A littel help from my friends - a lot actually

[Darkside]

Brakes, we don't need no stinkin' brakes

Master Chief just throws out the sea anchor

[stsltd]

Will probably post this discussion on a couple of forums I visit just to make sure my gratitude and appreciation makes it to the right guys....also, going to be a little long but I think its worth it...

My son and I just got back from a "weekend" trip down to Florida from our home in Maryland yesterday. Plans were to get there for the Mid-Florida Mustang Show on Saturday and the Horsepower on the Horsefarm meet on Sunday - we did make it there and enjoyed both events throughly - was the second time we made it to both shows and our plans are to make it an annual pilgrimage as long as we can.

A couple of weeks before heading down I was having some trouble with the engine - now running a full Kenne Bell Stage 3 on top = Had the pleasure of working with Jon Lund who was helping me sort things out - well into the evening and early the next morning we were working on options to detail the issues - was amazing....took the opportunity once we had things squared away to meet up with him at Evolution to have the tuned tweaked a little and all was good....

Well, moving forward to the trip, the first day we put about 450 miles on the car and got to Florence, SC as planned pretty much splitting the trip in half and allowing us a pretty easy run down to Orlando the next day - as they say about plans.... not so - went to start the car and once it would start, it would only go to idle and then die...figured it was the throttle body which is what we were playing with the week before and here I was with no tools.. trying to figure out what to do since most shops we would find probably would not know what to do with the car - my son suggests that maybe we should just go buy some tools, I knew exactly what I would need to get the throttle body off - (why didn't I think about that?). So we were able to limp over to a auto part store, got the tools we needed and opened the car up in their lot - figured we were in like flint - nope, wasn't the throttle body

Acted like it was overheating - going into fail safe mode - could not figure how that could happen so quickly but went ahead and pulled the thermostat - refilled the radiator but no dice....after a couple of hours of playing around decided to call for a tow to the nearest Ford dealer, not really sure what we were going to do there but sitting along the side of the road was not cutting it. Well the tow truck arrived very quickly and managed to safely load the car onto the bed of the truck and off we went - once we arrived at the dealer the driver said he would leave the car on the truck until we were sure they would even look at it -=

Well, we were at Hub Ford in Florence - they said they would be happy to look at it but were not sure what they would be able to do with the changes I have made to the car - I asked if we could work on the car together with their tech and that agreed completely - So, after the techs get back from lunch we wheel the car into a bay - I re-flash the car back to stock and they hook the computer up - shows a problem with the mass air meter....well the tech looks and sees the Diablo MAFia and did not know what it was - so we disconnect it - recheck the car and it shows no other problems, car starts on the stock tunes and runs good - put the Kenne Bell tune on without the Diablo - nothings....so now what? Can't drive the car with the stock tune -that would destroy the motor and can't drive it with the KB tune since it won't run

Call Jon Lund, and very lucky that he is not out flying (his "real job") - let him know whats going on and see what he thinks - at first he was not quite sure - looked on line but we could not find any distributors for a new Diablo anywhere near us - decides that he may be able to modify my tune to allow the car to run (with limitations) so I can either get the rest of the way to Florida or home is we choose to call it - so I pull out my laptop - the dealer has a wireless network - within a very short amount of time, Jon forwarded a new tune for the KB without a Diablo installed - I download that to my SCT and re-tune the car - the tech are watching at this point and I am just busy working on the car - get done, car turns over and runs pretty well - throttle limited - little to no boost but thats fine - close things up and off we go....

Meanwhile, during the whole process, I get a email from Van Collier with Revanracing - hears I am having a problem and wants to know how he can help....told him what was going on and he said he would see what he could do - well we decide to go ahead and keep heading down to Florida, car is running OK - Jon said he placed limits on the tune so we could not really hurt anything - get a call from Van - he's found a Diablo 50 miles north of Florence...right off I-95 - told him thanks but we are going the other way - no problem, he will call around and find one for us in Florida. Get a call a few minutes later, Jake Lamotta has one, will bring it to the car show the next day = no problem....

So, we get down to Orlando around 9:30 PM instead of the early afternoon we had planned - realize that while breaking down sucked big time, we ended up pretty lucky overall - the next day, I found Jake, he indeed had the Diablo - would not take any money since he had it sitting around the shop after taking it off someones car some time ago... we went over to our car even though it was in the middle of the show, put the Diablo on, re-tuned the car to the KB tuned and it started right up....

Ended up being a great trip - pretty short but we knew that going in. But what's most important, was the help we received and I can't thank them enough -Hub Ford, Jon Lund, Van Collier, Jake Lamotta, and the waitress at the hotel that made us the great burgers and brought the cold beers, even after the kitchen was supposed to be closed Friday night....

Dave

[VaporDude]

Great story, I'm glad to see that when you make friends in the aftermarket business and here in the family, you can always depend on them when you really need their help.

[gr8snkbite]

great story Dave. Glad all went well. Angels were on your side...commonly known as Van, Jon and Jake. They are a great bunch of guys. Though, would be interested in knowing why the Diablo failed, if thats even possible.

[stsltd]

Originally Posted by gr8snkbite

great story Dave. Glad all went well. Angels were on your side...commonly known as Van, Jon and Jake. They are a great bunch of guys. Though, would be interested in knowing why the Diablo failed, if thats even possible.

