The more and more research I do, the more suggestions I get, the more confused I become. This will be 3rd shot at this, so I want to be sure this time around so that I dont blow any more money. So here are my questions to start this off:

1. If swapping to an aftermarket MAF is worth more trouble than its worth, then why are they offered?

2. Why are there so many MAFs out there if the stock one is fine for X amount of hp?

3. Do any of them really pick up power over the stock unit?

4. Does descreening and porting a stock MAF really have a negative affect on the tuning/calibration?

5. If there is no negative affect, does the porting and descreening pick up any more power?

6. How much power is the stock MAF good for? This is where I get confused because usually I get an answer thats power put to the ground. But 2 cars could be making the same motor hp, yet one is a manual and the other is an auto., the manual is going to put more down. I feel that if its solely on power, then it should be rated at motor hp, but I am no expert.

I bring this issue up again because Ive wasted a lot of money and I want to be sure that I get it right this time around. My car is pretty much a drag only car, so I want to get the best performance I can. This is a small cam ONLY car, but I do plan on upgrading to a much bigger cam. Not sure what kind of power I will put down, but what MAF should I go with. I currently have the 02-up Delphi ZO6 85mm MAF that my tuner says he cant tune, so I have to sell it and purchase another one whether it be a stock unit or another aftermarket one. I asked my tuner which is Jason at MTI if money wasnt an issue, what MAF would you put on my car? He replied with the Granatelli 350330. What should I do?

 

The stock one ported will leave you with some tuning to do to. Which it sounds as though the tunner does not like to work in that area much. The stock MAF will usually max at 580fwhp if I remeber right.

 

Aftermarket maf's are sold for 3 reasons.

1, many people, especially guys coming over from the 5.0 mustangs, belive maf's are something that needs to be upgraded, as on those cars, they were a restriction.

2, aftermarket maf's lean the car out, causing more timing, and less fuel. Which will make some more power to a point, (but more often then not, cause detonation)

3, it is a cheap, bolt on part, that is easily sold by various vendors.

While its not a GM car, i talk to people daily about maf's for ford stuff, my reccomendations are: Stock OEM sensor, until you reach the 5 volts, then go to a larger OEM sensor, if that is not enough range, go to a OEM style sensor (Big Air meter) designed for larger hp cars.

But the GM maf's are not sold to "support higher hp" they're sold to "make hp" which is done through computer trickery.

Ryan

 

<---- Check the pic. That's all I have to say about MAFs.

 

How much trouble is it to go MAFless? Is this something that can be done with LS1EDIT???

 

its called SD (speed density) tuning. i believe there are a plethora of threads about it in the PCM forum. and yes it can be done w/ edit/hpt/flashscan

 

hellbents10, well if the stock MAF is rated for 580 fwhp, then I think my is about maxed out. Back when my car was a 6 speed, it put down 417 hp which converts to 58X hp I believe. Its now an auto. and of course it doesnt put as much down, but the motor hp is still the same and probably better because I took off the a/c and power steering.

slow, what do you mean by stick with the OEM unit until Ive reached 5 volts?

About removing the MAF all together, Id have to talk to my tuner about that because if he's never taken the time by now to tune a 02-up Delphi ZO6 85mm MAF, then its possible he's never done a speed density tune. But I'll just have to see and ask him what he thinks of it.

 

what is the point of it though?

 

That was for ford stuff as they use counts, or voltage for the maf output, the GM maf's are more limted as they run off frequency 11250 98's and 12,000 for 99+ cars.

There is also a limit in the pcm of 512 grams/second (approx) so you can't simply just make a larger maf and make it read correctly, without some creative tuning.

But the logic of sticking with an OEM maf is still a good idea. (or 2, if your maxing one out... but i don't have any more information on how to do that )


Ryan

 

MAF sensors are a touchy subject. Some people say port and descreen them some say leave them. I have had them ported and descreened and ran good times but have had tranny problems. Are my tranny problems related? I have no clue. I just bought a powerglide and said the hell with it. There may be a small % of horse power to be gained by porting them and descreening them but for the average Joe street car/daily driver I say leave it alone.

 

Less restriction in the intake. Think of it this way...the MAF flows less air than the throttle body, this causes intake vacuum to build in the intake after the MAF. More vacuum = less filling of the cylinder with air = less volumetric efficiency. IMHO it makes more of a difference than ram air. Think of it this way:

Remove MAF and reduce intake vacuum, decreasing vacuum a few kpa (yes a few...I think I saw about a 4+ kpa difference at WOT)

Install ram air, at 60 mph MAYBE overcome enough of the intake vacuum to add 1 or 2 kpa. (additional benefit though is lower intake temperatures)

 

Most reliable sources have the drive line loss in an M6 (assuming stock 3.42's and a 10-bolt) to be either 12% or 13%. That means that 417RWHP would equate to 474 fwhp or 479 fwhp respectively.

 

I have an A4 car with a MAF and it is pointless, i wouldnt want anybody to spend the money on it. I wasted my money and for that much i could have bought some pullys or something else.