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Going MAF less, it's not just for your race car anymore.

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elevensecgn

New Member
Joined
May 24, 2001
Messages
62
I know most of you folks already know about a couple of guys who have been running without a maf but using a GM ECM on their "race cars". I just wanted to pass along
that it is not just for "race cars" anymore.
I have been running Steve Yaklin's Maxeffort R mafless chip for a few days doing some testing on driveability issues. With a few tweaks, and a couple of changes here and there, my car is running just as well on the street with NO Maf, as it ever has before with a maf.
This chip design is currently in a couple of low ten sec cars and has already proven itself at the track. I believe he has now expanded it's ability to be fairly well mannered in street driving situations as well.
(Naturally, as with all aftermarket devices, this is for "off road use only" ;^) wink wink.
I have confirmed 20+ mpg at mostly highway driving on 100 mile loop. This loop did have a 20 minute backup of traffic due to a Cardinal ball game scheduled at the same time. (How dare they interfere with my testing ;^)
Looking at the scan tool files, I believe that there is even more highway mileage to be had yet by utilizing his "lean cruise" tuning feature.
Considering I am running 55# injs I am impressed. I just haven't had enough time yet to "play with all the gizmo's" but at this point I gotta say this thing sure looks promising. I wish I could stick the car in a cooler somewhere, to test the "COLD start", but will just have to wait till October or November to do that. With the weather in my area this week, midwest June-- it has cranked up and idled great, both warm, and after sitting overnight, and with a couple of tweaks he did to the program it will now drop right into gear without any warmup and drive away.
I am currently running 16# boost and some extra fuel while I tune for pump gas, and expect to be able to turn it up and lean it out with no probs.
Naturally during beta testing, I like to stay on the conservative side and slowly ease into things. As mentioned above, it's already been tested and works good on the race applications, so I am concentrating primarily with any driveability concerns.

Even though I am running a fat conservative tune on the car, the throttle response is much better than ever before. With a conventional chip, tuned this way it would be a pig out of the hole, but I crack into it off of idle and it will roast the 295s like never before.

I have no idea when he will be ready to turn this thing loose to the general public, but just thought I would let ya know that it sure looks promising to me so far.

For anyone who hasn't heard of this before, it does require that you have a 3 bar MAP and a standalone 3 wire harness going from the MAP to the ECM. A modification is also required internally to the ECM. This mod does not alter the normal maf use of an ECM. If for any reason you wish to put a maf back in, (say for some sort of testing ;^) you just unplug the 3 bar harness from the 3 bar MAP and all is back to normal, and you can run your
stock maf and whatever chip you had before. (Although I can't think of a reason to :^)

Thanks go to Steve Yaklin for the help he's given me, and for developing such a unit.
and another thanks to Bob Bailey for the ECM modification.

Dwight Hayden
PS (disclaimer) This setup is for the experienced tuner, just as a DFI or FAST/Speedpro would be. I would not recommend it to a beginner because it allows you to do so much, that if you don't know what you are doing, you will get into deep dewdo :^o But for a faster car and an exp tuner, it can be very advantageous.
 
I've got the ME 16. How do you get in as a test mule. I have over 206k miles on my maf. Its just waiting to die.
 
Sign me up on that list too :D This sure sounds like a fabulous breakthrough for our rides!
Jim
 
Originally posted by elevensecgn
I know most of you folks already know about a couple of guys who have been running without a maf but using a GM ECM on their "race cars". I just wanted to pass along
that it is not just for "race cars" anymore.


So the Gaunlet is thrown down,
ehhh, Youngin!.

You gonna drive down to the Dorothy Lane Cruise-In?.
Or am I going to have to drive to St Louie?.

Gettin to be too many sneeky ol farts around here. LOL
Just ignore the man behind the curtain, and dem extre wirez.

OK, OK, I'll give you the go, since your stuck with a stock manifold.

We could do Kilkare on Thursday night, and then loser buy brats at the Cruise in on Friday......
 
