Long time ago I promised some of you a status report regarding the
usefullness of a lambda oxygen sensor.
The conclusion is that it does all I had expected, and more. I will
certainly never ever change an exhaust system on any of my cars without
adding one. For $30 and an hour work you suddenly get full control of what
is happening in the combustion chambers.
What you need in addition is an accurate voltmeter; you'll find perfectly
good enough digital instruments at approx $20. I'm looking at several
options for a more permanent solution, preferably one which gives the
lambda reading directly. The display of three LEDs sold at various racing
shops is pretty useless.
You'll get full monitoring of the mixture under all conditions, all the
way from lambda (excess air ratio) from 0.7 to 1.3. The reaction to load
variations is instantaneous, and all indications I have is that the
readings are pretty accurate, too.
Together with a vacuum instrument and the Lucas manual, it enables you to
set up the mixture for the Lucas mechanical injection correctly for all
conditions (surprisingly accurately so, given the simlicity of the control
system).
I've now set it up to lambda 0.9 for the WOT region, between 1.0 to 1.03
for medium throttle, and approaching 1.1 under very light load conditions.
It should work equally well for setting up a carburettor.
I can only guesstimate that many may save 10-20% on their petrol bill,
and increase power by 5% by setting the mixture up properly.
Further details available at:
http://www.sn.no/~egilk/t_tune.html
Egil
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Email: egilk@sn.no Voice: +47 22523641, 92022780 Fax: +47 22525899
Snail: Egil Kvaleberg, Husebybakken 14A, 0379 Oslo, Norway
URL: http://www.sn.no/home/egilk/
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