A diablo failing is not a common occurence but also not unheard of either -Jon said he has seen 3 in the last three years - considering there are thousands out there, thats very good, as long as its not yours. The trick is that the only real way to find out about it is attached to be data logging or have the car on a diagnosis machine as the SCT was not picking up any codes at all

[gr8snkbite]

Originally Posted by stsltd

A diablo failing is not a common occurence but also not unheard of either -Jon said he has seen 3 in the last three years - considering there are thousands out there, thats very good, as long as its not yours. The trick is that the only real way to find out about it is attached to be data logging or have the car on a diagnosis machine as the SCT was not picking up any codes at all

good percentages...still..since i'm going that route..knowing why those three failed is good info. (i.e. what was contributing factor that caused immenent failure). I'll have to research that one.

[Birdman]

I'm glad you had all the help , that part of your trip is a great story. Relying on an add on part to extend the range of your Mass air meter is a recipe for trouble . There are better ways to a cope with this problem now available. I would urge you to consider them so this won't happen again.

[Birdman]

Originally Posted by gr8snkbite

Dave made a new post about it here alittle while ago..same writeup.

MAFia and BAP shortly coming....

Don't tell me you are going that route also....

[gr8snkbite]

Originally Posted by Birdman

I'm glad you had all the help , that part of your trip is a great story. Relying on an add on part to extend the range of your Mass air meter is a recipe for trouble . There are better ways to a cope with this problem now available. I would urge you to consider them so this won't happen again.

i see you found the posts....

do tell...

[gr8snkbite]

Originally Posted by Birdman

Don't tell me you are going that route also....

i replied in Dave's post, but what other alternative...

[stsltd]

Originally Posted by Birdman

I'm glad you had all the help , that part of your trip is a great story. Relying on an add on part to extend the range of your Mass air meter is a recipe for trouble . There are better ways to a cope with this problem now available. I would urge you to consider them so this won't happen again.

I have started looking at options to a Diablo and would certainly be interested in what you have already found out...I have seen a number of new Mass Air Meters (PMAS for example) but they still cap out in the low 600 hp range depending on tube sizes -

[gr8snkbite]

Originally Posted by Birdman

Don't tell me you are going that route also....

an alternative

VMP Tuning - Buy Ford SCT & GM Custom Handheld Flash Tuners Performance Economy Towing: PMAS HPX 05+ Slot Style MAF Sensor

[gr8snkbite]

Originally Posted by stsltd

I have started looking at options to a Diablo and would certainly be interested in what you have already found out...I have seen a number of new Mass Air Meters (PMAS for example) but they still cap out in the low 600 hp range depending on tube sizes -

yea, i saw that one two over in VMP's site. I think another is the CJ setup that BlackShelby is working on. Still waiting to hear more about it. I dont know of other avenues.

[Orf]

A reliable source put me on to a good replacement for the MAFia...

[Birdman]

Originally Posted by gr8snkbite

an alternative

VMP Tuning - Buy Ford SCT & GM Custom Handheld Flash Tuners Performance Economy Towing: PMAS HPX 05+ Slot Style MAF Sensor

Yes that's it ,it's way better than the Mafia. There will be another option coming soon also from FRPP. The same mass air used on the FR500CJ.

[gr8snkbite]

Originally Posted by Birdman

Yes that's it ,it's way better than the Mafia. There will be another option coming soon also from FRPP. The same mass air used on the FR500CJ.

yea, thats what BS is working on. So VMP's version, along with my soon to arrive item this week, and bap will net what i want. I wonder if Jon has ever tuned this one???

[Birdman]

Originally Posted by stsltd

I have started looking at options to a Diablo and would certainly be interested in what you have already found out...I have seen a number of new Mass Air Meters (PMAS for example) but they still cap out in the low 600 hp range depending on tube sizes -

A simple fix would be to go with the new HPX sensor by Professional Mass air


It would have to be calibrated for your meter , whichever one that may be.

They currently have one that is calibrated for the FRPP CAI and the stock meter also. Not sure about the KB set up or the whipple but they could calibrate one if they haven't already .All they would need is that meter so they could plot it's air flow for the sensor.

When used in the FRPP CAI it will support 1400 HP. All that is needed is to have your tuner install the new MAF table that will come with the sensor to replace your stock one. This way your mass air meter will work like a stock one does and will be able to meter much more air at full resolution unlike the mafia .
NEW MAF sensor test

Another option would be to consider changing to the FR500CJ mass air meter which support 1000 hp using the stock sensor.

[stsltd]

talked (emailed) with Jon this evening - he is in the process of testing /using the HPX sensor with his KB equipped GT500 now pushing alot more HP than I am - will follow up on where we end up with this set up

[68fastback]

Originally Posted by Birdman

Yes that's it ,it's way better than the Mafia. There will be another option coming soon also from FRPP. The same mass air used on the FR500CJ.

Wouldn't the CJ mass air be a better approach than a new sensor because the larger CJ tube would further reduce S/C inlet vacuum and raise overall S/C efficiency slightly, though either approach is better than the MAFia.

This has got to be the 4th or 5th MAFia I've heard of now that has failed early-on ...seems like they have a quality problem. It just adds another potential point of failure that seems unnecessary ...vs a bigger MAF tube that can't fail.

---

Btw, thanks for catching my duplicate thread on this... my bad ;-)

[Birdman]

Originally Posted by stsltd

A diablo failing is not a common occurence but also not unheard of either -Jon said he has seen 3 in the last three years - considering there are thousands out there, thats very good, as long as its not yours. The trick is that the only real way to find out about it is attached to be data logging or have the car on a diagnosis machine as the SCT was not picking up any codes at all

I know of another MAFIA that failed while the car was on a long trip. It happened to Lee Markum's supersnake on his way to Dearborn right after he picked it up from TASCA in RI.