Originally posted by Jimn8or
Sign me up on that list too :D This sure sounds like a fabulous breakthrough for our rides!
Jim

This has been in the works for quite a few months, and I would guess the testing is about done by now. I am just one of the lucky guys who have been fooling with it in the final development stages. Again I am not sure when Steve will be ready to turn these loose, and I would imagine at first he may be somewhat selective in what cars that they should be on. Honestly, there is no reason, other than the novelty of not running a maf to have this setup on a mid 12 second car. Many cars have ran well into the 10s sucking thru the stock maf, so it is not for everyone. I do believe that now with the driveablility testing I have done that it is a very practical solution for a street / strip car now and is not just for race only any more. Having a sewer pipe inlet from the K&N to the turbo inlet with NO restrictions in it whatsoever certainly wont hurt anything, and will in all probability help many of the "FAST" cars. The tuneability of various areas
of the fuel curve, along with the quick response will be a great additional feature also.

FWIW, after driving it some more today, I am satisfied that I could take the car on a long trip. get decent mileage, have good driveability around town, and surely when it's is turned up and on race gas it should run as good if not considerably better than in a previous MAF dependent state of tune.

Again, as with most all aftermarket parts for our cars, this is for "off road use only", just like a adjustable FP regulator, a K&N, and about everything thats on a lot of GN/TRs.

As the usual disclaimer goes, (your results may vary), but I now think this is another alternative way of dealing with the now obsolete GM MAF. There are many other good ways to "skin the cat" and most all all seem to work very well. I won't get into a who's way is better type discussion, as I know that the other ways do work good also.

We are very lucky to have so many great folks doing developement on things like the MaxE R, and the Translator+ etc.
It is a labor of love for most of these guys, considering these cars havent been made since 87, you know there certainly is not a mass market like there is for moosewangs and f bodys.

Dwight Hayden
 
Re: Re: Going MAF less, it's not just for your race car anymore.

Originally posted by bruce



So the Gaunlet is thrown down,
ehhh, Youngin!.

You gonna drive down to the Dorothy Lane Cruise-In?.
Or am I going to have to drive to St Louie?.

Gettin to be too many sneeky ol farts around here. LOL
Just ignore the man behind the curtain, and dem extre wirez.

Hey, we ol farts gotta work a lot harder to keep up with them kids ya know

:D

There are a lot of ways to get from point A to point B. Guys like you and me just like to take a little different path than the masses do:)

Hope to see ya at Morocco in Sept. That's a hoot.

Take care my friend.

Dwight
 
Way to go Dwight! :)

Sounds like it is really working out for you. The regular ME has been into the nines for several people. Why don't you be like Geno and turn the boost up and be the first stock block into the eights with a chip? :D
 
Originally posted by Steve Wood
Way to go Dwight! :)

Sounds like it is really working out for you. The regular ME has been into the nines for several people. Why don't you be like Geno and turn the boost up and be the first stock block into the eights with a chip? :D

Steve,
My stock block is so stock, that only the valve covers have been off to replace the valve springs. A nice factory 70k motor untouched, with a Craig 61 and a few bolt ons. It's been 11.33 but I don't think I'll go "Stockwell" and shoot for the moon with it:eek: Eventually I want to use Steve Yaklin's multi stage alky setup and have it so it's always fast, not just when I have the race gas tune up in it. This year I'm on the street with it a lot more and less concerned about strip only.

I'm having about all the fun you can have, and still have your clothes on ;)

take care,
Dwight Hayden
 
Originally posted by BLACK6PACK
I've got the ME 16. How do you get in as a test mule. I have over 206k miles on my maf. Its just waiting to die.

I think the testing is done, but If you are already a Max E 16 customer, I think Steve has a pretty good deal available for upgrading. Give him an Email and I'm sure he'll work with ya.

Dwight Hayden
 
Just thought I'd add my $.02 to this thread.

I've probably got the most stock car of the "test mules" (009 injectors, stretch IC, stock everything else) and I must say that the MaxEffort R works great, the driveability is excellent and the throttle response is better than ever. I've said before that I couldn't tell the difference between the MAF program and the MAF-less program, well after a little more tweaking I dare say it runs better. And now that I can run a monster MAF inlet pipe I assume I'll be able to get even better spool out of my turbo (in case I ever need it) ;) The biggest difference thusfar is definately idle quality, I'm not sure if you could consider that "performance" but it is definately important to me, and the car idles like a swiss watch now, it didn't before.

