Ford MAF w/C&L 76mm housing

Best value is the pimpxs
I tune these all the time and we have a ton of info on these in the digital tuning forum. You will also need a 14point7.com spartan2 wideband.

There is also the option of an efisource pnp microsquirt, I have tuned 900hp turbo cars using this $300 ecu.

Learn something new every day. I've never even heard of them. Wideband support too. That's amazing.

Kurt
 
  • Sponsors (?)


The 4-pin sensors are all the same, the part numbers may be a little different. It's very simple but effective device, 2 precision resistors.
The part numbers on the stock Ford sensors are different because the voltage output curves are VERY different.
An F2VF sensor, as an example, is NOT a direct replacement for the OP's AFH55 sensor.

I'm putting a new 255 lph pump in and doing the tune up that was suggested as well as the correct sample tube.
I have not seen anything that would make me think you are having any issues with the current setup?
Maybe I missed it?

What makes you think you have the wrong sample tube?
Was your brother an idiot? Sounds like the rest of the setup your brother put together is pretty damn good considering when it was built. I would be inclined to think you have the right sensor, sample tube, housing already.

C&L not good? Who’s baloney have you been reading???
That 'balogna' may have been MINE.
Any sensor that is so sensitive that rotating it in the intake tube has to be done experimentally to find it's 'sweet spot' is a POS, by the very definition of POS.

There is a reason C&L was popular in the early years, and then faded from existence... Searching the threads here, 5-10yrs back, will reveal just how many issues there were with getting stable idle out of these things.
For a long time, C&L was all we had available. We can do better now.

And to say that C&L's flow bench was blessed by God, and thus used by NASA, so their product must have been Holier than all else, is just silly.
Even if that flow bench was more accurate than the almighty, the OP's meter was never flowed on it... which is the secondary inherent fault in the C&L design.



There is nothing wrong with updating the engine management system, fuel system, etc... simply because better tech is available. But to just toss money at it when it is running fairly well, seems kinda silly to me.

If it were me... Measure the sample tube on the MAF, and the housing diameter with calipers. The 'correct' diameters and sample tube colors are in this forum here somewhere... I know I posted them here before, as well as on other boards...
Enjoy the ride for what it is, especially if getting the car here set finances back a little, as it sounds like it did.
Nothing worse than a wife getting pissed because she has to cut HER budget for something, due to you overrunning the budget for a 'stupid car' (as most women seem to view them as).
 
Here is my experience with C&L maf. No problem.
The problems that I have noticed is when the filter is mounted directly to the maf housing, apparently air becomes turbulent and does not pass through the tube causing erratic behavior. There needs to be 6" or more of straight path before the meter.
That said, it is old tech and there are better options now.
But it still works for me.
 
If you end up running a megasquirt based ecu like Pimp, etc. you could eliminate the maf as
the system is speed density.
Although I know the PimpXS can be tuned to run a maf if you want to keep it.
 
Here is my experience with C&L maf. No problem.
The problems that I have noticed is when the filter is mounted directly to the maf housing, apparently air becomes turbulent and does not pass through the tube causing erratic behavior. There needs to be 6" or more of straight path before the meter.
That said, it is old tech and there are better options now.
But it still works for me.
That's what Lee told me, min of 6". I have 10". A screen helps, too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
C&L not good? Who’s baloney have you been reading???
@Blown88GT already said most of what I was going to say. I ran through Three BBK’s in a few miles, and they warrantied the first two before I said something NSFW. When they ran, they had to be clocked right. Then they quickly tested bad. I went new with a new C&L meter and a new Delphi sensor (I am leaving the stock MAF alone for testing), and it now runs with street manners, besides slipping ores (or the clutch) under full power.
Just because the product or idea is newer does NOT mean it is superior. New tech and old tech do not always play well together.


My C&L went the shelf when I couldn't get the noise out of the transfer curve. I found later that I had an issue with turbulence over the sensor that was causing the hiccup. Reclocking the sensor housing would move it up and down the RPM range. That car ended up with an AFR meter in the end (mostly because it was in stock and had the adapter I needed). This setup is my Kenne Bell. I think the combo of the blower and my inlet tract (Anderson 4" etc.) just didn't like each other.

