Measurement of airflow

[Bill Roberts]

Hey everybody!

I know their are some cheesy air flow meters out there but I am looking for one that I can actually measure my airflow amount from either the ECU or from the MAFS.

What is the consensus of the best device?

I am modding some of the piping that goes to the bottom lip and I have a vorticie action happening on the left side, but not on the right side and I want to try to balance the left and right intake pipes with the one behind the headlight. So far, I feel I am getting more cold air from this 3 stage intake (I was able to measure the intake air difference at the mafs at 16 degrees colder than under the hood cone) than doing a cold air intake. I am looking to actually measure some air flow phase shifts within the piping as well. I got a computer modeling program but it is 2 dimentional...I need all 5 varibles for it to work right actually...which are.

RPM VS CFM
Velocity of incoming air.
Temperature of incoming air at 3 points.
Vortex phase shift ant the elbows.
Phase cancelation at the mafs.

No one makes this unless I can consult some Indy pros at this point.

I just want to insert a device to see where the pressure modes are so I can change some shapes...based on airflow, temp, and pressure.



Bear with me, PART II

Why the hell is the MAFS so damned hot? It is hotter than the head cover and kinda as hot as touching the side of the block.

???????

I am consider ing putting a drain and a baggie of ICE in the bottom of the box to help the situation for dyno trials. IOt makes a hell of a lont more sense actually than some of the crap I have seen. A Japanese dude said he takes a small container of ICE CUBES and puts it in there and feels it actually...last 15 mins, and the drain is a shop vac LOL!

Is their a heating element in there that is stuck "on" or something? It will burn you to touch the casing..and this is not good. Short of building a compressed vortec tube to blast cold (ice cold air) at it to keep it cool, I have no idea whay it is that hot. I got a photospectrometer I can shoot with and get a reading. I bet it is around 275F..


So , Help me with your vibes on the measurement device and the reason the MAFS is so damned hot please.

I can hear some folks now "what the hell planet do you come from and what are you talking about?"

It has to exsist.

Thanks as always...Bill

(BTW, Birthday is going sweet for a 44 year old)

[DuffMan]

I dont know of any device that can accomplish all that by itself. A more practical approach might be to log that data with seperate devices and merge the data.

For the MAFS measurement I would look at just using a good voltmeter with an RS232 or similar type of interface for logging the data on a laptop. I have one by Fluke but it probably doesnt have the kind of sampling rate you would need.

Of course this is going to give you voltage which is not directly proportional to airflow but if you're just comparing it might help you. Or you could look into computing the airflow from the voltage, not sure if that info is easily available or not. Engine management manufacturers must get that info somehow, maybe they bench test the mafs at different flows and record the voltage.

Anyway, this sounds like a complicated undertaking but very interesting, so I wish you luck.

EDIT: I think MAFS heating element IS always on, and thats why its so hot.

[FoCaL]

I dont want people to get this missunderstood. There is no heating element in a MAS. Its hot because of a wire getting hot (I know that a heating elemnt), but I would not call it a heating element because its prupose is not to heat anything. The heat is just a byproduct of what really going on in the MAS.

For those who done know electricity is sent arcoss a small thin wire, 5 volts to be exact. It heats the wire and this creates resistance which only allows so much electricity to flow across. As air enters the intake and passes through the MAS this cools the wire, making it less resistant allowing more electicity to flow across the wire. The more voltage the ECU sees, the more air it knows has entered the intake system. It then can figure how much fuel to put into the cylinder based on the amount of air that has entering the system.

The MAS is sending electricty across the wire whenever the car is on, it has no know how much air is entereing the system at all times, even idle. AS for why your MAS is so hot, I have no idea. When engein you have? What MAS? Also your pst is confusing me a bit, do you have pics of all this or any better desciprtion. I guess Im more a visuale person, I can picture exactly what you hvae going on so its hard for me to try and help.