With the question being: Do I need to run without a MAF, no I definately do not, however since there are NO drawbacks to the system, I'm not overly afraid of tuning, and running NO maf before the turbo obviously has shown a performance gain worth considering. This setup may not be needed for stock equipment like I run, but it sure doesn't hurt anything.

Furthermore, it's just plain cool! :D
 
My experiences: I've been testing with Steve for a while now. Although I havent been able to get to the track because of rain I have tested on the street. Driveability has been excellent. Being that I have a 4" inlet turbo I felt I could take advantage of the no MAF. I plan on doing a back to back test with and without the MAF. I'll post the results when completed.
 
Let's say you drive from point A to point B and the altitude between the two points is different by say 3000'...Are you going to need to re-tune for the altitude change and/or weather changes with this new setup or can you just drive through it like you would with the stock ecm and MAF installed???
 
Thats the same thing going through my head. Without the 02 sensor correcting, and the maf measuring air, I would think you would have to change your setup. Its almost like going back to carb days. The good thing is, you just make a couple of changes to the chip, and your back on track.
 
Well.....

PRSRIZD: I spose I ought a pay you that 20 bucks I owe you.....

Lazaris: Only post the results if they are good.....

FJM: I havn't got a clue. I would think the MAP would change accordingly vs airpressure as the air temp input does vs temp but maybe Bruce has an idea if he is around, he is a student of the game...

Steve
 
Originally posted by BLACK6PACK
Thats the same thing going through my head. Without the 02 sensor correcting, and the maf measuring air, I would think you would have to change your setup. Its almost like going back to carb days. The good thing is, you just make a couple of changes to the chip, and your back on track.

The ME never uses the o2, maf or no maf. It is an user programmable chip that allows the owner to dial the car in precisely rather than a one chip fits all mentality. It has never been marketed for passing emissions, etc. Instead, it is aimed at the educated user who wants to extract as much as possible from the combination.

As it runs fixed fuel curves at wot, it is much like a carb except that one just adjusts the fuel from the thumbwell rather than going into the carb. Other features (non-wot) are all adjustable by the user. Normally, once dialed in, there is very little change required. I am not sure what happens if you live at the bottom of Mt Rushmore and work at the top but I know that it is not sensitive to a couple of thousand feet of change other than perhaps dialing back the fuel a couple of percent.

Dwight's caution above about these chips being intended for the experienced user should be well noted. Also keep in mind these are intended for maximum performance altho they work extremely well in day to day driving. :)
 
Steve, thats kinda what I was saying. I have the ME 16, but I wouldn't consider myself an expert. I read the manual about 5 times before I really understood how everything works. Not that I have changed any of the settings yet. It worked pretty good out of the box.
 
Don't feel bad about reading the manual five times...I have been using them since the mid-90s and I learn something every time I talk to Steve Y. He thinks I forget a lot. :)

I just wanted to make sure that the newer-comers don't think this is another one of those magic bullets that does not require some understanding in order to exact the optimum performance. :) I am amazed at how well the defaults normally work, tho'.
 
I think I need to send mine back and have the timing turned up. I had it set fairly low for alky (18*) and at 23* for race gas. Well, the first time at the track with it, I had it on setting B and the boost at 25lbs with 93 and alky, and I still wasn't getting the mph out of it that I got from the RA 100 chip. It was about 20* warmer when I ran the ME though.

Did you set your IAC per his instructions, so that you are pretty much bypassing the IAC?
 
Yes, I set the iac as per the instructions.

The two cars I have with alky have variable timing in the first seven slots to help with transitional knock at cruise. One of them starts at 21 degs up to 4000 and then goes to 22 degs to 4400, and then 23 degs the rest of the way.

The other one is a bit different but similar (ends up at 24, I think).

I found I had no problem running 24 degs all the way from a standing start but it would allow some detonation when hitting it from 65 mph or so. The variable timing helped that a lot, in my case.
 
Thanks, Steve Y said to start with the 18* that ramped up to 21* and then set the race settings at 23*. I think I need to start at 21-22 and ramp up to 23* and then have the race settings at 26*, or something close. I need to send him my DS files. He said he would help me get this thing running. I was only running 114 in the 1/4 at 25lbs of boost, so I'm loosing power somewhere. 02s I managed to get down to 770 (fastest run) and the EGT was right around 1640 on that run.
 
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