For those of you that were interested in the results of the "waffle" test with K24/18G turbos....it was a flop. Following is the history of my experience with the V-Flow:

I installed one of the first V-Flows sold with the oiled filter and ran it for over two years and 30,000 miles with no MAF failure using hybrid K16/24 turbos with the OEM MAF. I liked the product a lot, as it sharpened the throttle response and the turbos semed to hit harder when boost came on. I never tried the dry filter with sock and had no reason to.

fast forward...I was told not to run the V-Flow with my larger K24/18G turbo, 700 level package by two different tuners, as I would blow the OEM MAF. After a few months with the stock airbox and no MAF problems, I had to see for myself, so I tried the V-Flow last week and sure enough, I blew an MAF on the third WOT pull. I was then told to try the "waffle", as it would probably cure the problem. I installed the waffle and fired up the car. I blipped it once upon startup and the MAF blew in the garage :-)

Needless to say, I am done with the V-Flow and any further V-Flow experiments. I sold it last night and it shipped out today to a new home.

There seems to be a point where the amount of air being drawn through the V-Flow overwhelms the MAF. Based on my experience, I would say it is somewhere between the amount of air the K16/24's draw vs. the K24/18G's.

 

I believe I've read the stock MAF can NOT read greater than 480 HP. The AFRs are then adjusted, on a much lower resolution level, via feedback from the O2 sensors. Not sure what the OEM MAF breaking point is. Sounds greater than your old K16/24 setup.

 

Thanks for the info John. Sorry to hear you lost another MAF. That is really bizarre though since you were not flowing a large volume of air past the MAF sitting in the garage. There must be some oscillation that occurs with change of flow that causes the MAF to pop. V-Flow related but not with all cars. Weird.

 

Did you use the other MAF with this set up?

 

These recent attempts were all with the OEM Bosch MAF. I previously ran the V-flow with a Proto (Ford) MAF and had no problems with blown MAF's, I just didn't care for the way the car ran with the Ford MAF, so I went back to Bosch programming to restore the smoother running factory characteristics.

 

John, If your going to keep the stock MAF, you might consider an OEM style air box with the additional are intake - like the Gemballa unit. You're going to have troubles with the VFlow / bigger power and the OEM MAF. I have a large collection of popped MAF's myself. Perhaps you might also consider a Hitachi MAF along with a tune from the Proto-Meister. Don't think anyone has been down that path. The Hitachi MAF runs very factory like - except it doesn't need replacing every time you punch it. What, more specifically, don't you like about the Ford MAF?

Mike

 

"v-flow mafs popping are just a coincidence." what happened to the self proclaimed doctor anyways?

(I was wondering when your luck was going to run out.)

 

John,

Sorry to hear of your problem. I thought for sure the waffle would fix your maf issues, but I guess I was wrong. I may be one of the lucky ones, because I've never had a problem with the V-flow and my k24/18g's (knock on wood!!).

 

Yea, it ran out with the higher flowing K24/18's...Now Dans new box is looking good... :-)

I think the V-Flow has a limit and I must have been under it with the 16/24's.

Adam, No big deal, It's all fun learning...I'm curious though, does your car have the fuel system with injectors? What about 75mm throttle body?

I think I will go to a Sportec style air box.

 

purely coincidence...but buy a case of them anyway

 

Zippy,

I'm very happy with how the car runs with the Bosch MAF and the stock air box. I just wanted to try the V-Flow with these turbos and the OEM MAF to see how it would be, as I liked the V-Flow previously when going from a stock box. But it looks as though at this power level (I was warned) it fries the MAF quite easily.

IMO, the Ford MAF was rough. My idle would hunt at stops most of the time and throttle transition was very abrupt. Unlike the smooth feathering of throttle that can be achieved with the OEM programming. It is very responsive and when the car is driven hard, it's fine - you don't really notice it, but if you get in traffic, parking lots and many every day situations the car has trouble edging gently around. It's more of an on-off response. I didn't care for that, but it was the uneven idle that bothered me most. We tried a lot of dataloging and tweaking, but just could not get it right, so I decided to try something else and it worked. It was just what I was looking for - we actually made more power with the stock air box and Bosch MAF and retained stock-like manners. And the MAF's don't blow with the stock box.

 

Bummer John... i thought the waffle thing would fix it... i have the 20gs coming in next week ill let you know how i fare... i have been good with the 18gs and the v-flow/stock maf... i know buddyg was running high hp with the v-flow.... i would also like to know if there is anyone running the 3076's with the stock maf/v-flow

 

I am running a stock MAF and air box on a 2005 Turbo S with 600 crank HP and no problems. 95% of the time my car is WOT. ZI change my air filter every 6 months or 1000 miles.

 

Do you have the extra fuel pump and injectors? What about 75mm throttle body?

 

John,
I blew three MAF with my new set up. On EVO stage IV before, I only blew it once without waffle. I have to agree with you totally. I went back to OEM box and no problems yet. Nice to hear you fixed the problem.