I just descreened the MAF in my LT1 caprice 9C1....
the car ran and drove fine... no warning lights or decrease in performance... can't say there was an incerease though
-mark

 

You won't feel any difference. It's one of those little tweeks that helps the overall picture when your engine is highly modded. Kinda like the air foil or TB bypass. A horse or two here and there all add up.

 

It helps by add ing about 10% (or more) air flow depending on whether you desceened front only or front and back and whether you shaved off the cooling fins

 

i've heard from some pretty knowledgeable people that you should not tinker with the MAF. all of it is there for a reason... straighten the air, etc etc... you want that meter to work the way it's supposed to so that the fuel metering is accurate.
anybody here got any hard evidence that descreening etc will improve performance?
see ya,
sonny

 

I am of the opinion that the MAF screen does not inhibit overall airflow that much, and the screen material helps stabalize/directionalize the more turbulent air coming from the front of the engine...and in the unlikely event that a large piece of crap gets past the air filter, the MAF screen is the last defence!!! But do and think as you will......

 

Actually, that's another one of those "old wive's tales" that just won't seem to die. Even Chris Petris Tech writer at Corvette Fever says so.

Stop and take a look at the air travel. Look at the route that air has to take once it leaves the MAF until it finally arrives at the intake valve. It changes directions and speeds so many times that anything those screens may have contributed would have long been lost.

I can't think of an engine that has a more torturous airflow path.

As far as performance increase, the way I look at it is:

If your engine doesn't not need the additional airflow, then you won't see any. But the opposite is true too. When the engine's air requirements exceed the amount of air a screened MAF can supply, then you'll see the benefit of a de-screened MAF.

It's at the higher RPMs when the engines working hard at WOT that the absence of screens comes into play.

Want to get an idea of how much restriction those screens create?

Look closely at the screen. Count all the little wires; horizonal and verticle. Now visualize them all touching each other, side by side rather than being separated into the little squares. Now with them side by side, visualize how much space (blockage to airflow) those wires actually occupy.

Just my thoughts.

Jake

 

Screened MAF from a TPI is supposed to flow 548 CFM, screens removed...711 CFM, Descreened and fins removed...750 +/- a few.

 

 

sounds like good reasoning... i get free dyno pulls, anybody got a descreened MAF they want send me and i'll do back to back dyno pulls and see for sure? and then i'll send it back...
see ya,
sonny

 

i know it's probably a simple procedure, but you guys got any advice about how to do this? i imagine the screens you just cut them out carefully, but what do you mean by shaving the cooling fins?

 

Cut the plastic with a hacksaw as close to the screens as posible and then sand/file untill they can be removed. First cover the MAF wire tube with duct tape to protect it, Then look in the tube and you will see the cooling fins, use the hacksaw to carefully cut the cooling fins out without hitting the sensor tube.

 

A really sharp knife is the way to go. Just keep going around and around until it falls off.
TPIS did some exhaustive airflow studies on this stuff. The screens definitely hurt airflow. But like others have said, an improvement is dependent on the needs of your engine.