96 - 97 3.8ers please help

[greenasgrass]

can you 96-97 guys who have popped out your maf screen please let me(us) know:

1. what positives you have noticed
2. what negatives you have noticed
3. if you plan on leaving it out or keeping it in.

i have searched and read lots of opinions, but hadn't seen alot of actual results. thanks! [img]graemlins/dunce.gif[/img]

[Dojo2000]

Positives are cool swooshing sound, somewhat loopy idle exhaust sound,

Negatives are irregular idle

No SOTP feeling but you can tell its not in there. These are just the obvious observations.

I put mine back in (actually bought a new one) because I was afraid the irregular idle might have some bad long-term effects.

[Sean37]

Positives are the car feels a bit quicker and it's free and you can always put it back in.

Negative would be the idle gets kinda weird sometimes.

I plan to leave it out as long as there are no problems.

[Jack]

Took mine out last spring, no irregular idle but did lose a little low end, put it back in in June, reset the PCM and got the low end back. Honestly, some have no problems, some do, it does help the MAF read correctly and for that reason and no other I'll leave mine in. Also, I lost a few mpg with it out, once back in got my normal 28 to 30 mpg on the highway, 26 to 28 in town.

[AZ3.8Camaro]

Didn't notice a bit of difference. I put it back in to accomodate the nitrous setup, but I don't miss it! ;)

[jonny985]

Took mine out, got a little rougher idle. No difference in performance right away.

Did some autotap readings to check flow, went to the track and did horrible.

Put it back in the next day. Did more autotap readings and flow actually increased.

I have left mine in there now and I'm pretty confident that for MY car removing it hurt it rather than helped.

[Wolfy]

took mine out a while ago, it felt like i had a little better throtle response. i have and cai though. i do have a funny idle, just jumps maybe 50rpm's, not much, nothing at all to worry about. i kinda like the way it idles now. sounds mean. i still have it off.

[Only4U]

95-97 3.8s should leave it in and 98's as well. didn't read any of the thread, just the title. don't take it out, you'll probably lose performance--take my word for it or do a search.

but basically here's the disadvantages (in case you are too lazy to search):

these years (95-98) had a slanted TB and one of the screen's purposes was to straighten out the air going in. on the newer models, the air has a straight shot through the TB and nothing is needed to straighten the air out. so, by taking it off on the 95-98 models, the air is going in at angles, leaving your car running a little rich not because of the lack of air into the engine, but because the air going in get's caught in the weird angled turns it must make; and this richness is why the car shakes at idle. don't do it, it won't give you any gains--you will actually lose performance by doing this mod on the 95-98 fbods.

[ September 06, 2002: Message edited by: Only4U ]</p>

[AZ3.8Camaro]

Unless of course you have some sort of special induction system! [img]graemlins/burnout.gif[/img]