Re: Removing HFM Screens (evaluation)

["Justin Hughes" <ka1ult@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>Anyone know why the ecu gets so freaked out by the removal of the
>screens...it seems so logical to remove a blockage in the intake
>track...


My guess is that the ECU is programmed to deal with a specific amount of air
coming into the engine.  The amount it's programmed to deal with is for the
stock configuration, with the screens in place.  When you remove them, you
suddenly have more air.  Some computers can deal with this.  I removed some
restrictive intake tubing in my Mercury Tracer and gained some power and top
end speed from it (plus a roar you don't expect from an econobox).  But I
can think of two possibilities here.  Your ECU may not have been programmed
to handle the extra air.  It tells the injectors to give it as much gas as
it knows how, but there's so much more air that the mixture is still too
lean.  Either that, or the injectors themselves are maxed out, also
resulting in a lean mixture.  Either of these problems can be overcome (new
chip or higher flow injectors), but the question is whether it's worth it to
you to do that.

    - Justin

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