I want to install an A/F meter and would appreciate some advice. If there is a decent quality 2” meter I would probably go with that but I’m not married to the idea of an in dash meter. I don’t want cheap and I don’t want big bucks either, something in the middle somewhere would do.
I’ve got this one “temporarily” set up in my T. Was a low cost kit complete with sensor, weld in bung, and full wiring harness. Trimmed the harness so I could connect with alligator clips, and tucked the gage down in the corner below the seat. Guess a couple years isn’t so “temporary”, but it’s nice to see what’s goin on up at al***ude. I’ll pull it out someday…
I use a Innovate dual sensor on my car but it has twin turbos. It works very very well. I welded O2 bungs into my exhaust collectors, a 363" V8 ford.
I have this one in my truck, https://speedhut.com/gauge-applicat...**og-out-o2-gauge-8-5-18/?dd-link=0ldtcryzj5b I went with the bigger diameter for easier to read. I picked color and font that closely matches my stock gauges. It was a tremendous help in getting the dual Carters to run better, fuel mileage went way up, smell went down, and over all driving much improved. I have it mounted and watch it more then the speedometer, it will show the difference when switching fuel stations or fuel grades and temperature outside. They went up in price since I bought mine. Mine was acting up not reading right, so I called asking to purchase a new O2s, fellow on the phone ask for my address and sent a new no charge, no questions asked. Can't beat that for customer service!
I’ve been using this one for the last 7-8 years. I also run leaded fuel on occasion, which you’re not supposed to do, but doesn’t seem have to affected its operation. https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&ai...YOG76eSA**XFDQIHaelKk8Q5bgDKAB6BAgKEAs&adurl=
Not Kevin but I use the Innovate with 2 sensors. Absolutely helps. Can also see different tps. Because each one of mine is sampling 4 cylinders you may have to tweak a little to hit the sweet spot. Also any uncured silicon will toast the sensor. Another thing that can hurt them is gas additives.
I'm running an Autometer gauge. If you've never run one on anything it will make you realize how screwed up all your other cars have been. "Out of the box" carbs are usually not even close on a modified motor.
The A/F gage was added to help me dial in my custom made dual Winfield setup. Fuel ratio adjustments are easy when you can simply watch the gage, but next is the accelerator charge. Cool thing is I can see the live feedback when romping on the throttle, bummer is that custom components have to be made to adjust the accelerator charge volume. But at least I can see what it’s doing, takes a lot of the guess work out
I've been having a surging issue on heavy acceleration. I got a lot of it solved, but think part of what remains is still carb tuning. I've been considering trying an AFR gauge to try to further resolve the issue (or tell me if it's the converter instead).
Jes sayin'. I spent way more than a decade reading the Fordbarn Early V8 page. There was a camshaft guru may he rest in peace Ol' Ron Halloran. He had a practical approach to all modifications. Always he would insist on using an AF meter.
One needs to under stand , Carb & MFI is not EFI . Tunning with a O 2 is a big Help & understanding what going on in fueling / Afr's But not each individual cylinder unless you use a O2 or Etg on each separate bank. If O2 is installed it's average of all those cylinders Not what going on in each separate intake runner. There a trade off you either tune for Idle to Cruise , Or Cruise Or Cruise to Wot Or Wot . There is Only so much you can do with One or multiple carbs feeding multiple Cylinders ,,, Intake design other factors , to get to Close what Efi is , is to have One carb per cylinder , Runner length matters , Some short compared to other being Long .. You can play with different spark plugs Per cylinders , Heat range & plug designs . You can go deep in Rabbit Hole trying to be Close to perfect Afr , Economy to Performance. My self if I do not have control over each separate cylinder I instal the O2 On the "Leanest " of the Cylinders & make that One happy & tune off it . Again its Give & Take with a Carb or Multiple Carburetors ... & you have not discussed other factors of engine workings , Just for example , We say Engine Let's say a 4 cly , but Each cylinder is a separate power / Energy maker So each cylinder needs separate requirements , But We try to balance all 4 equal .. Bla Bla Bla Yes O2 good tool to have , But you can get lost ,chasing your tail watching the numbers from Idle ,Cruise , WOT
If you want to take the O2 sensor to the next level, with a carb, check out www.thecarbcheater.com It's not efi, but it fine tunes the carb in real time over varying loads and rpm's.
Yes O2 good tool to have , But you can get lost ,chasing your tail watching the numbers from Idle ,Cruise , WOT[/QUOTE] This is very true, you can't just chase what is supposed to be an ideal ratio, you have to pay attention to what the motor says it wants. As an example, my big block Mopar will get a lean surge at cruise if it gets over about 15/1 at cruise, but a lot of what I've read says cruise can be much leaner than that for fuel economy. It all depends on your build. I found David Vizards book "How to Super Tune and Modify Holley Carburetors" very useful.
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