Wideband benefits?

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Perrin21

Member
OK so heres a rookie question. What are the benefits of wideband and do i need it? Im sure most here are farmiliar with my car. I will be having it mapped by fusion, and eventually it will have an uprated Turbo GT2871R. The power i will be aiming for is 375BHP but the engine internals will be standard. (Unless im advised otherwise, not sure where to start).

I had my car recently dynoed and i was informed it is running very rich and that a wideband would be useful. To be honest im not even sure what wideband is, however i have been googling and have learned a fair bit already about air fuel ratios. The car will be mapped by Edd and would this be something that would improve the mapping? Would having wideband improve fuel economy after the remap also? How else would it benefit my car?. Im learning all the time so any information would be helpful. Thanks all. Sorry if its beneath some.

Mark.
 
campbellju

campbellju

Moderators
Staff member
Absolutely. 3! elbow, dawes device and afr gauge are the first 3 things I'd do if I started again.

You've got it running at 1.1bar now, is it safe? Probably but always good to be certain. What happens at 1.2bar? what happens at 1.3bar? Many people have run at 1.2bar on a standard ecu without issues. Some people disagree and as a purist I would too but whether the fuelling is tuned in a motec or fudged with an fpr, the air doesn't care as long as there is the right amount of fuel there. The AFR gauge tells you whetehr or not there was the right amount of fuel.

Buy a unit that has the electronics in the gauge like AEM as it reduces calibration and compatibility issues. Follow the instructions and intall it about 2ft from your turbo outlet.

With an AFR gauge you can see what the engine's is doing so fault finding in the future becomes much easier.

Look at Skiddusmarkus' posts to see you can't just throw bits at an engine, throw it at a tuner and expect 375hp. I had the same problem with mine and when I mapped Andy's car I spent 80% of the time fixing faults
 
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Perrin21

Member
campbellju said:
Absolutely. 3! elbow, dawes device and afr gauge are the first 3 things I'd do if I started again.

You've got it running at 1.1bar now, is it safe? Probably but always good to be certain. What happens at 1.2bar? what happens at 1.3bar? Many people have run at 1.2bar on a standard ecu without issues. Some people disagree and as a purist I would too but whether the fuelling is tuned in a motec or fudged with an fpr, the air doesn't care as long as there is the right amount of fuel there. The AFR gauge tells you whetehr or not there was the right amount of fuel.

Buy a unit that has the electronics in the gauge like AEM as it reduces calibration and compatibility issues. Follow the instructions and intall it about 2ft from your turbo outlet.

With an AFR gauge you can see what the engine's is doing so fault finding in the future becomes much easier.

Look at Skiddusmarkus' posts to see you can't just throw bits at an engine, throw it at a tuner and expect 375hp. I had the same problem with mine and when I mapped Andy's car I spent 80% of the time fixing faults
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Thats the reason i backed off last week and set it at just 1.0bar boost. Im not going to up it until its been mapped properly. Thanks for your advice, every bit of info helps my learning curve. I was thinking of the AEM as this one is used by many here with good results. Im pretty sure Spikey has found all of the faults in the engine, there werent many so im on the right track.
 
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Fast Guy

Fast Guy

Moderators
Staff member
Perrin21 said:
Would having wideband improve fuel economy after the remap also? How else would it benefit my car?.
Mark.
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No. Because a wideband is a just gauge/read out to let you see the air fuel ratio more accurately than a narrow band can.

It's not a tool as such that YOU can use (although it's what a mapper will use), but if you keep an eye on it you could pick up on potential problems (over fuelling/running lean) that you wouldn't otherwise be aware of. That's as long as you know what to keep an eye out for.

campbellju said:
whether the fuelling is tuned in a motec or fudged with an fpr, the air doesn't care as long as there is the right amount of fuel there. The AFR gauge tells you whether or not there was the right amount of fuel.
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I'd say the air couldn't careless about how much fuel is there, it will just do it's best to help burn the fuel at whatever speed that maybe, but the pistons will definately mind if the correct fuel isn't there as they melt to show you their displeasure. You can even melt the cylinder head to a degree if you do a good enough job.:shock:
 
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geoff pine

Well-Known Member
Well as you don't have the bells and whistles off a fancy boost controller get one to and more lights and a new gauge for your dash :lol: :lol:










On a more serious note y ou have sorted your water cooling out ! oil cooler you don't really need on a road car which does your mileage. start with a after market oil pressure and temp gauge water temp gauge and sensors then a/f gauge then maybe a egt gauge you will then know exactly what you engine is doing :thumbsup:and get Jon to make you a 3" front pipe turbo to cat back .
 
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Perrin21

Member
geoff pine said:
Well as you don't have the bells and whistles off a fancy boost controller get one to and more lights and a new gauge for your dash :lol: :lol:

On a more serious note you have sorted your water cooling out ! oil cooler you don't really need on a road car which does your mileage. start with a after market oil pressure and temp gauge water temp gauge and sensors then a/f gauge then maybe a egt gauge you will then know exactly what you engine is doing :thumbsup:and get Jon to make you a 3" front pipe turbo to cat back .
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The 3" elbow and downpipe are on wednesdays menu. along with fitting the whiteline adjustable Rear ARB (weather permitting)
 
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MarkTurbo

Well-Known Member
Its handy to have a wideband fitted to keep an eye on things, I'm greedy and have 2 :lol:

I've got an old techedge which i use for setting up the car as you need to connect it to a laptop, that one logs afr's and rpm. And i've got an Innovate mtx which is permanently in the car.
 
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