!MAF:  Porting the Mass-Air-Flow Housing

Tools you will need:
Mass-Air-Flow Housing
  • Dremel tool and/or hacksaw
  • Sand Paper

  •   
    Car:  1998 LS1 Firehawk
    Installer:  Patman
    Email:  gatts@home.com

    Date:
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    Perform all these installs at your own risk.  Know how to use all of your shop equipment and take necessary safety precautions when performing ANY modifications and or maintenance items to your vehicle.  Seek the advice of a paid professional and do not substitute this publication for the advice of a paid professional.  This product is how we accomplished our installs and is not meant to be carved in stone.  We are not responsible for a mistake, misprint, or any other error found in this guide.  This guide is intended as a supplement and not to be your only source of information.

    Purpose:  This modification will replace the mass- air- flow housing.  This will smooth out and increase air flow through the mass air flow housing giving your car some extra horsepower.
    Preface:  Before you start into this install be sure you know how to use all of your shop equipment.  Take your time and be careful. 
    1.  Here are the steps involved in porting the MAF. First of all, remove the MAF from the intake, and take the 3 pieces of it apart. Set the center electronics section (black section with the wire sensors) aside, away from the other parts to keep out of harms way.  Here are the two halves unmodified. Notice the center dividers, this is what you need to remove, on both halves (see Figure 1 below).
    Figure 1
    maf1
    2.  Take the hacksaw apart and put it back together so it's inside the MAF piece like this, and start cutting (see Figure 2 below). Go as close as you can, that way you have less to grind down afterwards.
    Figure 2


    maf3

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    3.  Here is what it looks like after it's cut out (see Figure 3 below). We later found we were able to cut much closer than this.
    Figure 3
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    4.  Here is Warbird (left) and myself (Patman) doing the grinding and polishing of the MAFs (see Figure 4 below). We found that the best way to tackle this job was to do a few MAFs at once. We ported 4 MAFs, our two, Peter Nikeas and Darren Harris's. Each of us had our own task, Peter was our hacksaw expert, I grinded down what was left, Warbird polished it with the dremel, and Darren gave it a final wetsand and polish with 400grit sandpaper and then put the MAFs back together.
    Figure 4

    maf5

    5.  I forgot to get a picture of the polishing stage, so use your imagination here, here's a picture of the sandpaper instead (see Figure 5 below)! :) Just remember to get everything nice and wet and to polish it all down until it's nice and smooth. Darren did a fabulous job!

    Figure 5

    maf6

    6.  Be very careful at this stage, because you now have to cut out the center plastic divider on the black sensor piece (see Figure 6 below). DON'T damage those small wires, they are very sensitive! Some people have not cut out this black part, but others have found that the car runs a bit leaner with this part removed, which is what we want (leaner is better for power).
    Figure 6


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    7.  After all this is done, clean everything off very well, then reassemble the MAF. Here is the finished product in Figure 7 below.
    Figure 7

    maf9

    8.  Here are all 4 of our finished MAFs in a row (see Figure 8 below), that's Peter's thumb that you see. It took us about 4-5 hours to get all these done, but we could've gotten it done quicker, but the bit I used to grind with was getting very dull so it was taking longer. You'll have to experiment with different dremel bits until you find what works best.
    Figure 8

    maf8


    9.  Here are the 4 recipients of the ported MAFs (see Figure 9 below)! Peter's black 98Z, Darren's black convertible WS6 TA, Warbird's Navy Blue WS6 Formula, and Patman's Blue Green Formula. After a quick test drive, all of us reported back that the car feels a lot stronger in the top end. This easily makes the most horsepower of the free mods so far!
    Figure 9

    maf10