A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Dyno
While holding down the MM&FF South office in Tampa, Florida, I often find myself traversing the Sunshine State in search of tech and feature articles. On my way to the dyno session, the little juiced coupe decided to have a blowout. Not normally a big deal, but here's the situation. The spare tire was flat, the tire iron didn't fit the lugs for the brand-new wheels, I had to turn in the tech story the following day, and I still had 2-1/2 more hours to drive to HP Performance.
Even if I had AAA, it probably wouldn't have gotten the coupe up and running and to my destination, so I had to turn to family and friends for help. As editors, we do much of our installs during the normal workweek, when everyone else is at work as well. Luckily for us, frequent MM&FF installer George Xenos and his nephew Mark Watson were available. They picked up a spare set of wheels, a jack and tools, and came to the rescue.
I would just like to say thanks to them, and ask all of you to think about your friends and family who bail you out of jams. They're an invaluable part of the hobby, and life in general.
At the C&L flow bench, the entire induction system ahead of the intake manifold was flow-tested in various stages and combinations, starting with the stock intake box, silencer, meter, and a paper filter. | 
According to C&L's flow-bench data, the stock airbox assembly with silencer, paper filter, and stock 55mm MAF flowed 457.9 cfm, and removing the silencer increased cfm to 551.3. The K&N panel filter upped the ante to 560.2 cfm, while taking out the stock MAF's screen increased airflow by 28 cfm for a total of 588.7. Airflow made a big jump with the addition of the C&L 76mm meter, going from 580 to 812.2 cfm. | 
Installing the C&L setup is rather simple. Pull out a flat-head screwdriver and remove the stock rubber elbow. |
Unbolt the stock meter's bracket at the shock tower, as you won't need this to install the C&L piece. | 
We had to transfer our Nitrous Express Shark nozzle over to the C&L tube, which has a boss cast in, just for this purpose. You only need to drill it out and tap some threads in it; then use some liquid or paste thread locker and reinstall the nozzle. | 
C&L includes the tamperproof Torx bit to remove the mass air sensor. Be sure to use the O-ring before you install the sensor. |
The C&L meter is 21 mm larger than the stock piece. In addition to being "enough" for the stock 302, the factory meter's relatively small size also cuts down on engine noise, which helps the OEM's pass various drive-by noise requirements in addition to providing a quieter ride. | 
If you're using a stock throttle body, you'll need to use the included small coupling to reduce the size of the C&L tube to fit over the throttle body. C&L also mentioned that a lot of enthusiasts install high-flow air filters at the same time, and that some people notice an off-idle stumble. According to C&L, this is usually a matter of oil from the filter getting on the sensor element. If you encounter this, simply remove the meter and spray the element with some nonchlorinated brake cleaner or sensor cleaner. You may also need to blot the filter with a paper towel to remove some of the excess oil to solve the problem. | 
With a baseline of 228 hp and 276 lb-ft of torque, our AOD-equipped coupe was making decent power. While peak power and torque improved by an average of only 5 hp and 2 lb-ft of torque with the mass air system, it's more important to look at the graph and see how the meter has improved power across the rpm range. The gain in torque from 2,100 rpm to 3,000 rpm is right where most engines spend much of their time in a street capacity. |