Post deleted by 'LiL Reatta. "Because it turned into a Circus".

I believe you have a 330 Ohms resistor with + or - 5% accuracy.

It should simply "advise" the ECM to provide maximum spark advance (1 to 2 degree extra) yet still retain proper knock sensor and all other engine function.

The increased idle is confusing.

What pins do you have it installed on?

calculator

This resistor is installed in the MAF? Can you tell what the diagnostics shows after the install? I understood this went in the MAT sensor but maybe misunderstood or incorrect recollection? The MAF signal is frequency based, not a strictly voltage driven signal, so I am unsure what a resistor across the power feed and signal wire would do? Maybe Padgett has some insight. Very peculiar that a simple $0.10 part could be installed and the GM never thought of it.

Hmmm, if the spark advance is increased, it will increase the engine speed, especially if the IAC cannot go closed far enough to reduce the speed to the programmed value. If you have ever watched what happens to the spark advance when you go from park/neutral to any gear, the advance jumps 4-6 degrees to help pick up the additional load. If this is indeed the case, and the IAC simply is unable to compensate, the base idle setting on the throttle blade can be reduced to increase the control range for the IAC. Interesting phenomenon.

Well the frequency of a resonant circuit is an RC (we'll skip L) function so putting a resistor in parallel should lower the frequency and probably show up as a lower gm/sec value. ED21 is the sensor value that would change and I would be interested in just what the effect was.

Airflow vs rpm is a factor for developing the spark advance table (lower airflow for a given rpm-> lower manifold air pressure->more vaccuum = more advance providing you do not run into knock which would negate everything (do they advise you to run premium fuel ?)

The part I am thinking of is for the air temperature (spoof) fools the ECM into thinking it is cooler so more advance is provided.

What do you have??? Does it connect at the air box???

is this it?

MAT sensor only has two contacts. A-C on the MAF would tie the hot lead to the output (A-B would just get hot) so makes sense.

Bingo!

[tiresome rant] It will never cease to amaze me that people will put bilge pumps in their intakes, resistors across their MAF's, swirly things in their airboxes, a few ounces of whatever in their oil/gas/transmission fluid, etc, etc, and expect to see performance increases. If it was that easy the smart, well educated, highly paid factory engineers would have thought of it. [/tiresome rant]

Reality check...A 20HP increase on a 165HP engine would be immediately apparant as soon as you tipped into the gas. The sentence "Cant really tell any increase in HP as of yet but, will give it some time and update this Post soon." would never have been written. It would have been "Holy sh!t, what a difference!!!" No difference was discernable because there was no difference.

Sorry, I'm just in one of those moods today.

Mike

I have got a finished my cone filter with a CAI and there is a very disenable improvement. Still working on a ram air will report then.

Post deleted by 'LiL Reatta

Post deleted by 'LiL Reatta

I would imagine that it would be a good idea to reset the computer after this installation, yes? If you can, would you provide a picture of your installation?

Also, please report any further observations that you have with this modification. I'm a skeptic when it comes to cheap and seemingly insignificant performance upgrades, but if this resistor does what you say it does, I'll run down to radioshack TODAY!!!

Here's a handy resistor identifier, by the way.

<img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />


<img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

on the motorcycle side of things...suzuki makes a model
that is there performance item (gsx-r).
it was learned by owners that suzuki had "instructed" the
computer on these bikes to "retard" the timming in the
first 3 gears, for what reason, no one knows..but most problible reason was emissions..anyway some one figured a way to "fool" the computer into
thinking it was in fourth gear when in fact it was in first..result
was more power in the 1-3 gears...
this little resistor cost me $13, and was ready to install..price is now up to $30, and even more on e-bay..
it worked on my bike...and on every bike it has been installed in(according to the gsx-r web site...).
theres a post there that will give you instructions for the doit your selfers. for $.15

another interactive calculator

im a little amatuer at all this but im curious to try this on my reatta because im not to happy with its performance, im assuming that the (MAF is the mass air flow sensor) but im not sure what the MAT is. just trying to get an idea of what you guys are talking about lol.

thanks,
amatuer reatta owner

P.S. if anyone can get some detailed pictures would defiently help out <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Perhaps my comment was poorly phrased. The proverbial ten cent part apparently does what they claim, however it probably compromises some aspect of the designed operation. I am certainly not against that, if it does what I want, and I for one, do appreciate the feedback. Essentially, we can all save money and improve performance, due to your "test". As for max. performance from the factory, they could have made it a premium fuel engine from the start, or other things as you mentioned, so they apparently made a decision not to do so. It will be interesting to see how it works out long term. Some sensor readings of the "new" MAF signal would be helpful. <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I wonder if this is like the theory of carburation: "If some is good, more is better, and too much is just right"? The point being, how far can this be taken?

MAT is manifold air temperature. The sensor is in the air-box the other end connects to the MAF.


