BHP increase, minor really but the drivability is so much better. It's a very free raving engine anyway and its even more so now.

Struan said:

Agreed I believe there is a small 2 maybe 3 BHP increase, minor really but the drivability is so much better. It's a very free raving engine anyway and its even more so now.

Click to expand...

I did the same with my old MGF and found a similar change. Only issue is the car is a bit more jerky at low speed, but that's a small price to pay..