I'm in the market to scoop both of these up sometime soon. Suggestions as to what you have and or have used and what you like about them? Not looking to spend tall cash on bells and whistles, i'm more conserned about accuracy..

 

I've used Innovate LM-1 for a wideband and the device worked very well. The key with the bosch sensor to mount further down the exhaust stream to keep it from overheating.

I've used Prosport EGT gauge before but they've had some issues in the past. My first one died within a couple of weeks but second free replacement worked great for a long time.

 

Do you know how far down is recomended? I'm actually going to be using it on my plymouth laser, and am going to have my downpipe and exhaust made later this week.

 

Well, I've seen a lot of people preach about mounting it as close to a turbo as possible to get accurate readings. I strongly advise against it. That approach makes no sense and can kill the sensor quickly. The sensor is operated with a heater circuit which keeps it at a certain temperature which is critical to accurate readings. There is however no way to cool the sensor while it's operating. So, as long as the EGTs stay below that limit, you'll get good readings and the sensor will last a long time. If you place it too close to the turbo or the exhaust port where EGTs are high, it'll overheat, produce bad readings and burn up quickly. Also, having it further down stream allows the exahust stream to stabilize, reduce turbulence and minimize pressure fluctuations which is also very important to having accurate readings.

Some people claim that you will get inaccurate readings further downstream but if you apply common sense, you will realize that the sensor is measuring the amount of oxygen molecules in the stream, not the flow of the stream. So, as long as you don't have a leak in the exhaust, the amount of oxygen in the stream will be the same 6" away from the turbo or 3 ft away from the turbo because it still has to flow by the sensor and out the tail pipe.

All this being said, placing too close to the tail pipe will contaminate the readings too because you'll get back wash from the oxygen entering the exhaust from the other end. So, somewhere in the middle is a good place to put it in. I had mine placed about 3ft away from the turbo and that worked really well.

Innovate recommends that if you think the sensor will get really hot, you can help it dissipate the heat by adding a heatsink to it. Aluminum plate with a hole that the sensor goes through when it is mounted is fine. I'd use copper since it has better thermal properties. So, bend a small copper plate in a shape of a C, drill a hole through it just big enough for the sensor to go through it and screw it down.

Obviosly, your EGTs will dictate what you can get away with. Generally, NA cars will produce lower EGTs but that is not always the case. EGTs are dependant on your tune. Timing and AFR will have probably the biggest influence on them. I hope I explained it right to you

 

As for mounting EGT sensor, you want to be as close to the exhaust port as possible. I am talking inches here, maybe a foot at maximum. The further down the stream you go, the less accurate the readings are going to be. The gas exiting the chamber will cool very fast so even an extra foot can reduce the readings by as much a sevearl hundred degrees. I've seen it before where 2 sensors mounted 3 feet apart from eachother, 1 about 6 inches away from the head and the second one 3' further down reported a difference of 300F. Placement is everything in this case.