Not completely certain but sounds like a 330 ohm resistor is placed between pins "A" and "C" on the MAF. Something I think that I will try too.

My small 3 litre 1989 Yamaha SHO engine cooked out 220HP stock out of the box. If GM wanted to do the same for the Reatta they could have after all Ford did it.

I would give my eye teeth to have this in my Reatta.

Okay so lemme get this straight. I take off the connecter of the MAT to the MAF, stick this resistor on the A and C, fold the resister OUTSIDE? of the plug and then reconnect? Reset the comp and go? Hrmm, someone make sure I am doing this right before I go to radio shack tommorow.

You will be resetting the computer when you disconnect the battery before starting the procedure.

The other side of this equation is the "Block Learn" that's going on as a consequence of this alteration. The high idle could be a result that will be learned away and over several days the response should get smoother as the ECM rebalances it'self.
Good Stuff.

Post deleted by 'LiL Reatta

Went and looked at the car's engine, and just wanna triple check Im doing this right. Its the plug that goes into the black box thing on the MAF that says A B C on it right?

essentially this is what you have done without the fancy packaging and connectors

Okay, put it on where I think its goes. Readings in diagnostics

Spark Advancec: 21 @ idle in park
Air Flow: 7.9 gm/sex @ idle in park

I put it in the 3 slot black box ontop of the MAF. If this is wrong please let me know. Also, lemme know how close to stock those diags are. This was just 2 seconds ago.

Might also record the injector pulse width and the coolant temp.

Wow, its running like crap. I dont know if I did something wrong.

Padgett, heres the rest of the stuff you wanted:

Injector Pulse: 4.3
Coolant Temp: 98

I also got a code: E034

Whats the code, and any clue whats causing the sluggish performance? It seems like its not going into overdrive and its slugging along bad.

could you take a picture how you did it. am old man and it takes to long to figure it out. thanks larry

Got mine installed and not certain that it has made a lot of differance?

ED23 which I expected to be influencing reads normally? It is a couple degrees over ambient temperature.

Summary of this year's data...

MPH 36.2 average
MPG average 18.1
164 hours 25 minutes

Post deleted by 'LiL Reatta

Is it two orange, brown gold, or gold brown two orange? Because thats a huge difference...

Gold can not be the first band. See calculator here.

Okay, well whats my E034 code mean?

could be you toasted the MAF or just have a poor connection.

Any symptoms?

Back in the '50s, we used to call things like this "Wishful Thinking in a Bottle/Can/Box." Plates that went under the carburetor, thingamajigs that attached to the distributor cap, three-pronged spark plugs, gold ignition wires, crap you poured into your gas tank/crankcase/carb, ad nauseum. Barnum was right.

-- ALF

But our Strombergs on Edelbrock manifolds with Iskenderian cams and Offenhauser finned aluminum heads sure worked well on our 59AB flatheads back then, didn't they?! And they didn't come from the Ford store that way.

I'm skeptical, too, but if I knew for sure that something wouldn't turn cherry red and fall out the bottom onto the asphalt, I'd try it. 'Smatter of fact, I picked up a couple of the resistors and am waiting for a longer term result before I stick 'em in....but I'm chicken. I just replaced a MAF sensor on my pickemup truck - $70.

The car was running like crap. Took twice as long to run up through first gear. I mean like I was towing another reatta behind me! It was horrid. It did it randomly. More so when the car was at operating temp. The Car would bog down, seemed to struggle in higher RPMs and just plain didnt do what it was supposed to. I pulled the resister and bingo. No light, all power back to normal. Im going to try it again, reset the comp, hook it up and see what happens, but if anything like that happens again, Im forgeting it. And I dont think I fried the MAF, its only 6 months old. And for those who are worried, I will just warn you of this, it cost a lot more for a MAF than for a pickup.

Brother Terry, don't get me obsessing on the days of Stromberg 97 carbs, 8CM Merc engine swaps, itty-bitty head gaskets to increase the compression ration to 8.5-1, Appleton spots, Merry Widows with 108 snaps up the back. Gad, those were the days....

-- ALF

Okay, I couldn't resist. Had to try it. Plugged it in, drove it about 5 miles, stopped, went, accelerated, etc. Subjectively, I seemed to feel - maybe - a vague improvement, until I removed it; and then really could tell no difference. Wishful thinking? At least nothing blew up. Yet.

Under WOT with the resistor in, it cut out at high rpm. Twice. 'Course it may do that all the time since I never tromp it to wide open. I no longer "Drive it like I stole it", but more "Drive it like I paid cash with no warranty". Age, maybe?

By the way, Alf, I tried the itty-bitty head gaskets once, '52 flathead Ford, and it was a total disaster. Coolant leaked from every port.

Final report: My daughter got as far as the end of the alley this morning, and the car was hesitating so badly that she came back to have me fix it. I yanked the resistor out, dropped it in the trash, and all is back to normal. Oh, well, it was interesting. <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />