I am willing to plead blindness here, but is there any detailed info on the site (besides the archives) about how the stock MAF works, what actually happens when it dies, how the 3.5" unit is better, etc.? I am sorely tempted to replace my stock unit (before it goes south) with the 3.5" unit and translator. However, before I do that, I'd like to have some understanding of what I'm actually doing.
It would be nice if Dave H would do a synopsis of how the blm cells relate in normal operation to the operation of the maf. He has made a number of posts on the subject but I have not found a complete one searching the archives of the boards.
In general, the stock MAF is a frequency based device. The frequency generated changes based on the amount of air that flows past the hot wire in the sensor.
The LS1/LT1 sensors don't generate the same signal the same way, so the Translator was born to convert their output to something that the stock ECM will understand.
I'm not sure if the LT1/LS1 sensors are frequency or voltage based output (the Mustang ones were voltage based... more air = more voltage). They are internally temperature compensated and see to work well.
I'm racking my brain trying to visualize the signals I measured on my O-scope. I seem to remember that the signal from the Buick MAFs is pulse width modulated (a square wave that doesn't change frequency, but rather changes the pulse width of the square wave signal) Not really frequency based, but often mistakenly referred to as one.
The Chevy MAFs are also a pulsed signal, but the pulse width doesn't change, but rather the frequency of the the pulses (frequency based).
Now, I could very easily have those two descriptions reversed but essentially that's it.