LS1 MAF Selection

[mitch_04]

Alright, I'll give it my best shot but I'm not always the best at explaining things. Lets say you have a stock engine and you throw a turbo on. You are now flowing much more air past the air flow sensor. The MAF may be able to measure more air than originally, but eventually it will "max out" and only read a certain amount once past its "max". You then upgrade to a different sensor that is calibrated for the larger amount of airflow OR you can adjust the MAF settings in the computer to do a scaled reading. The scaled reading, IIRC, is somewhat frowned upon because you are now using a multiplier and not going off the true reading. Whenever you upgrade MAF sensors, however, you have to put the new settings in the computer.

Mass air flow sensors work by having 2 heated wires that are cooled by the air going by it. The one wire is a more of a constant and the other is the variable. The computer judges the amount of amperage required to heat the variable up to the same temp as the constant and determines airflow through calculations predetermined by engineers much more intelligent than myself.

Different MAF sensors operate differently and this is being described as best I can without referencing anything so it maybe slightly off. If you want a couple of great books, search for Matt Cramer (one of the engineers for Megasquirt) or Greg Banish (engineer for a few major companies). They have both written books that have increased my knowledge of fuel injection more than 2 years at college for auto repair ever did. I think Matt's is more regular-joe friendly, while Gregs is slightly more technical. Also, Greg's advanced book, I thought, was easier to understand than the other. Go figure!



Hope this helped some.