I have an LT1 383 making somewhere in the neighborhood of 450 - 500Hp and there isn't a whole lot of stock parts left under the hood except the MAF. At what point does the MAF become a bottleneck when upgraded the car? as far as airflow is concerned, I have a K&N filter, and an ls1 air intake, 58mm throttle body, ported intake, ported heads, larger valves, 1 5/8" shorties (kinda small i know), and a Borla. At one point, i was dumb enough to have a stock ported MAF on there, years ago, until someone clued me in on how bad of an idea that was, so i got my hands on a stock one again. What do you think? I guess i'm not looking for any huge gains by upgrading to a granatelli or something, but does it make for a more accurate tune or anything? I'll be going to speed Inc for a few dyno pulls and some tuning this spring and i want to make sure that i get the most out of it as possible. Any opinions would be appreciated, thanks.

 

Take the cash towards the MAF and use it on some long tubes, your dyno numbers will thank you

EDIT: Get some 1 3/4 Long tubes.

 

My car came with a Granatelli.......I've swapped inbetween it and a stock....notice zero difference on a car with a intake, TB, and cat-back.

Typically, they read differently than a stocker to lie to the PCM to make power...at least thats the theory.

 

That's interesting and i believe you, but see... my bbk shorties are such a PITA, that i couldn't bear the thought of cramming some long tubes under the hood. Plug wire routing is nearly impossible as is installation and removal of the plugs themselves. Not to mention that ground clearance become increasingly poor with the addition of long tubes. I live in Wisconsin, and the roads around here aren't always so pleasing. If long tubes are only going to yield say.... an extra 8hp over my shorties then i seriously would doubt the value vs. headache.

What in your opinion is the easiest to work with, and most wallet friendly header to purchase??

ANYONE HERE.... how crazy of a setup can a stock maf support? is there anyone out there running 600 or 700 hp on a stock maf?

 

I am a little north of you. I have never scraped my long tubes yet. Stock ride height.
I can get to the plugs easy. It takes about an 1 hr to change all 8 and that includes dropping the starter to install the #8 plug. I use to have Edelbrock shorties, but plugs and wires are much easier to get at. You'll see more than 8hp on the dyno sheets. I have the jet hot long tubes with the hooker y- pipe. As for the roads, just south of you in Illinois, well, they sure as hell don't use the money for the toll roads to repair any of them. I work down that way quite a bit and even in my truck they really suck!

 

I use to live in Illinois as well. I to had LTs too. I had no rubing issuse as well. The install is well worth the gain over shorties. Plug access is alot better with LT's as well.. As for the MAF, leave it your fine.

 

thanks for the replies..

Actually, i live north of YOU. (i just never got around to changing my profile after i graduated college) I live in Green Bay on the weekends and in Waukegan during the week. I just took a job down here 3 months ago and i have split residency (which sucks)

well i'll take all this to heart, thanks for all the info. Maybe i'll get a set of pacesetter LT's. there are some new ones on ebay right now w/o the emissions crap selling for about $250. I don't care if they're coated. I like to use the Flameproof paint anyway( can't remember who makes it right now), which works well and doesn't flake off. (you just have to follow the instructions about tempering the paint)

what sort of y pipe works well. I hate exhaust work. I would not be looking forward to doing TOO much massaging to get them to fit.

 

Stock MAFs can support a good deal of power. I read before on here about one guy who had somewhere around 800-850 hp on his setup on a stock, descreened MAF. 4-500hp setups being supported by the stock MAF are not uncommon at all.

 

I think you'll need to get the pacesetter y- pipe as well. It is worth the headache. With just your first plug change you'll be glad you changed to long tubes.

 

Consider it this way, if you are concerned about how much hp your MAF will support, I would also be considering how much power my exhaust can support as well. The long tubes will really start to shine more and more as your power levels increase and as noted, plug access is just light years easier. The Pacesetter long tubes are a "budget" long tube that have extremely good ground clearance. I haven't dragged mine once and I drive over some tricky things.

 

The pacesetters with the Y were pretty easy to install, plug access is excellent, can change all 8 in less than half an hour, and made a noticable difference in power and sound over the macs that were on it before. And that was on a bolt-on car. Your power difference will be substantial.

 

Had some work done to the car over the last few years at Speed Inc. This includes them swapping out my shorties for a set of Pacesetter longtubes. The only issue is that some of us have a clearence problem with the Y pipe being a little to close to the botttom of the car. Mine worked out in the end but the guys at speed could have built me a better y pipe for a little more money than what the Pacesetter cost me. The only thing is I didn't what to spend more money since I already had bought the y with the headers and sending the Speed custom y out to be coated would of added to the price also. I won't use uncoated headers, and y-pipe. The coating still looked good on my shorties after 8 years, because it's a no winter, no rain car. Plus the coating helps keep the under hood temps down.