Or should I stick with MAF and make a better intake for it? I wanted to get a K&N air filter that attaches directly to the front of the throttle body to remove all of that ducting, but the only way possible is with speed density. Would it be worthwhile to spend the time converting over; will I see any gains that I couldn't achieve with MAF with a little work?

 

For every 1% reduction in intake tract restriction there is a 2% increase in HP.
the SD system is much newer code and more refined
You lose the restriction of the MAF.
The SD (730) is a world class design, it won many awards for it's design.
Much easier to edit the software to make a really great running car.
Map sensor $45, MAF sensor $165
And I like MAFs, but realise there short comings.

 

Anygain you see in losing the MAF (Which will be minimal unless you have done a bunch of mods) will be lost because you will be sucking in a lot of hot air from around the engine. The stock Camaro ducting isn't all THAT bad, and neither is the MAF system. Don't even worry about them until you run 13.5 or better. Just my two cents.

 

And all of that technology can be negated by tossing a filter on the throttle body and sucking all that hot air into the motor.

 

I plan on putting a new cam in the motor and porting most of the intake.

Hmm, I figured that since there's no air ducting the increased airflow would outweigh the fact that it's hot air. Guess not.

 

I took off my restrictive Firebird intake tract, air filter, and attached the MAF right to the bellows for the TB and made another run with the car within 10 minutes of the previous. Time/speed was so close to the same its not even worth looking for my timeslip, there was no difference. So hot air, cold air, tract restriction gone, whatever... waste of time and effort. Any gains I got by losing the filter and tract (which there should be some at least) were eaten by the 'hot air' apparently.