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tips, technology, tools and techniques related to vehicle driveline components

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Moderator
Curtis Jacobson
Portland Oregon
(4576 posts)

Registered:
10/12/2007 02:16AM

Main British Car:
71 MGBGT, Buick 215

authors avatar
AEM Wideband Air Fuel Ratio Gauge
Posted by: Moderator
Date: May 24, 2009 06:10PM

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...


67MGBV8
Chris Jones
Denver, Colorado
(36 posts)

Registered:
10/24/2007 03:11PM

Main British Car:
1967 MGB Tourer 215 c.i. Buick

authors avatar
Re: AEM Wideband Air Fuel Ratio Gauge
Posted by: 67MGBV8
Date: May 25, 2009 04:39PM

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-fuel, vac, volt gauges.JPG



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/2009 04:45PM by 67MGBV8.


kstevusa
kelly stevenson
Southern Middle Tennessee
(985 posts)

Registered:
10/25/2007 09:37AM

Main British Car:
2003 Jaguar XK8 Coupe 4.2L DOHC/ VVT / 6sp. AT

authors avatar
Re: AEM Wideband Air Fuel Ratio Gauge
Posted by: kstevusa
Date: May 25, 2009 04:50PM

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!


donfaber
Don Faber
Terra Alta WV
(111 posts)

Registered:
10/31/2007 10:53PM

Main British Car:
1979 MGB 3.9L Rover V8

authors avatar
Re: AEM Wideband Air Fuel Ratio Gauge
Posted by: donfaber
Date: June 03, 2023 02:00PM

I want to install an air fuel ratio sensor and gauge in my 79B (Rover 3.9L, edelbrock 1404 carb). Any recommendations?


MGBV8
Carl Floyd
Kingsport, TN
(4511 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 11:32PM

Main British Car:
1979 MGB Buick 215

authors avatar
Re: AEM Wideband Air Fuel Ratio Gauge
Posted by: MGBV8
Date: June 03, 2023 06:38PM

I use an Innovate tailpipe O2 tester. Works great. They make a number of permanent solutions.


[www.innovatemotorsports.com]


Spitfire 350
Phil McConnell
Perrysburg, OH (Toledo area)
(257 posts)

Registered:
01/11/2010 09:19PM

Main British Car:
74 Spitfire 350Chevy

authors avatar
Re: AEM Wideband Air Fuel Ratio Gauge
Posted by: Spitfire 350
Date: June 03, 2023 07:07PM

I have an Edelbrock led model mounted to my dash. I'll text you a photo, I still have your number.


Moderator
Curtis Jacobson
Portland Oregon
(4576 posts)

Registered:
10/12/2007 02:16AM

Main British Car:
71 MGBGT, Buick 215

authors avatar
Re: AEM Wideband Air Fuel Ratio Gauge
Posted by: Moderator
Date: June 04, 2023 01:12AM

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.



donfaber
Don Faber
Terra Alta WV
(111 posts)

Registered:
10/31/2007 10:53PM

Main British Car:
1979 MGB 3.9L Rover V8

authors avatar
Re: AEM Wideband Air Fuel Ratio Gauge
Posted by: donfaber
Date: June 04, 2023 08:48AM

Thanks to all!


BlownMGB-V8
Jim Blackwood
9406 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
(6468 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 12:59PM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB Blown,Injected,Intercooled Buick 340/AA80E/JagIRS

authors avatar
Re: AEM Wideband Air Fuel Ratio Gauge
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: June 04, 2023 09:07AM

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


turbodave
dave cox

(181 posts)

Registered:
04/30/2018 03:00PM

Main British Car:
SD1

Re: AEM Wideband Air Fuel Ratio Gauge
Posted by: turbodave
Date: June 05, 2023 08:51PM

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.


MGBV8
Carl Floyd
Kingsport, TN
(4511 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 11:32PM

Main British Car:
1979 MGB Buick 215

authors avatar
Re: AEM Wideband Air Fuel Ratio Gauge
Posted by: MGBV8
Date: June 12, 2023 12:36PM

"Then they launched a disaster of a product (the LM-2) "

How so, Dave?


minorv8
Jukka Harkola

(268 posts)

Registered:
04/08/2009 06:50AM

Main British Car:
Morris Minor Rover V8

Re: AEM Wideband Air Fuel Ratio Gauge
Posted by: minorv8
Date: June 13, 2023 02:49AM

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.


BlownMGB-V8
Jim Blackwood
9406 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
(6468 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 12:59PM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB Blown,Injected,Intercooled Buick 340/AA80E/JagIRS

authors avatar
Re: AEM Wideband Air Fuel Ratio Gauge
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: June 13, 2023 10:26AM

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


MGBV8
Carl Floyd
Kingsport, TN
(4511 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 11:32PM

Main British Car:
1979 MGB Buick 215

authors avatar
Re: AEM Wideband Air Fuel Ratio Gauge
Posted by: MGBV8
Date: June 14, 2023 08:33AM

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

[www.plxdevices.net]


turbodave
dave cox

(181 posts)

Registered:
04/30/2018 03:00PM

Main British Car:
SD1

Re: AEM Wideband Air Fuel Ratio Gauge
Posted by: turbodave
Date: June 16, 2023 07:14AM

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.



BlownMGB-V8
Jim Blackwood
9406 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
(6468 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 12:59PM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB Blown,Injected,Intercooled Buick 340/AA80E/JagIRS

authors avatar
Re: AEM Wideband Air Fuel Ratio Gauge
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: June 16, 2023 10:05AM

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


turbodave
dave cox

(181 posts)

Registered:
04/30/2018 03:00PM

Main British Car:
SD1

Re: AEM Wideband Air Fuel Ratio Gauge
Posted by: turbodave
Date: June 16, 2023 02:10PM

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...


BlownMGB-V8
Jim Blackwood
9406 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
(6468 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 12:59PM

Main British Car:
1971 MGB Blown,Injected,Intercooled Buick 340/AA80E/JagIRS

authors avatar
Re: AEM Wideband Air Fuel Ratio Gauge
Posted by: BlownMGB-V8
Date: June 17, 2023 09:25AM

I think it was to make sure it was impossible to repair and resell.

Jim


DiDueColpi
Fred Key
West coast - Canada
(1365 posts)

Registered:
05/14/2010 03:06AM

Main British Car:
I really thought that I'd be an action figure by now!

authors avatar
Re: AEM Wideband Air Fuel Ratio Gauge
Posted by: DiDueColpi
Date: June 23, 2023 07:27PM

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


donfaber
Don Faber
Terra Alta WV
(111 posts)

Registered:
10/31/2007 10:53PM

Main British Car:
1979 MGB 3.9L Rover V8

authors avatar
Re: AEM Wideband Air Fuel Ratio Gauge
Posted by: donfaber
Date: October 22, 2023 08:24AM

I got the AEM in about a month ago - very pleased!
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