MAF Translator version 2.01 discussion, What are your thoughts and findings Options

[awd4kicks]

I've had a few discussions now about the MAFT 2.01 tuning methods. Tuning with Version 2.01 is obviously different than previous versions.

I'm interested in opinions from those that have experience with the 2.01 MAFT or from those that have researched it anyway. I'd like to hear your experiences with the newer version and if you have found things that work or do not work for your purposes.

[natedogg]

Obviously, the biggest difference is the RPM dependent tuning. I have fooled around with this a little bit and saw very little difference if any in the performance of my car. The basic base, idle, mid, and WOT dial settings do a very good job of metering, modulating, and translating.

When I installed my 2.01 chip it was pretty much plug her in set the dip switches, set the base dial for injector size, and go. Now, of course I have to play with things anyway for fun and for getting the best tune for whatever octane I'm running at the time.

It was a little different tuning with it on Spy's old car though. But there may have been some other factors there as well. We had to do a lot of richening up to finally get the car to run right. So much that we had to tell the MAFT that the car was actually running 100cc less injectors than it was if I remember correctly. It may be even more of a challenge with your 2.4 and WI. I'm always up for a challenge if you'd like a hand.

[awd4kicks]

Thanks Natedogg

I did run the 2.01 version for the very short time that my 2.0/BR500 and 14b ran last year. The base setting for my 780 injectors ran great for both turbos while the engine lasted.

This year and as always I want to make sure I'm tuned for the most possible performance. The RPM tuning seems to be a logical step in this direction. The instructuions for said tuning were less than obvious to figure out for me though. This is why I was hoping to get a feel from others that have used this newer version.

[natedogg]

Yeah, the RPM dependent tuning definitely isn't straightforward, but its not quite as difficult as the instructions make it seem. Just make the dip switch that switches between regular and RPM dependent tuning your friend. And remember the dials have completely different functions depending on which mode its in. Get a hold of me when your ready to tune and we'll make a day of it. I may just get a hold of you, because I need to talk to you about the spool anyway.

[awd4kicks]

In talking to some, they would get fuel trim reading in the 130% range after setting the base for the correct injectors and seeing good O2 nreadings!?! I'm still stuck in the old method of tuning by knock so I need to get a refresher on the whole fuel trim tuning thing again.

Has the MAFT users group proven to be any more useful than it used to be Natedogg?

[akamiami]

seems to me that the maft forum at fullthrottletech is more active than in the past, but the primary information source seems to be KPT (or kyle) the guy who beta-tested the 2.01. he's been very helpful on there and I think those fullthrottle guys should throw him a job or something because he's supporting a good portion of their tech support....

fuel trims are somewhat counterintuitive untill you really understand how the ecu perceives the trim and what it's trying to display. The way I think of it is 130 is the ecu really saying 139%, such as it having to dump 139% (or more since it can only read up that high) fuel of what it normally would at idle. Conversely, 80% would be like it saying 'I'm putting only 80% fuel in and this is keeping the car running as it should'. Again, 80% is as low as it gets, so the ecu really can't put in less fuel than that. So if you follow what I'm trying to relate here, in the first example the ecu is having to add fuel (going over 100%) and the second example we see the ecu reducing fuel flow (by adjusting duty cycle, or pulse width). This is meant to be a very conceptual description and for an undoubtedly improved relation, you can check out www.vfaq.com or tmo's description at www.technomotive.com. Also, any engine management discussion will necessarily include a more indepth analysis of injector duty cycle and how this relates to airflow.

As far as different trims, there are high, mid, and low. I'm only concerned with the latter though because I can tune away the rest by observing knock, timing, etc.. To me it's vital to get a close low trim because that's where my car is 95% of the time. I should also mention that all this trim talk is terms of 100% is for a 1g since 2g's start at 0 and go from there.

I agree with what nate said about having to tune spy's car for 100cc less injectors. In fact, I recently had a car I had to set for 300cc less injectors at one point. The fuel trim even then was pegged at about 140 so I gave up on it for the time being. Then, the next day, it decided to act normal and ran ridiculous rich untill the base knob was set about what it should be for the injectors in the car. It hasn't been driven enough at this point to pickup a new low trim value, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's nearing sanity. Having a wideband is very helpful in this kind of analysis since the fuel trims are notoriously laggy.

Bottom line for me is that I'm again seeing that the maft device is very versatile, powerful, and helps in the tuning process tremendously. However, as usual, the initial settings are very tricky and the thing seems to be very tempermental while it's being adjusted. The only thing to do is drive the car alot, keep good track of settings and only change them when you're sure that the last changes have been registered.

I haven't gotten into the rpm tuning, but to me, that's just the icing on the cake (or duckbutter on the dingus if your first name starts with an N, M, J, or D).

[natedogg]

I look at fuel trims as fuel economy basically, because that's how the ECU looks at it. Its trying to get you the best possible fuel economy while keeping performance on par with what's expected from the car from its own point of view (namely 200 ponies from the factory). If you are tuning your fuel trims you are tuning for gas mileage. At WOT the fuel trims have no effect on the performance of the car because the ECU switches to open loop. If you aren't interested in gas mileage, don't worry too much about the fuel trims. Kris is interested in gas mileage so obviously it is a concern for him. From my experience, the only dials you can adjust to change your fuel trims are the base, idle, and mid to a point. You may be able to lean out your low RPM tunes to improve gas mileage as well, if using the RPM dependent tuning.

Tuning for WOT performance should still be based on knock, timing, FI DC, and if you have it a WB 02 sensor comes in very handy. Obviously tuning her on a dyno should yield the best results.

[awd4kicks]

Good info guys Tech threads on DSMCentral...This how it is supposed to be!