C&L vs. Pro-M Meters
 

I'm in the market for a new mass air flow meter and am looking for some additional real world experiences. I've narrowed it down to C&L (73 or 76mm) and Pro-M's 75mm bullet as they seem to be the most popular and best reviewed. Anybody have any positive or negative experiences to share with these meters? There seems to be various degrees of idle problems experienced, but it seems to be hit or miss. I'm looking to fit it to a very mildly modified '90 5.0L.

i have had problems with to pro-m's so far, i went to a granatelli and havent had any problems since

I have the C&L/Vortech mass air meter housing, and i bought a ford calibrated MAF sensor since i'm putting in 30lb/hr injectors. The C&L is an ok housing and it gets the fuel curve pretty close, so i haven't had any problems with it. I didn't want to take a chance once i started using nitrous, so i just bought a specially calibrated meter (and i'm pretty sure a Ford Racing MAF will be programmed well).

If your staying NA, go C&L. If your planning on adding a blower or turbo, get the Pro-M.

I have a 75mm pro-m unit in my car. Recently Ive had a few probs with it. The car would die out at 2k after I put the heasd/intake on and when I unplugged it the car ran fine. A few days later I plugged it back in and the car ran fine, but it dies out every now and then upon accelerating. Dont know what the problem is, but im gonna try to find someone with a different maf to determine that its the problem.

I had a C&L and it worked fine for me. I've never had any experience with Pro-M so I can't say which is better, but a friend of mine swapped on a C&L at the track and gained a tenth. The Pro-M was a 75mm and the C&L was the new 76mm. He said it idled better too it seemed. I just never liked the idea of having to pay $100 for calibration if I needed to upgrade so I went with the C&L. And the folks at C&L seem real nice on the phone. You'll get a lot of comments on both meters, but here is some info C&L has on their web site concerning the "tricking" that most people slam C&L about...

"The purpose of changing the MAF calibration for use with larger injector sizes is to make the computer think that less air is actually entering the engine. By doing this, (which ALL aftermarket meters from ALL manufacturers do) you are making the computer reduce the duration of time that it is opening the fuel injectors at a given air flow rate. The larger the injector that is used, the more the voltage is dropped, and in return, the shorter the time the injectors are pulsed by the computer. This "tricking" of the computer is how a MAF allows the consumer to use a larger fuel injector than what originally came on your vehicle from the factory. Over the years, we have heard that people have said that our unit "tricks" the computer and that our competitor's method does not. This is truly ludicrous, as the only way that you can calibrate a meter for larger injectors is to reduce the output voltage, and ALL aftermarket air meters use this method to "trick" the computer. The most important thing to consider is that changing the calibration for larger injectors must reduce the voltage to the proper level for the ideal air/fuel ratio. We have spent countless hours on the dyno and at the track to ensure that our calibrations will deliver a winning combination."

I like that paragraph :D

N/A- C&L, Forced Induction- Pro-M.

The C&L uses the stock ford MAF sensor, it uses calibration tubes to "trick" the computer. The pro-M's are ussually recalibrated and should be more accurate, at least in theory. I have been using a C&L 76mm for a while and have had no problems with it. My car idles good and runs great.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I think the 73mm was discontiued.

Both the C/L and Pro-M 75's use a point measuring system . Thats why when you have a weird idle problem, people say turn the meter until it idles better. To get out of this, pro-m made the 77,80 and 83 and probably other meters that have a ring all the way around to measure air, regaurdless of the position its in. Thats why I prefere the Pro-M 77 or higher . Whatever you decide on, spend $100 and see where your air/fuel is at on a dyno. Then you will see how good or how bad it is.