bushbanger

I think in that article they were using a mild 91 tune . I have the jlt with brenspeed tune and this setup is great ..jlt alone would lean car out without tune

grasshopper

Definitely correct on the first part. Though I wouldn't say the Airaid venturi presents a substantial increase in air mass since the restrictor opens up to the full size of the pipe right after the MAF so the velocity would drop back down. I never took college physics, so that's just an assumption. As far as the computer compensating, I ran it without a tune for months and driving it hard all the time I never went into limp mode or noticed any stumbling or pinging or anything. It did seem to add a little more pickup under acceleration, so it does something.

I didn't read the whole thing yet, but here is a really good article on the MAF function... Click Here

CrazyAl

I think that any CAI that claims a significant HP boost without a tune is wishful thinking at best and marketing garbage at worst. Also, there isn't much of a difference between the different CAIs, so if it works for one then it should work for all (and vice versa).

The MAF and O2 sensors do help the ECU meter fuel. But, this only goes so far. In reality, an ECU is basically a "lookup table". The computer checks the various sensors for their readings (throttle, O2, MAF, and so on) and then matches those values against a chart. The chart then indicates how much fuel to spray. The problem is that most of the "tuning" comes from the chart itself, and the sensors don't have that much input.

Also, like others have said the MAF is dependant on the geometry of the inlet pipe. The engine doesn't magically "know" exactly how much air there is coming into it.

I think the tune + CAI combo is by far the best way to go. The most popular seem to be the C&L, JLT, Steeda, and K&N. I'm not saying that these intakes are better than the others, but one of these would be a good choice becasue they seem to be the most well understood for tuning purposes. If you were to find a great but "no-name" CAI, chances are it wouldn't be good for your car becasue your chance of getting a good tune for it is slim.

The tuner is a great device to have anyway! You can use it to read and reset trouble codes, log data, and it comes in handy for future mods. It is useful for correcting your speedometer if you change tire sizes or rear-end gears, etc. It's definatley nice to have around.