Custom chip tuning at Competizione for the 3.4 liter engine: results.

First, you are not drilling out the cap. STOP if you think this is so!

You are tapping a small hole through the plastic cap. Don't drill for oil, only drill to pierce it.

Use the smallest bit you have. Then take a small self-tapping sheet metal screw and screw it into the hole only as far as necessary to grip the cap. Then simply pull the cap off; it's a no brainer and terribly easy. Do not, however, drill like there's no tomorrow through the cap. At worse you will drill into the adjustment screw. Chances are that you will not mess it up since a small drill bit is not going to go in very far.

When adjusting the screw, turn it in 1/4 turn increments and note the direction of the turn and the resultant change in resistence.

When you are done, just replace the cap in the adjustment screw housing and that's it. Frankly, mine are still off. They are blue and don't really go with the car or engine compartment colors.

 

Plastic? What do you mean plastic! Caps on the Mondial t are made of thick aluminum. No el cheapo plastico!

See the picture. Someone started to drill a hole. The scratches were made by yours truly trying to pop out the cap with various tools. Note that the cap turns, so it may not be drillable in the middle.
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Yeah the aluminum ones are harder to drill but the same. Mine were like yours, keep drilling they are thick. The cap has a snap ring around the middle that is why you need to put a screw in it to give it a firm tug out wth a pliers. The cap spins freely inside the meter but wont come out? that is because of the ring around it. Keep going you almost there.

 

Dave have you checked your pm's?

 

LOL, My mistake. You have the "Don't mess with this part" version. Yep, do what Dave says. In this case, I might drill a larger hole than the ones I did for the plastic covers. I used a 3/32nds bit, I think.

 

So is that cap out yet ??

 

The first picture is how the MAF screen looked like, ready to be sucked into the engine! Both screens between the MAFs and the engine are now removed. May be I should remove the one between the filter and the MAF, or are they there to regulate the air flow over the sensor? I would guess they are just there to protect the tiny wires.

I eventually drilled the aluminum cap and was able to pop the cap out and turn the big screw until the Ohm value read 384 (same as the passenger’s side unit.

I went for a ride; it was a nice day today in Virginia. Car runs well and smooth. Only problem that I have since about a year or so is, when I drive the car hard, the idle is cuckoo afterwards. It will settle at 2000 rpm, before gradually and slowly tapering down to about 1000 rpm.

Any ideas?
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Nice job! Now that you've removed the MAF caps, you're probably laughing at all the big fuss. Some people actually buy new MAF caps and reinstall them, if you can believe that! Best to just leave the caps in the garbage pail, I say.

Also, you did well in removing the rear MAF screens. One such screen was about to cause you harm.



As for your idle, I'd suspect that you have a sticking throttle. Could be from your floor mat touching your accelerator pedal...could be from grease and gunk accumulating onto your throttle cable itself.

Simple cleaning of the cable and repositioning your floor mat might therefor solve your idle problem.

I'd suggest spraying WD40 onto your metal throttle linkage at each rear corner of your engine and underneath each throttle body.

After all of the above, I'd suggest a lower MAF resistance measurement. 384 ohms is lean. Even with everything in perfect operating order, you'll be slow returning to 1000 rpm idle with 384 ohms MAF resistances. You aren't going to harm anything at 380 ohms, and 375 ohms will likewise be fine in almost every conceiveable circumstance.

Do check that your air filter is clean (and air intake tubing free of major obstructions), as well. A dirty air filter can play havoc with an idle.

 

Hey ND,

How far a drive you think you are from Blue Ridge, GA ??? :") I need to bring mine over for the ND tune up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I think it may pay dividends to use a MAF sensor cleaner at this point. I have read that dirty sensor elements can dampen reponse time and even lower the elements sensitivity.

 

Yeah, Baby! You're just a couple hours from me. Get some good weather and send me a PM.

 

But then again I have better roads over here
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Good day today: I upgraded my headlights to HIR and as per N_D's recommendation (Thank you Sir) I set my MAFs to 375. I found a couple of plastic caps (from the kid's R/C cars glow plug igniters) that would fit perfectly where the aluminum plug was. I feel better with a bit of waterproofing, now that I know the price of these MAFs, and the red color fits with my interior.

I could not go for a test drive as the sky opened up the very minute I finished working on the car.

Here are a couple of pictures.
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This picture might actually be a bit more telling.
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You're going to love your first night drive with the HIR lights!

 

You should post a few more pics of your car, it is absolutely stunning in person. Even though this is a 348/355 forum, a prestine Mondial T coupe is something to behold especially in such a great color combo.

 

Thanks! Actually my wife, who was driving a 250 GTE 2+2 when I met her, choose that color combination.

Mondial t should belong in the 348 forum in my opinion.

 

Reading the factory owner’s manual for both the European and US cars, I noticed slight differences: the US car has a lower final ratio, (Spur gear drive US is 25/27, vs. 26/27 Euro), and the US engine is slightly less powerful (1.3%, negligible) at 200 less rpm but the difference is torque (>4% is more noticeable):

US: 300 SAE net = 296 hp DIN @ 7000

Euro: 300 hp DIN = 304 SAE net @ 7200 rpm

Same for the torque: US 228.6 lb/ft @ 4000 vs. Euro 238.2 lb/ft @ 4200

US car is 34 kg (75 lb) heavier and the ¼ mile is US 14.4, vs. Euro 14.3.

I was wondering if the Euro car are using different cams, or if it just in the ECU programming? I was also wondering whether it was worthwhile to get for my Euro car the US final ratio, given that 1) I rarely D) drive anywhere near the specified 158 mph max speed and 2) with my new max rev at 8200, I probably may still reach 158 mph (off public roads of course).