Theoretically, will an engine run with the throttle body removed?

In 1967? Kinda doubt that. Good used cars sold for $250 or $500 back then.
Ah yes but both the new car and the trade in would be overpriced for bargaining purposes. The customer could drive away saying "did I ever get a big price for old Nellie".

I don't think the dealer expected to ever see that car moving under its own steam onto their lot so the offered trade in value was an illusion. But there it was slowly chugging onto the lot.

Cars have always sold for more in Canada than in the US. A few representative local car prices in the period:
  • I paid $500 for a '60 Dodge in late '66 or early '67. It was a runner but not an especially good car.
  • My friends parents paid $2500 for a '63 Cadillac in '66 (+/- a year). It was a beautiful car, well equipped and in excellent condition.
  • I paid $1250 for a '65 Comet the fall of '68. It was quite a good car though not elaborately equipped - a fairly plain 4 door sedan with a 289 V8 and a 3 speed manual.
 
I'm trying to picture this. Wouldn't there be a huge risk the rag gets sucked into one of the runners of the manifold?
They used a rag that was twisted up and stuffed into the openings of the intake manifold. It's going no-where.

It has to serve as a primitive carburetor, ie both reduce air flow and provide fuel. We're not saying it works very well, because it doesn't. But it works well enough to get an engine to run and in my case to even power a car a couple of dozen feet. You can bet those guys experimented a bit before hand too to find out what would work best.

I think the biggest risk is the rag catching fire and burning up the car. Try explaining that to your insurance company.
 


It can do this because, while it has a throttle body, it actually doesn't use it in normal operations... it varies valve lift/duration based on throttle to vary power levels. Or something like that. I'm not an expert on Valvetronic.
 


It can do this because, while it has a throttle body, it actually doesn't use it in normal operations... it varies valve lift/duration based on throttle to vary power levels. Or something like that. I'm not an expert on Valvetronic.

The N18 engine in my Mini does have a throttle body but it's used only when the engine is cold or if Valvetronic is malfunctioning. During normal operation, the throttle is open and fixed and Valvetronic replaces the function of the throttle body.
 
More years ago than I care to mention, I worked as a marine mechanic. One fall, we were winterizing boats which included fogging the engines with Three in One oil. With the engine running, you sprayed three in one into the carb until you got the big cloud of smoke out the exhaust and then shut it down. One day, the less well informed boss tried to fog a Cat 3208. It took off on him so he grabbed a pillow off the couch in the boat and stuffed it over the air intake. As soon as I heard it I knew what had happened.
 
The thought came to me when I found the throttle shaft seized on my 04 Ion. I have it out soaking in WD40. It's a cable actuated mechanical TB. Wondered if it would it start and run like that? (no I wont' try it) Would the engine overspeed like a runaway diesel since it's the same as a fully open throttle when you floor it? Would the disconnected TPS prevent it from overrevving by going into limp mode. I assume a rev limiter will cut the ignition at a certain speed, no? And what if the TB was removed and set aside but still plugged in to the TPS?
No, it won’t.
 
im sure you can get an engine to run without a throttle body. get a pressure washer and use it as a massive fuel injector. see how many rpms you can get.
 
Back
Top