Many E30 owners don’t realize that the airflow meter in their cars is a wear item. Though it has a wear profile with an exceptionally long use and time horizon, one that hasn’t been seen for decades, many E30s have now reached the point where their AFMs are beginning to fail.
To determine the position of the flap door inside the AFM, a copper arm rides on a carbon track. Over time, this carbon track wears out, accounting for nearly all AFM-related issues.
Peter Ruggiero, an engineer, in collaboration with Panzer Performance, has designed and now offers a retrofit kit that transforms the internal mechanism of the AFM from analog to digital. As a result of this modification, the carbon track is eliminated, making the AFM, in theory, a non-wear item.
The first community to adopt this retrofit was the SpecE30 racing organization. Their endorsement is particularly significant because they required proof and dyno testing to confirm that the retrofit performed identically to a stock, well-functioning AFM. After extensive testing, the SpecE30 rules were amended to permit the new AFM design.
For that price just do a MAF conversion.