fwiw, I've had my MAF screen out for over two years now. I retuned the car and haven't had any driveability problems what so ever. Car is rock solid even with 1000cc injectors.

 

Really??? Any pictures?? Did you gain any noticeable power?? Also, how much power are you making??

 

The laminar flow effect attributed to the honeycomb is an issue, but only in closed loop, or part throttle mode. At WOT the laminar flow across the honeycomb is worth squat. In contrast, there is a significant restriction to airflow caused from having the honeycomb panel in place at WOT. At WOT the effect from removing the screen is similar to the change in AFR's that occurs when you go from the stock to a less retrictive air intake system. A good tuner can easily compensate for the increase in airflow at WOT.

 

On Turbo Buicks(GN's), we used to remove the honeycomb screen from the GM MAF's. This would initially cause a very slight, closed-loop drivebility issue, but it was very minor, and occured only on deceleration or coasting , and the ECU soon would learn to adjust to the increased flow during part throttle driving anyway.

At WOT there was definitely an increase in airflow w/o the honeycomb screen, as we needed to add more fuel above 3000 RPM, because the AFR's would go leaner with the screen removed. I say ditch the screen.

 

At WOT, the MAF is indeed the only reference the ECU has for determining load. It is in fact more important at WOT than closed loop, simply because in closed loop, the ECU has the benefit of the O2 for mixture correction. At WOT, if the load value is fluctuating or innaccurate, the AFR will too.

But this logic is faulty. Since removing the screen affects the calibration and accuracy of the meter, how do you know there was more air as opposed to the altered meter just telling you that you were in a different load cell than you actually were? That would certainly affect the fuel mixture. This is akin to changing one's speedometer gear, and saying the car must be making more power because the needle gets to "60mph" faster. What I'm telling you is that you haven't proven that the new "60mph" is actually 60mph.


My hunch is that one's air filter is probably much more restrictive than the screen, and that's probably worth little. So far, I've seen no proof that removing the screen fixes anything, but it definitely creates a potential issue.

 

pictures... no I don't have any. it just looks like a MAF w/no honeycomb.
I didn't 'notice' any gains but I didn't notice any power loss either.

I haven't dyno'ed the car in years but it traps 112-113MPH in the quarter. ONly mods are a reflash by yours truely, buschur intake pipe, MR BOV, MBC @ 22psi, ebay TBE & o2 housing.

This mod probably isn't for everyone.

 

i am considering this, my honeycomd got damaged and i am thinking of a replacement.

i am thinking to just run the car without it and see what happens. definately a retune though.

BTW my car is bone stock.

 

on my TT stealth I removed the honeycomb and allowed unmetered but filtered air in past the mas to further reduce the inlet restriction and simply tuned around it. The car drives fine. With 720cc injectors I think it's scaled ~ 340cc

on my evo I choose to take a less radical approach so that I don't alienate my stock ecu/mas based customers that may not be willing to try that. I simply put a thin bead of epoxy around the outer edge of the honeycomb where it meets the plastic mas. Prior to doing this the highest load I saw at 30psi on 93 octane was ~ 335kpa and now it's pegging 380kpa and doesn't come off that in a 3rd gear pull until about 7500rpm and might show ~365kpa at 8500. (2byte load)

boosted, I recommend doing the epoxy trick. I have a great starting map for it and it will offer the best driveabilty possible with plenty of hp.

 

9sec9,

What's the silicone on the top and bottom of the inlet for, or is just excess that squeezed out when tightened down?

 

Wow...why do you think that is so? The increase in load just by epoxying the MAF..

 

I think more air is being directed down the center and being metered instead of going around the center.

 

this is a question ive been wanting to know for a while but never had the time to start a thread to ask... the little black plug on the bottom of the mass with all the black rtv covering it....... can we back that out flush for more airflow like alot of us did when we did the 2g mass swap on a 1g??\\

CBRD
9SEC9 > ANY OF U GUYS KNOW??
TED B
DYNOFLASH
MELLON

 

The silicone (actually epoxy) I think you're referring to is where the adapter meets the maf. I modified the maf so that the raised edge would not impede the airflow over the nice radiused adapter. If you look at the adapter and stock maf, you'll see the edge I'm talking about. Every little bit is a little bit closer to perfection. No sense in using a nice adapter if the two parts don't mate up properly.
ADDED: when the maf is modified completely, it opens a hole from the back side that needs to be sealed also.

 

Mellon do you have any pictures of where you applied this at, also what brand of epoxy did you use.
I do not want to lose another maf screen..

Thanks!

 

Hence the original silicone that's in place from the factory. I remember that "mod" back in my 3g Eclipse days.