When I had to toss the 89 together to get it moved, I put the C&L in it and it worked just fine. I'll use it until it doesn't. :shrug:
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Finding the space for the 10" of straight pipe was the hard part. Then the light bulb went off; from the outlet of the intercooler in front of the radiator, angled back 45 deg, perpendicular to the IC, then to the MAF. All is in front of the passenger side wheel well almost on top of the wheel liner. Access is through the oval cutout where the original airbox was & where the battery now resides. Nearly impossible to get pics of all this.

Next time the front end gets jacked up high, I'll try to remember to take some pics.
 
That 'balogna' may have been MINE.
Any sensor that is so sensitive that rotating it in the intake tube has to be done experimentally to find it's 'sweet spot' is a POS, by the very definition of POS.

There is a reason C&L was popular in the early years, and then faded from existence... Searching the threads here, 5-10yrs back, will reveal just how many issues there were with getting stable idle out of these things.
For a long time, C&L was all we had available. We can do better now.

I've had the same issue with a PMAS sensor, which doesn't use a sample tube. It has to be calibrated differently based on the angle of the inlet tube. I never had a problem with a Pro-M. Seems to work no matter how you stick it.

Kurt
 
I've had the same issue with a PMAS sensor, which doesn't use a sample tube. It has to be calibrated differently based on the angle of the inlet tube. I never had a problem with a Pro-M. Seems to work no matter how you stick it....
The Pro-M is calibrated within the sensor electronics. Only way to recalibrate is sending it back to Pro-M which is costly.
I believe Pro-M are former Ford engineers experienced with the EEC-IV & the MAF & all it's intricacies.
Those with sample tubes are calibrated in the housing with a specific sensor.
I have all the calibration data from C&L for all their housings & different sample tubes.
He verified the data by comparing with flow testing on the stock Ford MAF which he also supplied the data for.
Every configuration uses the stock 55mm Ford sensor, which are all the same no matter the part number on it.
Calibration accuracy is only as good as the flow bench accuracy.
Sensors have changed a lot in 30 years, but that doesn't mean the old ones don't work if configured correctly.
You must have linear flow across the sensor, it cannot be placed near a bend which is why the latest sensors are in the middle of the middle of the tube.
If anyone wishes to believe differently, that's your prerogative. Those are usually the ones that say it's a POS.

My C&L MAF works perfectly as a blow-thru in the Megasquirt.
 
Last edited:
  • Hell Yeah!
Reactions: 1 user
The Pro-M is calibrated within the sensor electronics. Only way to recalibrate is sending it back to Pro-M which is costly.
I believe Pro-M are former Ford engineers experienced with the EEC-IV & the MAF & all it's intricacies.
Those with sample tubes are calibrated in the housing with a specific sensor.
I have all the calibration data from C&L for all their housings & different sample tubes.
He verified the data by comparing with flow testing on the stock Ford MAF which he also supplied the data for.
Every configuration uses the stock 55mm Ford sensor, which are all the same no matter the part number on it.
Calibration accuracy is only as good as the flow bench accuracy.
Sensors have changed a lot in 30 years, but that doesn't mean the old ones don't work if configured correctly.
You must have linear flow across the sensor, it cannot be placed near a bend which is why the latest sensors are in the middle of the middle of the tube.
If anyone wishes to believe differently, that's your prerogative. Those are usually the ones that say it's a POS.

My C&L MAF works perfectly as a blow-thru in the Megasquirt.

The Megasquirt gives you a lot of leniency in all reality. It is a different generation of computing from the original A9L. I like the original sample tube design, because as you described, it straightens the flow before it is metered.

Kurt
 
now where is @Noobz347 when you need him?

About a decade behind honestly. I remember struggling with my first C&L meter circa 1997. The car was idling all over the place. It had one of those old (lamp shade) air filters inside of the inner fender. Nobody could figure it out, and somebody dropped a rag on the air filter, and it smoothed right out. The air blowing on the filter from the radiator fan was messing up the air flow directly behind the lamp shade. We pop riveted a metal shield to the air filter, and the car ran right afterwards. Finished 2nd in EFI Renegade at Bradenton 1999. The guy who finished first was another acquaintance of mine who had taken a drill bit to the largest NOS single point jet available at the time, and ran it with a dry kit. Such things could only could be described as shenanigans today.

Kurt
 
Last edited: