Gas Analyzers for tuning?
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iTrader: (11)
Joined: Mar 2002
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From: East Central Florida
Gas Analyzers for tuning? I see this low-end one in the Northern Tool catalog,
only mentions CO at 5% accuracy. 12V (battery
clamp) powered and a probe. Appears to have no
logging etc. But perhaps a more accurate tool
for real time, than a wideband O2 meter (which is
easily fooled by cam overlap, grounding, etc.).
At $209 it looks almost like a worthwhile tuning toy.
Anyone supplement their tuning tool kit with a gas
analyzer and if so, do you think it's provided you
any real benefit?
only mentions CO at 5% accuracy. 12V (battery
clamp) powered and a probe. Appears to have no
logging etc. But perhaps a more accurate tool
for real time, than a wideband O2 meter (which is
easily fooled by cam overlap, grounding, etc.).
At $209 it looks almost like a worthwhile tuning toy.
Anyone supplement their tuning tool kit with a gas
analyzer and if so, do you think it's provided you
any real benefit?
I use a Sun 4 gas infrared exhaust analyzer for open loop startup. A wideband is not terribly accurate for that anyway, as the PCM is toggling the air/fuel ratio rich/lean/rich/lean very quickly while watching for 02 response time and range. About all the wide band can do then is try to average the numbers under those conditions. Infrared analyzers are useless for WOT. Most exhaust analyzers can't handle that much volume anyway.
Thread Starter
Moderator
iTrader: (11)
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 12,604
Likes: 7
From: East Central Florida
I was looking at the paper copy of Northern Tools's
catalog from the mailbox. However this particular
box seems to be sold online by others as well. As I
look at some of the writeups though I am not inclined
to think this one is very useful. It wants to have a
steady operating point for a while (just like we drive
'em, yeah) to get an "accurate" reading. And its CO
reading is an approximation based on CO2 sampling
which seems hokey to me. I figure the sample gas
transport delay up the tube, is going to make for a
reading that's time-lagged to the point that it may
be impossible to say just where, you got what mixture.
Anyway, here are some links; there's an eBay guy who
has some backup material in his listing as well as the
Northern Tool item.
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...8179_200318179
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Gaste...QQcmdZViewItem
http://www.aep.bigstep.com/Gdigital.pdf
catalog from the mailbox. However this particular
box seems to be sold online by others as well. As I
look at some of the writeups though I am not inclined
to think this one is very useful. It wants to have a
steady operating point for a while (just like we drive
'em, yeah) to get an "accurate" reading. And its CO
reading is an approximation based on CO2 sampling
which seems hokey to me. I figure the sample gas
transport delay up the tube, is going to make for a
reading that's time-lagged to the point that it may
be impossible to say just where, you got what mixture.
Anyway, here are some links; there's an eBay guy who
has some backup material in his listing as well as the
Northern Tool item.
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...8179_200318179
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Gaste...QQcmdZViewItem
http://www.aep.bigstep.com/Gdigital.pdf
Had a 5 gas for driveability work but not alot of use for tuning. Pretty much worthless on wot because of the delay in the response time, etc. They do have a place in tuning for some applications but even then you need to spend several thousand to even get a DECENT gas analyzer. If you want to invest in one forget the handhelds and go with something that uses a Andros bench or something reliable like that. There are alot of terrible handhelds and other junk out there to pick from in the gas analyzer market.
Originally Posted by jimmyblue
I see this low-end one in the Northern Tool catalog,
only mentions CO at 5% accuracy. 12V (battery
clamp) powered and a probe. Appears to have no
logging etc. But perhaps a more accurate tool
for real time, than a wideband O2 meter (which is
easily fooled by cam overlap, grounding, etc.).
At $209 it looks almost like a worthwhile tuning toy.
Anyone supplement their tuning tool kit with a gas
analyzer and if so, do you think it's provided you
any real benefit?
only mentions CO at 5% accuracy. 12V (battery
clamp) powered and a probe. Appears to have no
logging etc. But perhaps a more accurate tool
for real time, than a wideband O2 meter (which is
easily fooled by cam overlap, grounding, etc.).
At $209 it looks almost like a worthwhile tuning toy.
Anyone supplement their tuning tool kit with a gas
analyzer and if so, do you think it's provided you
any real benefit?
