| Author | Message | ||
     Geforce |
I was thinking the other day. I've dabbled in tuning cars for a while with EFI Live and what not. One of the struggles with my 87 Buick Grand National was getting the old tech MAF to read higher than the 255 g/s so a lot of us went to LS1 MAFs with translators. With all the discussion about AFVs and such with this Helicon I was curious if/why there is no metering for air flow into the engine? Not saying it is at all a design flaw, I am just curious as to why it hasn't been implemented. Is it even needed? I can't see how it would hurt anything. MAFs can be pricey and fragile as well. So there is a one downside. Not enough airflow to justify having one? Is airflow metered in some other way or are the O2s designed differently than standard sensors to help in this way after combustion? Maybe some of the tuners can chime in, and answer this for me, I am just ignorant as to why this technology isn't used on our engines or if it is, please enlighten me. Thanks! | ||
| Hootowl |
Air is "metered" by the throttle plates. Air is "measured" by the MAF via a current calculation in the engine computer. Now that I've busted your balls, I'll answer the question.  MAF are generally unsuitable for vehicles that have small airboxes or engine configuration that cause air to pulse in the airbox or worse, to flow backwards sometimes. A MAF works by maintaining a constant temperature while the ECM measures how much current it takes to maintain that temperature. If the air is not moving across the sensor consistently, the measurement becomes wildly inaccurate. A speed density system is much more accurate in these cases. | ||
| Geforce |
"Now that I've busted your balls" LOL Hey that sting a little! That's what I was wondering. And I appreciate it. I was trying to "thunk" it out considering I just cleaned my MAF on my SS as the turbo blow by will occasionally oil mist the elements after many a mile and the thought popped into my head. "Why doesn't my 1125r have one of these?" And the gears started turning. Sometimes with remote mounted turbo systems like mine on the SS, you get a crap ton of condensate built up in the charge pipes and it will work it's way onto the MAF elements during acceleration which causes a nasty power loss as the element takes a droplet of water and the ECU freaks out in response to it. Happens sometimes when the humidity is super high or during the winter. I can see now why it wouldn't be worth while on a bike especially with the unstable conditions it would have to try to measure air in. Thanks Hootowl.  |
