My bride gave me an air/fuel ratio gauge for Christmas. (She's such a romantic.) However, I didn't get it installed until last night. Other mods were higher on my to-do list, and those mods necessitated re-tuning the carb.
I played with the gauge a bit today until a thunderstorm blew in. Then I took this snapshot to brag on.
Air-Fuel-Mixture-Gauge.jpg
Wow!!! As you guys know, I don't enjoy fine-tuning carburetors, but this little gauge makes the job a whole lot more entertaining. And the results? Within an hour, my engine was running better than ever before. Way better. Of course I could have tuned the carburetor by old-fashioned methods. For me, that was a painful proposition. I would have procrastinated.The gauge makes tuning so much more convenient and productive. Now I just need to figure out how to turn the brightness down. Okay, and maybe it's running a tiny bit rich at idle...
Curtis, I'm with you on this one. I found that the air fuel gauge was just the thing to get the jets and rods tweaked just right on my Carter AFB 9400. After struggling to get a decent tune, I installed the DynaJet WideBand Commander and made the adjustment needed in a couple of hours. I was also able to select a jet size that will allow me to pick a couple of sets of rods that I can swap in when I am driving at higher and lower altitudes. It's amazing how much air density and temperature affect the mixture! I live at 4600 ft and when I travel to 7-8000 ft I can watch the mixture rich up by a full unit. Here's a picture of my installation, it dims with the dash panel ;<) The Wideband Commander comes with a laptop interface and recorder that allows up to 10 minutes of recording capacity. Note Vacuum and Voltmeter in the same cluster.
air-fuelvacvoltgauges.JPG
EFI handles these situations seamlessly and keeps the A/F ratio correct. Altitude is usually not a problem here in the South. Just humidity and Temps.
Looks great Curtis. See you in Durham!
SAFETY FASTER!
I want to install an air fuel ratio sensor and gauge in my 79B (Rover 3.9L, edelbrock 1404 carb). Any recommendations?
I use an Innovate tailpipe O2 tester. Works great. They make a number of permanent solutions.
https://www.innovatemotorsports.com/
I have an Edelbrock led model mounted to my dash. I'll text you a photo, I still have your number.
I'd still recommend the AEM. Looks like mine is 14 years old already. It'll continue to work great for you if/when you upgrade to EFI.
Thanks to all!
The Innovate is slow, which can be an issue if you are using autotune or running datalogs. The AEM is faster and they seem to have good support but I have seen some reliability issues.
Jim
innovate was the best 20 years ago with their LM-1. Then they launched a disaster of a product (the LM-2) and they haven't ever regained the lead.
For ultimate simplicity, just go for an AEM. It's all I ever use. Some real techie folks will argue they are not as accurate as others - they are absolutely accurate enough for anything us guys will ever need.
"Then they launched a disaster of a product (the LM-2) "
How so, Dave?
I had 2 Innovate LC-1 units and they both kept throwing bad sensor error codes. I sent the first one back to Innovate and it came back with "no issues found". Meanwhile I had bought another one and it eventually had the same issue. After buying several new Bosch sensors I gave up and bought a PLX (don´t know if it is available in USA).
Have not had issues since. At that time it seemed to be quite common issue with Innovate. Maybe it was too clever and sensitive ?
Nowadays I have the said PLX and another wide band that is connected to ECU.
The Innovate WB is too slow for tuning out transient spikes on EFI systems when shifting gears but should be fine for tuning automatics and carbs.
Jim
I use my Innovate LM-2 to tune carbs at idle. cruise, & WOT. Works great for that.
PLX is based in California. Their wide band O2 unit uses a Bosch sensor, as does my LM-2
https://www.plxdevices.net/categories/accessories/wideband-afr?size=n_12_n&filters%5B0%5D%5Bfield%5D=root&filters%5B0%5D%5Bvalues%5D%5B0%5D=PLX_2_Accessories&filters%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=all&filters%5B1%5D%5Bfield%5D=subcat&filters%5B1%5D%5Bvalues%5D%5B0%5D=PLX_2_3_WidebandAFR&filters%5B1%5D%5Btype%5D=all
Carl, To answer your question about the LM-2...
Certainly the first few years, innovate struggled initially with LM-2 units being non-operational out of the box, having calibration and communication faults and other issues that prevented them being fully usable.
This was not a few isolated incidents, but very common. IIRC, they had lost some pretty important staff members (for whatever reason) and the previously great communication and addressing of any issues, disappeared quickly. Lots of promises to address issues never came of anything, and many - including myself - decided they'd never own an innovate product again.
They had a forum for a long time where the guys at innovate would also interact with users, but the LM2 was such a disaster, the board became pretty much nothing apart from a huge barrage of LM-2 complaints, and was very clearly not good publicity, so they shut it down to make the problem go away.
I purchased one of the first AEM units, and haven't had any issues with them personally, so continued to use them.
I'd hope after all this time, the LM-2 was 100% addressed, but what definitely happened was folks explored (and invested in) other manufacturers equipment, which of course benefited the industry as a whole as competition ultimately breeds innovation and pricing, but lots in the industry won't ever use innovate after getting their fingers burnt.
I switched to AEM and had the head unit (gage) go bad right away. They had me saw it in half and send them the photo and then they sent me a replacement. Now it looks like the second one may have gone bad as I've tried 3 different sensors with it and none of them work.
Is there a more reliable alternative? I'd like to know as these things aren't exactly cheap.
Jim
Wow, that's crazy you've had bad luck with AEM. I am sure they had you saw it in half to make sure it wasn't counterfeit?
There are so many different manufacturers out there, I guess it's time to make a switch...
I think it was to make sure it was impossible to repair and resell.
Jim
I've used the auto meter wide band gauges for years. I have one mounted in a pelican box that I use for remote testing, I have beat the hell out of that thing and it just keeps going.
I will only use the Bosch O2 sensors with it as the other options have been disappointing.
You "must" let the sensor heat up before starting the engine. It only takes 10 to 20 seconds and it stops condensation from destroying your sensor.
Some units are faster or slower to display , but the sensor output is analog. So essentially instant. Wired into your ECU it shouldn't be a problem.
Cheers
Fred
I got the AEM in about a month ago - very pleased!
Very happy so far with the Autometer WB. I like it the best of the ones I've tried so far.
Jim
I am using a Speed Hut gauge. All the electronics are in the gauge so it is easier to install (I did not really have room for the AEM module behind the console where the gauge is). It works quite well. I noticed it is about 1/2 to 1 unit leaner when running on ethanol containing gas. I run on ethanol free gas in WI and only use ethanol gas on trips outside the state.