Narrow Band Air fuel Gauge

[GriffinW]

Im going boost in a few months and I need to know how to connect my Air Fuel gauge to my O2 sensor. I know there is only one wire that actually connects to the sensor, but im not sure on which wire on the o2 sensor's harness to tap into. Also any help on where these wires come through the firewall would help me out alot as I dont really feel like tracing them from the Y into the cab.

[mtcookson]

If you're going with boost I HIGHLY recommend not even trying to hook up a narrow band gauge aka disco lights. It simply won't tell you what you need to know and when going with boost that is very dangerous. I would save up for a wide band setup and call it a day, you definitely won't be disappointed. PLX Devices is my personal choice, there's also Zeitronix, Innovate, and many more that are pretty affordable these days.

[GriffinW]

Thanks for the advice. I probably will go with the wideband, its just im not sure about the difference between the two. what sets the two apart? My assumptioin was that they are both a/f guages so as long as i know the ratio i should be fine.

[mtcookson]

The difference is in the way they read so to speak. Most narrow band o2 sensors I've seen operate within 1 volt while wide band o2 sensor operate within a range of 5 volts.

Say for instance rich is .1 volt then with the narrow band lean would be 1 volt while with the wide band it would be 5 volts. You have that much more room making the reading much more accurate.

Most narrow band gauges kind of jump around, the lights just constantly go all over the place as it simply can't get a "good signal" so to speak.

One good way to think about it would be your stereo. Say the volume on your head unit goes from 0 to 10, 10 being the loudest, that would be like your narrow band sensor. Now say your head unit has a volume adjustment of 0 to 50. You now have much more room for modulating the volume. That's how a wide band would act compared to a narrow band.

Simply put, a narrow band o2 sensor gauge won't tell you what your true AFR is.

Hopefully I explained it ok.

[GriffinW]

Thanks for the explination, it helped a lot.

I have more questions about the wideband and the tuning aspect of a/f.

Once I have the gauge, and, for instance, it goes lean on me how would I tune it so that its stoich again? and the same thing if it goes rich.

Im not boosted yet but I figure its better to learn before I have a car sitting in my driveway and I have to wait a day for a response to a post.

[maxhopper]

You're the man Matt, great explanation!!!

[MaximA32]

I don't believe you'll ever be perfectly stoich all the time. The a/f mix goes lean-rich-lean-rich and so on and so forth. With the wideband O2 and wideband a/f gauge, it just gives you a more accurate reading as with a narrowband, it gives a reading but not as accurate as one would need for force induced applications.

[GriffinW]

I understand that its not going to be stoich all the time, but the question im asking is how do I use the gauge as a tuning tool. It would be pointless to have a gauge if you dont do anything when the levels go to a "danger zone", then you would just have the gauge for looks and I wouldnt neeed a wideband. so if my car goes way rich or way lean, what do i do to get it back to a safe level.

I hope my question is clear but if not let me know

[GriffinW]

Ok since no one answered the last question, I have a new one.

I need a Wideband A/F Module that will accept my Autometer gauge, Any manufacturer suggestions?

[MaximA32]

Autometer.

[mtcookson]

Thanks for the explination, it helped a lot.

I have more questions about the wideband and the tuning aspect of a/f.

Once I have the gauge, and, for instance, it goes lean on me how would I tune it so that its stoich again? and the same thing if it goes rich.

Im not boosted yet but I figure its better to learn before I have a car sitting in my driveway and I have to wait a day for a response to a post.

I'm really sorry for the delay. To tune it on the fly like that you'll need a piggy back or standalone ecu setup. Most VQ guys I've seen use the E-manage Ultimate these days as they are very, very powerful piggy back units.

Basically... if you notice a spot where you go lean, you'll go into your fuel maps in the E-manage and you'll add some more fuel to that particular spot till you get it close to the target ratio. Now... stoich is actually not what you want to aim for in just about any case really. For boosted applications you'll want a much richer ratio being the 12.5 to 11.5 range when under boost. When cruising you can usually go a little leaner than stoich for some better fuel economy.

What kind of Autometer gauge are you using? I personally like PLX Devices wideband setups. It has a wideband and narrowband output that are linear. They have their own gauges as well so you can actually just sell the Autometer if you wanted to. Other wideband routes are Zeitronix, Innovate Motorsports, and AEM to name a few.