[DeTomaso] A/F Gauge- wide or narrow?

[Kirby Schrader]

Chuck,

See my highly opinionated answers below.

Kirby


On Aug 2, 2011, at 9:23 PM, Charles Engles wrote:

> Dear A/F Gauge Forum Experts,
> 
> 
>            PLEASE provide a dummy's guide to A/F Gauges.  I gather that
> they are good things, but questions persist, if you would be so kind.
> 
> 1) How much do these things cost?
How much do you want to spend? There are various brands and various quality items. What's amazing to me is how much the widebands have decreased in price since 2000. They are as much as 1/5th the price. Very affordable.
I'm partial to the Innovate Motorsports stuff. Good quality, not cheap, but works well.
They also have packages to make the gauge look like what every you want. Digital, analog... black, chrome, etc.
You can also output to any other AFR meter if you want. Standard 0-5VDC stuff.
I have an LM-2 to do the odd tuning with cars that don't have a built in sensor. A friend with a CTS has borrowed it for the time being.
I have an LC-1 and wideband mounted permanently on both the Pantera and the GT40.
Depending on your ECU (if you have EFI), you can use the output of the LC-1/LM-2 to do the feedback for auto adjustment of AFR under cruise.
Definitely not for full throttle though.
You gotta' be close in the first place with your tuning... it can't compensate for everything.

> 
> 2) Do you have mount a bung or fitting on your exhaust to use one of these
> things?
Yep. With either the wideband or the narrow band, that is a requirement.
> 
> 3) Are you mounting these in the dash or just temporary until all the carb
> tuning is done?
Yes! :-)
I have mine mounted on the dash in both cars. True, as someone said, once you have it adjusted, you shouldn't have to worry about it.
But it's kinda' like oil temperature....  do you want to know or not?

> 
> 4) So...you have it installed and you drive around noting that it is too
> lean; in the sweet spot; or too rich and adjust the carb appropriately until
> it *always* stays in the sweet green zone?   Then, it isn't needed any more
> or is it??
See above. But yeah... you can tell your ECU to log to a file while you go to work and back.
Get home, sit quietly with a glass of wine and review whether you have any 'holes' or not and fix them.
Like Gary said though... usually you know already that there is a problem at a certain rpm. You just confirm it and fix it.

Since I put the ancient Haltech on my Pantera in 2000 (which went up in smoke, literally, a few days ago), I've learned a lot.
You _can_ adjust things yourself and I've done it, but it is much easier and less time consuming doing it on a dyno.
Just depends... you can tweak either an EFI system or a carb for a long time.... just depends on how keen you are.

> 
> 
>           I just figured out what the tach was used for, so help me with
> this.
> 
> 
>                   Mr. Dummy, Chuck Engles
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 
> Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
> 
> Archive Search Engine Now Available at http://www.realbig.com/detomaso/
> 
> DeTomaso mailing list
> DeTomaso at list.realbig.com
> http://list.realbig.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso