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LS-1 MAF translator vs ARC-2/ VPC

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ttawd3s

20+ Year Contributor
136
1
Dec 20, 2002
Lakeland_Flordia
New LS-1 MAF that is avalible though www.ramchargers.com ( later this week ) is going to be that mack !! Ramchargers isn't going to say it, but I am ( I'm sure about 100 guys that spent $800ish ( or $1300 for the arc-2 ) are going to chime in and say its not better, but the truth is... It has more features and keeps the MAF ( making drivablity MUCH BETTER ). I realize that the VPC elimanates the MAF, but at what cost ? If you wanna run 10's I'd say get a stand alone, but as far as piggybacks goes, I think this one is the best for the money...

A 1g sensor from a Talon when the flow bench is adjusted to 28"water will move about 392 CFM air, the 2 g Sensor (like the 3S) moves just under 500 at the same pressure drop. When putting on the 2G meter at the same bench settngas the 1G the water colume drops to about 22" showing that is less restrictive but the 3.5" GM sensor drops to 6" at the same bench setting. And moves a little over 1000CFM Hope that makes sense.

NUFF said... Little over $300 for the sensor and translator from ramchargers. The sensor can be bought at www.gmpartsdirect.com for $105 and the translator is supposed to be $200...

AND the winner is LS-1 Translator !!! Both my 3/S and DSM will have one soon..
 
I was the "test car" for this product.

I could go on for an hour about how cool it is, but let me give you the rundown:

1. takes literally 10 minutes to completely install, plug in the convertor box to the stock mas plug, plug in the GM mas, and tap one of the CAS wires, DONE!

2. ZERO drivability issues, like stalling, or "fan wash" (ever had the car start running crappy when your rad fans go on, with a hacked mas?), or lift-throttle bucking (also a hacked mas issue)

3. almost NO restriction in the intake, as a by-product, the spoolup/turbo and BOV sounds are 1000% louder (for the riceboy in us all ;) )

4. tuning abililty similar to a VPC, idle/mid/WOT tuning knobs, with a master "gain" knob as well. (You don't NEED an AFC with this!!!)

5. no funkiness like the AFCmasc had with cold days/cold startup, or having to "rotate" the mas to work correctly, we tested it Sunday morning, in Detroit, Michigan when it was what, like 30 degrees out?

Bottom line, this is going to be the end-all-be-all of plug n' play airmeters. I expect that a LARGE chunk of the DSM community will be running one of these. This is a proven product, and in the LS1/GN market they've already sold over 5000 of these convertors, so the electronics in the unit have been tested in the wild. :D
 
I got hammered a little on the 3/S forum the first time I got this idea ( I was unaware that Bob was building one for the DSM at the time and a friend with a GN was telling me about it ). I knew my friend was going to be making over 650Whp in his GN with this MAF, so I was like, 'why can't it work in a Stealth?". I emailed Bob and he said he was already making one for the DSM and it would likely work on my stealth... Then the 3/S guys ( like I said," guys that spent $1300 on the ARC-2" ) started wanting flow numbers and proof, and all this other stuff !! I told them I guess I'd have a one of a kind Stealth... But they came around, the DSM guys embrassed it a lot more.. ( You'd think that car with no aftermarket support would be foaming at the mouth for a new product).

Glad to hear it from the horses mouth !! I was wondering if the test car was a member... What's done to your car ( mods wise ? ). My dsm wouldn't ever see anything other than a ported 14B and bolt-ons ( b/c its FWD ).. May an AWD 2G will come and see me next year..

My Stealth is going to love this thing !!
 
The test car was my daily beater, mods are:

big16g, 2g manifold/o2 housing.
2.5" turbo back
Fidanza/2600/TRE trans

Other that that it's pretty stock, but spoolup and hp/torque "under the curve" were GREATLY improved. Where once I had to give say 30% throttle to get 5psi, I only had to use say 15%. Lots of restriction removed. Night and Day, honestly.

My new car has a VPC, so eventually we'll do a back to back to back between stock 1gmaf, VPC, and the maf translator. Should be interesting.
 
ooohhh, don't tease me with track proof that translator is better !! I plan on using two 14bs on my stealth so spool-up is going to be a big deal on it ( thats why I'm spending hours porting my stock manifolds that suck ass )..
 
It sounds very interesting but with no in car control you have to log a run,pop the hood change the settings, make another run,pop the hood, change the settings...you get the picture. Unless I'm missing something.
 
This is the same arguement as with a MBC... $15 or $500, but they both do the same things, $15 you gotta get out of the car( which when tuning I can't do back to back runs anyway, its a factory clutch thing, you wouldn't understand ) or $500 and you stay in the car. Its just on a different scale.. $305 or $800ish ( or $1300 in my case ). I have a Apexi unit too, so either way I'm fine, but I may sell it if the translator tunes it just as good..

Do you have an VPC ?? hehe.. ( no I just looked )

So you are trying to pull how many cfm though your 500cfm MAF ? I want it b/c the MAF upgrade the AFC is just a bonus, but either way, its a great deal...

L2RTSiAWD: what times are you running ? I love 95's !! ZZZ..zzz...ZZZ.
 
It's a basic setup, but for $200 + a $40 junkyard MAF, you can't beat it. I mean $250, and you've got a setup that's as-good or better than a VPC, flows a LOT more than either a 1g or 2g maf, and has no drivability issues?

