if you don't botch your timing table or run shitty unpredictable gas the knock sensor is 100% useless. think of all the points distributor engines that ran for 500,000+ miles without one (with occasional points/cap/rotor, of course)Originally Posted by spfautsch
i have the same thing to say about trying to get a perfect stoich ratio across the board. if a carb guy can come along and get his engine running better in 5 minutes, you're doing it wrong.
if i came over to your place and did a really good open loop tune on your car and chopped your knock sensor and o2 wires you would probably crap your pants when you found out how smooth, how cool, and how efficiently it ran across the board after a few runs of just tuning by feel.
just because the tools came with your stock vehicle doesn't mean you have to use them. your target needs to be a good running and reliable car, not good sensor feedback and factory-like reactions to events.
i ran my last trans am wideband tuned. before i sold it, its final tune aimed for 16.5:1 or sometimes leaner at low loads and nearly 60 degrees of timing advance for cruising. really lean for decel too, so DFCO transition was really nice. 13.5:1 and ~30 degrees of all in timing for heavy throttle.
i had pipe plugs where the o2 and knock sensors were. no cats. it smelled like a chemical fire going down the highway, water was pouring out of the exhaust, and the engine loved every minute of it.
the plugs read perfectly clean. no soot in the tailpipes. the fans almost never kicked in it ran so cold, you could lug it up hills, you could redline it down hills.
the kid that bought it off of me drives the piss out of it still and it wont blow up. i'll tell you what too, that kid will never have to worry about any sensor failing except his optispark...
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks