Hot Film Kit?

[Por_sha911]

I used to work on my cars 20 years ago (muscle car days). I'm wanting to get back into doing all my own work. (I miss getting in there). I've searched some old threads and found references to a Hot Film Kit but I can't find out what it is. Can someone give me a link? Any opinions on its value would be appreciated. I'm running a 3.2 with B&B system and am about to install a Steve Wong Chip for the B&B using 92+ octane.
Please, no flames, I really did search the old threads.

[Chuck Moreland]

Do you mean a Hot Wire Kit? This a a Mass Airflow Sensor for accurately measuring the intake airstream, and with less restriction than the factory "flapper".

[Por_sha911]

I went back and checked: The posts are all from "Milu" who actually said Hot Film Kit and it was also referring to the Air Flow Meter and big bore throttle body.

[Milu]

Hot film is a later development of the hot wire, as used on 993. Basically MAF.

Don't buy a chip now if you want a MAF kit. The MAF kit includes a chip.

There are a number of suppliers: www.fvd.de www.cargraphic.de www.cartronic-motorsport.de and several american companies.

[RickM]

Steve W will be able to advise you on a MAF system. He may have metioned that he was putting one together for resale...not 100% sure though.

[89911]

"hot wire" seems to be the european name for "maf". I think they are both interchangable. I've run the Huntley-Racing one for the past 3 years. Hopefully Steve W's will be around to give them some competition. The Authothority's MAF is detuned too much to give that much of an advantage over a fully adjustable one such as HR's. The danger with these is you can run your car too lean and cause resulting engine problems. In the right hands, the MAF can add some power, just have to be careful.

[Steve W]

Here is some pics of the prototype of the HFM kit that is under production. Although this prototype is machined out of billet aluminum, the final product will be housed in a computer optimized carbon fiber measuring tube. The housing is currently being produced by one of carbon fiber fabricators for BMW. The hot film element is the Bosch HFM5 from the current BMW E46-M3 specification which is extremely fast and an exact air mass measurer. It is designed to be plug and play in approximately 20 minutes, without destruction of the original harness or airbox. Unlike other MAF systems currently on the market, it will have temperature-dependent atmospheric pressure correction. Systems such as Autothority's do not have a built in temp sensor, which is the cause of some idle issues some users have in extreme temperatures, along with defeating the built in anti-knock funtion of the Motronic software. Along with our DME optimized software, a 10% reduction in fuel consumption is realized. The system will come along with a optimized custom chip.

I do not take credit for developing this system. Most of the development was done by my chip counterpart in Germany, Bernd Andritzky, who has been one of the key Motronics programmers at BMW GmbH for the past 7 years. This system is not designed to be the cheapest, but the best. Expected eta is probably 2/2004. I may develop a inexpensive MAF later in the future, but that is way down the future when I have more time.

[Jeff Alton]

89911, did you install the MAF yourself and if so, was it hard to tune??

Jeff

[89911]

Yes, I did it all myself. Beyond having some decent directions and the ability to identify wires into the dme box, it wasn't that hard. Along the same lines as installing a sound system. Tuning has become fairly easy. It very similar to tuning carbs. Too rich and the car stumbles. Too lean and the car loses power. You need to find that fine point, and this is done so with the air/fuel ratio meter. Some problems are encountered with the optimal high acceleration setting and a smooth idle, but it is just a quick turn of the knob to adjust. Unfortunately the driver becomes the last line of complete adjustability. For a track car its great. If I was in traffic with this car, I would consider keeping it stock.

[Por_sha911]

Thanks for all the replys