What knock sensing equipment to use??

[trickymex]

Hi,

Just need some advice with the purchase of some knock sensing equipment, there seems to be a very wide choice from simple to the very complicated and i dont know where to start

So what would you suggest for mapping purposes of turbo charged engines


Thank you

Ricky

[Guy Croft]

This is just not an easy thing to determine.

Knock sensors require specific 'tuning' by engine to achieve proper separation of the dangerous frequencies so that the information can be fed to the ecu and the ignition adjusted accordingly.This is a fantastically complicated task. Every engine is different and even finding optimum location for the knock sensor on the engine is tricky. Everything I have read (which is a lot) tells me that firms engaged in this are still struggling to find a 'universal fitment' solution despite knock sensors having been around since the early 90's. I would have no confidence in any non-OE aftermarket knock sensor system unless I had personally data-logged it on a dynamometer at borderline knock, which of course is itself very risky unless you're using a test unit to do it on.

As far as using an OE one, well, on a modified engine it may just not work. The best solution in my view is to try and achieve a really thorough state of calibration of fuel and ignition and keep the charge/engine temperatures low (say 45 deg C max/75 deg C max) and make sure the system has a fully-functional inlet air temp sensor that has sufficient range to cope with rolling-road and outdoor temperatures.

GC

GC