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Air/fuel ratio guage or wideband o2?


Gaz

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Air/fuel ratio guage or wideband o2

Anyone using either of the above?

I need to tune myt car and one of these would come in very handy.

Do they make and guages that come with there own calibrated o2 sensors.

Who has hook ups on either?

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im using a jaycar 'diy' $20 a/f meter. i has a row of led's that show a/f mixture. is a bit of fiddling round with the soldering iron and wiring but works well and connects to oem O2 sensor. it has a calibration screw to adjust for gain.. probly not a good option for tuning purposes but is great for daily driving and fault finding. ie thats how i found my tps wasn't clicking into idle mode as the ecu was still constantly adjusting mixture as if it was in closed loop mode at idle.

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I see. Cause its for tuning the carb engine I dont have a AFM to plug into. Did it have the option of coming with its own sensor. Im sure it would be more accurate to be built for the sensor also.

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an O2 sensor puts out a voltage when it's hot and theres oxygen present which ranges from 0-1v. im not sure if theres any other variations to this, not sure the difference of 'wide band' etc so there probably is.

there are heated O2 sensors that are better as they get hot more quickly when engines started. these usually have 3 or four wires instead of one.

on factory ecu the O2 sensor is often used in a 'closed loop' mode which constantly adjusts the air/fuel mix when cruising to get optimum efficiency/economy/emissions whatever. late model cars can use it for checking emissions.. like having one each side of the catalytic converter to see if its working.

on after market systems the 02 sensor is used to tune the programmable air/fuel map. either by a self tune where the ecu automatically tries to get optimum air/fuel and saves it into the map... or to tune it manually with a hand controller or laptop by checking the air/fuel mix via the oxy sensor. alot of aftermarket ecu's nowadays tune by a laptop and will have an air/fuel mixture display on the screen. if not then an air/fuel gauge or meter is handy and more readable then trying to do it off a voltmeter hooked up to the oxy sensor lol. can tune a carb this way too.. obviously by driving the car or having it on a rolling road then checking to see if it's running rich or lean and adjusting the jets to suit.

you dont 'have' to run an O2 sensor on aftermarket ecu.. but you'll have to tune it by some other means like on a dyno with the exhaust probe up the pipe or borrow the exhaust emissions tester and go for a drive (these are more accurate than an oxy sensor.

for best performance you get it tuned by a professional on a dyno. but it pays to try get it close to perfect by self tune (if you know what you're doing that is).

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I see. Cause its for tuning the carb engine I dont have a AFM to plug into. Did it have the option of coming with its own sensor. Im sure it would be more accurate to be built for the sensor also.

o2 senser not afm, sensers are easy to get and mostly exactly the same out put signal, how ever wide band is far far more accurate. worth using a wide band with a data log if pos then you can see where in the rev range under load it needs adjuusting, ie main, primary or secondary and tubes etc

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They are what most of the tuner guys use when on dynos I believe.

Here is what one guy said to me.

Wideband O2 is much better for tuning than Narrowband (what is commonly found in factory cars), narrowband is accurate only around stoichometric (14.7:1) Air Fuel Ratio (AFR), whereas Wideband is accurate from 9:1 through to 25:1. The major benefit we find of using a system like the Innovate LM-1, is that you can log, say against RPM, the AFR, giving you an idea of where in the RPM range it is rich or lean. This is great for tuning both EFI and carburated engines.

The Innovate LM-1 can plug into a laptop, however it is also a standalone logging system, which you can then download to your laptop. It can run permanently in your car however in that case we would recommend running the LC-1 and then a Lambda Gauge.

To set the LM-1 up is simple, basically just needs power (say from a cigarette lighter plug), and then a bung in your exhaust for the O2 sensor.

Once you have tuned with one, you won’t go back!

The LM-1 retails for $700, which includes sensor. The LC-1, which has no display, requiring either a laptop or a lambda gauge, retails for $400 including sensor.

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sounds like you paying $$ for this lm1 lc1 system.. whereas surely a programmable ecu will be able to read a wideband and give you a reading off the laptop screen for tuning purposes? my mate does this with a narrow band just driving round with someone sitting in passenger seat adjusting the map inputs at certain load points. it would be quicker with a data logger for sure but when you dont have $$ to throw around hmmm

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sounds like you paying $$ for this lm1 lc1 system.. whereas surely a programmable ecu will be able to read a wideband and give you a reading off the laptop screen for tuning purposes? my mate does this with a narrow band just driving round with someone sitting in passenger seat adjusting the map inputs at certain load points. it would be quicker with a data logger for sure but when you dont have $$ to throw around hmmm

Perhaps. Except I have two cars I want to use this to tune.

1. 2l carb engine (which has no ECU to work with)

2. Ca18det whick I want to use this wideband to remap the standard ECU.

So I supose $400 plus I have a laptop is not much to pay to tune two cars. If I was to pay for a tune on the 2l carb alone thatd be $400.

Probs will end up with a link or like on the ca18 eventually but It would be good to be able to semi tune a new turbo etc on it.

Is a narrow band just an air fuel ration guage?

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i was referring to the 0-1v oxy sensor as a narrow band (whether or not thats the correct name i dunno). but all the 80's toyota's that i've checked run the 1v output type oxy sensor.. ie 4age 2tgeu 3tgte.

there are different bolt patterns so no they're not generic in size.

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