Ribbed intake pipe w/ GM MAF

[codym]

I recently installed a GM MAF on my setup, from the filter to the MAF I am using a 90 bend that is ribbed at the bend. I've been having a slight "jumpiness" for lack of a better term, at lower engine and vehicle speeds, but smooth as baby's butt during highway cruising or accel.

From the research I have done, the general consensus seems to be you want as straight as pipe as possible up to the MAF, but I was unable to find a unribbed or uncrushed 90 in town, and got quoted 50 bucks from a local exhaust shop for the pipe and to bend it.


Is it safe to use this bend with ribs like this, Or will it be vital to the MAF operation to have straight pipe leading up to the sensor?

I have a smooth 60 bend that I was using previously, but I was having issues with it slipping off the ledge where the current filter is (you can barely make out the coupler at the bottom left) and it would come into contact with the shifter cable, giving me a rather unpleasant shifting experience.

 

[jakeachy]

that will create turbulence and affect harmonic freq readings at the maf. ditch it.

 

[codym]

Correct me if I am wrong, but from my understanding the GM MAF measures the air by the rate at which the air cools down the heating elements inside the sensor, not by the frequency of air that passes the sensor. This is why a translator is needed to translate the "rate at which it cools the wire" to the DSM code of Hz airflow.

I might just be confusing myself here, but I would think that the way the air moves through the tube has little to no effect on the rate at which it cools the wire.

From an understanding of how air flows, At higher RPMs, the air that occupies the free space of the tube is pushing though the air that is moving in and out of the ribbed portion, this would be why I am having no problems at accel or during highway cruising.