When to upgrade MAF?

B

bpalma

New Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2009
Hey all hows it going? Im still a newby to my 87 GN, had it since June and love the hell out of it! Id like to make some decent power out of the car, without touching my converter and tranny(which already has a shift kit).

Question is, when is it advisable to upgrade the MAF in these cars? My mods come this spring will include:

Turbo Tweak 5.6 Alky chip
Meth Injection
42.5lb injectors
3" single exhaust with hollowed cat
volt booster
Te44 turbo
Racetronix Fuel Pump kit w/hotwire
Scanmaster
AEM wideband

How much power/times do you think this combo is capable of making as well? Not out to break any records, just want a fast and fun, reliable GN. Thanks for any help!:D
 
If there is nothing wrong with the old mass air flow, no reason to upgrade it. Guys are running a few seconds faster than your combo, and they run the stock maf, well into the low 10s thats for sure.

You should be able to hit low 12s on radials and medium boost, i would set the dial to 23psi 24psi or so, make sure the wastegate puck hole is ported so you dont get boost creep on the top end.

The 44 is alot of fun, should be enough to hurt that stock transmission if you beat on it alot. Make sure you get a stack plate style cooler for the trans.
BW
 
I'd upgrade to either the LT1 or LS1 MAF and Translator. You won't go any faster...but it'll give you peace of mind driving.
 
Thanks for the replies guys! Good to hear my MAF should be fine for my combo.
What is the reason people end up upgrading there MAFs on here for peace of mind? Does the stock GN MAF have a low grams/sec limit or some other reason?
 
bpalma said:
Thanks for the replies guys! Good to hear my MAF should be fine for my combo.
What is the reason people end up upgrading there MAFs on here for peace of mind? Does the stock GN MAF have a low grams/sec limit or some other reason?
Click to expand...

They tend to crap out easily. The others will damn near last a lifetime.
 
like said...if it is still good leave it alone...if it is failing don't mess with the replacement MAF's they are hit or miss...originals are pretty much gone...get a LT1 (3") or LS1 (3.5") and Translator, they are easily found and much more reliable.

Don't mess with the volt booster, it is not needed...old school...most have removed them, some have created problems.

If you are going with a wideband O2 get the TurboTweak 6.0 WB correction chip not the 5.6 chip. Also if you don't have one get a Scanmaster 1st before you add anything and then add a Powerlogger further enhance your tuning capabilities :cool:
 
when i had my alky kit installed by julio we took it for a test drive and noticed the BLM's a bit on the high side, probably was always like that. Soon after i upgraded the MAF with the translator and the BLMS dropped dramatically and the car idled so much smoother.
Me personally id go ahead and change it out and if you have the oem one on there now and its running fine put it away that way youll have a working back up.
 
Thanks for the replies guys... Ya I really regret getting that volt booster, even after I installed it on my stock GN with an intake and stock exhaust the car was falling on its face with the booster hooked up, made no sense to me at all.

I already have the Turbotweak 5.6 chip and 42.5lbs injectors, im more gonna be using the wideband as a tuning aid, and also rely on the stock narroband as an aid as well. Im still new to the tuning game on these OBD1 cars, as im coming from a 400whp turbo 3800 S2 Grand Prix... Hoping to run some decent boost on the Te44 and get some good times though!

Im not one to the track very often, but id definately interested in some nice ETs as i doubt i'll have the money for radials or slicks this year. Am I missing anything from my combo in terms of motor reliability? I like the idea of keeping a stock, unopened motor and unlocking its potential. What kinda ETs and HP/torque can I see with this combo with 94octane and meth injection? Thanks guys.
 
bpalma said:
I already have the Turbotweak 5.6 chip and 42.5lbs injectors, im more gonna be using the wideband as a tuning aid, and also rely on the stock narroband as an aid as well. Im still new to the tuning game on these OBD1 cars, as im coming from a 400whp turbo 3800 S2 Grand Prix... Hoping to run some decent boost on the Te44 and get some good times though!
Click to expand...

I think Eric can update your chip to the 6.0 WB for $50 if I recal. I'm getting ready to upgrade to the WB chip to tune to A/F. You still keep the stock O2 as well, will need to install the wideband O2 in your DP. With the 6.0 WB chip you can pick the WOT A/F and chip will correct for it via the WB O2 sensor and if you get the Powerlogger and Scanmaster update you can display A/F on the Scanmaster instead of the less accurate narrow band O2 numbers. It's all pretty slick once you get set up and learn what to look at. I have found out 1st hand how a good reliable tune will make thes cars fly as I picked up over a second and 8 mph this past Fall...also how a bad tune will blow a head gasket real fast last Spring :eek:

-Scott
 
Wow thanks for the info man, $50 bucks for an update to the chip is a sweet deal! Gonna have to e-mail Eric about that for more details... How does the wideband and chip interac? Wideband wires to the ECU harness somehow?
 
bpalma said:
Question is, when is it advisable to upgrade the MAF in these cars? My mods come this spring will include:
Click to expand...

When? Yesterday. Yeeeaaaa yea yea. I know I know. "So and so has been 5.6 in the quarter with a stocker." That's great. I don't care. The stock maf just sucks. Period. It's calibration sucks, and not only cannot measure any decent airflow, but it's restrictive as well. With all the people in the used section, dumping chevy mafs and translators for cheap, there really isn't a good reason not to use the system.
 
After years of running stock MAFs, I love the new LT1 maf and translator gen 2 with the prewired harness and adapter wire to connect the LT1 maf to the factory harness. The idle is 10000x better than the factory, and its tunable too!
 
Translator plus, 3.5" maf, and extender extreme setup is one of the best things I ever did to my car. The tuning capabilites really expand what you can do without a chip reburn. If you are short on cash then keep running the stocker, but keep an eye out for a used translator setup because sooner or later it will die on you. Reduced inlet restriction and better tuning ability never hurt anyone either. Next mod IMO would be a dutt neck on the IC or just get a better IC right off the bat.


The inlet restriction debate will go on forever, and it's true many people have gone very fast with a stock maf, but it doesn't mean they wouldn't pick up any time if they put a better inlet system on it. Yeah, the turbo will produce the same boost level either way, but if it has to draw through a restriction it will have to work harder to do it, which equals more heat, more exhaust backpressure, and possibly more lag. It damn sure won't hurt anything to upgrade it.
 
Fer sure. And with these new billet wheel, bb centre section turbos, that don't require any water lines, coupled to these new PTC 9 or 10 inch converters, anything less than a 4" maf tube runnin to the turbo, seems like a restriction to me. With the turbo technology that's available these days, it would seem like a stock maf would be just plain not usable. I can't wait to install my gen 2 maf w/ extender extreme alky chip..
 
bpalma said:
Wow thanks for the info man, $50 bucks for an update to the chip is a sweet deal! Gonna have to e-mail Eric about that for more details... How does the wideband and chip interac? Wideband wires to the ECU harness somehow?
Click to expand...

to do that you would need a Powerlogger to connect the wideband O2 output to. Powerlogger is a direct interface to the ECM plus a complete data logging system. Not sure there is any other way to use the WB chip correction feature since it needs to interface with the ECM.
 
Or get a chip from the actual maker of the system that allows you to even utilize speed density in the first place. :)
 
Turbo6Smackdown said:
Or get a chip from the actual maker of the system that allows you to even utilize speed density in the first place. :)
Click to expand...

And that would be....?

I got rid of the translater bs, went thru 3 boxes that were water damaged from actually driving my cars in the rain and snow.

SD is the way to go if you can tune :)

BW
 
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