E30 Zone

can any of you guys tell me if there's much to doing a MAF conversion, i've 1990 325i sport and would there be any gains as i've got a zone wild chip, am getting a btb an an itg induction kit. also what kind of costs involved and is it a diy jobby.

Main problem is that the E30 ecu won't read the signals from a MAF so you have to buy a piggy back chip something like a Unichip or Datek and then get that to talk to your ecu. The mechanics are quite straight forward and you'll some extra Sparco tubing to get your ITG near to cold air input. This then has to be re-mapped which will wipe out your zone chip (I think I'm correct in that). My experience is that the MAF itself does not add much if anything to maximum bhp but you get vastly improved throttle response and more useable bhp at lower revs. Would have preferred to have gone the stand alone management system like MBA which is superior and not that much more expensive if you were buying the MAF unit new. They are from the E36 so could be got from a breaker.

The chip inside your ECU is no longer used.
The Unichip does all of the signal converting from the MAF unit.

In terms of top end power you will gain something as the MAF is totally non restrictive as its a hollow tube.

The torque gains and bhp through out the rev range however can be quite big.

Bexley Motorworks tested a bog standard 325i with a MAF conversion a few years back and got something like 14 bhp gain and 18 lb.ft.

Thats alot!

Standalone managment will give you n extra power whatsoever, just better throttle response.....infact, much better throttle response!

Bexley Motor works are the only people that do MAF conversion but its not cheap at Ԛ£750-Ԛ£1000.

Eh? No extra power for standalone management?

If you get 14bhp from a MAF (which isn't a completely hollow tube) and remap, then having absolutely nothing restricting the air and mapping the engine again will surely give you some power?

thanks for the info lads, but i think i'll be putting that one on the back burner for a while, more things i can do with Ԛ£1000 at the moment.

Dude you can standalone for under Ԛ£500 easy with MsnS-E , I can supply it mapped too

More food for thought perhaps, certainly slightly less of a bitter pill to swallow M8 ?

As for no power gain on standalone....... I dont think so

Can Emerald management do the signal conversion ??????

You don't use a MAF with the stand alone ECUs only the piggy back type ECUs.

If you look in my sig pick you won't see an AFM or MAF as i have an Emerald ECU.

Sal ment no more power gains over MAF!

Andrew

Aah fair enough, makes more sense

Thanks for putting that straight andrew.

NO, no power gains over MAF, a small hot wire is not going to cause any type of restriction.

The engine can only suck a certain amount of air, no standalone ECU can make it suck anymore. Therefore you can only adjust fuelling and timing to get max power.

However stand alone is more versatile and the throttle response is just amazing......telepathic even!