Thinking about get some guages and wondered how accurate the A/F ratio guages are?

 

Save your money, can't make heads or tails out of mine. Bounces all over the place. WHAT04 told me it did the same thing on his truck.

 

http://www.gadgetseller.com/gauges/


You need a full throttle A/F gauge.

 

On JDM's advice I ordered a Pyrometer[Exhaust Gas Temp] You can Dyno to get an exact a/f reading then corralate[sp?] to a given temp.
example: if 11.5:1 = 900* if you run hotter than 900* you're running lean.
Short of a "real-time" a/f meter I believe this to be the safest most accurate way to go.

 

Some day soon I will post pictues of my air fuel gage setup. It consists of a display, processor, and a wide band o2 sensor.(yes
there is a certain car manufacture that uses a wide band sensor
on there production vehs, you can buy it from napa for about 125
bucks). I have it setup so I can data log to a lap top computer. Every pass i make at the track or (highway) I save as a file so I can check it out at a later time, and make changes as needed. I'm still testing out the system, so i will post again when i'm sure the meter is working correctly. I'm planing on getting the MAFter burner to go along with it, this way I can customize my fuel curve to go along with the mods I have. I keep you posted....

 

http://www.intellitronix.com/d70140.html

 

I agree. Even if you can't understand it's output, it is a tool you
need. As far as safety, if you run your own O2 sensor, there's no concern with disrupting the computer's tuning signals. True, digital voltmeters average the signal. But what you are looking for is that oscillating sweep while cruising, and to be in (or very near) the green/rich at WOT. If you are having problems, they will show in the A/F long before other symptoms like detonation make themselves visible. Especially in supercharged vehicles with aluminum heads. Slight detonation is very hard to hear with blower whine and loud exhausts. The aluminum heads mask the signs of detonation more than cast iron, too.

Bottom line- you want one. Just run your own O2 sensor. I used a single wire sensor off of an 88 tempo. $15 at AutoZone. But you can run heated sensors to a switch to monitor both banks, or get as fancy with the install as you want.

Later,

 

They are of minimal value, because your O2 sensor is narrowband.

If you want something useful, then you need something like SVTCLAY.

 

True.

These common sensors are narrowband. I disagree that this fact alone makes them unuseful, however. Does the average Joe really need to know how much further outside the normal 12:1-16:1 window he's gone if there's a problem? Once you look down and see the gauge is pegged lean at WOT, regardless of how narrow the band is, you have a problem. C'mon guys.

Yes, a broadband sensor is good if you are doing hardcore dyno tuning / some data aquisition / some diagnostic work, but to just keep an eye on things (which is what these A/F gauges are kinda made to do) then a common Bosch sensor (either heated or unheated) is more than adequate.

But, so as not to flame, the $125+ broadband sensor is the way to go if you are into (or require) that kind capability.

I say it's extreme overkill, but that's just my opinion- you aren't wanting to do real-time data aquisition with the darn thing, you're monitoring your average A/F ratio. . .with a modified DVOM for God's sake.)

Later,