Not to mention that you add $300 for an AFC (which is NOT required) down the road, and you can have in-car tunability. You have to slow down/stop if you want to adjust your settings anyways (unless you want to do it while driving) but that's a *small* price to pay for a device this powerful/cheap.

Cheap/Quality/super-convenient-to-use, pick 2.

Remember, the AFCmasc was $400+, and had NO tuning ability, and an inferior setup, not to mention a smaller MAS.
 
So if I already have an AFC, I can tune this setup in car.?
 
Then do I need a new filter and Intake pipe?
 
I know the 3/S doesn't require one so you prob. don't need one, but I read somewhere that Mike talked to Dejon tools about making a custom intake pipe for it, but if prob. isn't manditory on a 2G ( like I said the stealth does't need a new pipe(s), so I don't think the 2G will ). I don't know about the 1G... But I doubt it b/c DSMtraver said it installs in 10 minutes...
 
Yes, the AFC will tune this, just like normal, you'll then have the baseline adjustments in the MAF translator box, and the SAFC adjustments. I'd tune the baseline stuff with the translator box, then fine tune with the AFC. The MAS signal is converted into normal Karman hz frequency like the 1g and 2g airmeters output. The SAFC and the ECU won't know the difference, no wiring changes besides tapping the CAS wire, will be necessary. ;)

The filter is going to be part of the kit I believe. I don't think they have everything completely set-in-stone with the kits yet, but I *do* know that dejon tool will be making an intake pipe for this application.

I'm pretty sure if you stretched the 2g maf inlet hose over the mas, it might work, or if your coupler was big enough, it would fit. The mas the kit uses has a 3.5" round opening, if that helps. It's a fairly small airmeter, the 3" mas/filter fit in the stock location.

Hang out for a while, tonight I should be posting pictures of the 1g install, and the 3"/3.5" airmeters, to give you an idea of what everything looks like. :thumb:

What's REALLY going to be cool, is when they set up an UIC pipe with a blow-thru mas fitting installed. The airmeter would then be installed in the UIC pipe, moved from in front of the turbo, to this location. This would help throttle response, and when you blow an IC pipe, it wouldn't stall (unless it was the TB connection), not to mention that you could vent the BOV, making intake pipe fabrication that much easier. :)
 
1g's using the 3" mas don't even need an aftermarket intake pipe, the 3" mas just plugged right into the stock pipe.

I would highly recommend an aftermarket inlet pipe when installing this airmeter, since that's going to be the next biggest inlet restriction, that stock pipe is a big POS.
 
Well I already have a 3inch intake pipe now. That's why I was wondering if I would need another one.

Believe me my car is already modified alot. I'm just looking to get the most out of the setup. switching to this bigger MAS does sound like a good idea.
 
I'm sure L2RTSiAWD has an aftermarket intake pipe, but I agree that after upgrading the air filter and MAF the intake pipe is next. I plan on re-doing my duel intake pipes on my stealth ( TWINS ), b/c it has a "T" right after the MAF, and the pipes are small..

Everyone will benifit greatly from this, but highy modded guys like L2RTSiAWD are going to be the people saying, "holy shizzy, the turbo spools a lot faster !!"..
 
So right now the intake pipe is 3inch and the turbo inlet is 2 and 3/4 inches. HOw much bigger is this new MAS.
 
It's 3.5" round. You'll only need a filter and a 3.5" to 3" reducing coupler.
 
Originally posted by DSMraver
It's 3.5" round. You'll only need a filter and a 3.5" to 3" reducing coupler.


That shouldn't be a problem. Now let's the pics.
 
I've got to have my roommate rip them from his Camcorder (sony digital).

I'll see what I can do for tonight to get them up. :thumb:

BTW, can anyone host a small video of a flyby with the new MAS installed?
 
im waiting on pics, and hard evidence of the number between the different mas air's

300 sounds good for this little deal, i just want proof of it working
 
Can anyone explain to me how the blow through ability would work? I understand this replaces the MAS with a larger less restrictive MAS that has tuning ability but how would you go about putting this on the UICP between the BOV and the TB for the better throttle response and ofcourse the ability to vent your BOV to the atmosphere :)
 
Silent: you want hard flow/power capability #'s on the 3.5" maf? Go check an LS1 forum, they've been using these for years. I'll take a look for some later on, but it's a pretty obvioud difference in flow capability between either a 1g or 2g mas, and the Hotwire unit.

Larry: they're working on making a custom UIC pipe to mount the MAS as part of the pipe assembly.
 
Thanks guys!!!! I agree this is a great mod and I think the price is fair. Once a few people get one on a car..... well I will just leave it there. I have been swamped with e-mail the past few days. I am in the process of becoming a site sponsor here too. John, let me say that Bob and I owe you big for helping us out and ttawd3s is our biggest supporter and he has not even seen it yet but he will soon, thank you as well. John, I have something in mind I think might be a very good idea for your new car and I am willing to make it for you if you agree. call me or send me a note.
Mike Licht
[email protected]
888 293 7267
 
Hey this product sounds great! The only thing I was wondering about was how exactly do you tune this? I mean do you tune it like a S-AFC or does this thing kinda tune it self? If you tune it like a S-AFC how exactly is this done? And will this unit beable to tune as well or better than a S-AFC? Thanks
 
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