so i noticed that my led light for the knocksense will stay on for another second or 2 after I go into neutral after a pull that detects knock. is it possible for the motor to continue knocking in neutral with no load or is the sensor picking up false readings?

 

for what its worth i sanded the plug (great idea) and did a pull, killing it right at 7000 when the light was on. timing mark is right on the bend on the ground strap, so id say its a moderate/appropriate amount of timing. there was pretty much no stuff on the porcelain down deep into the plug and just a few small spots of flaked off carbon on the piston top so maybe its just slightly knocking?...

the light comes on even if i hit it in 2nd gear which unloads the tires and spins right to the limiter. would it knock with no load or am i picking up motor noise

 

when the load on the engine is reduced due to loss of traction and keeping it at full throttle, I've found it typically reduces knock, aka reduces the need for timing retard.
its also fairly impossible to knock on engine decel or in neutral, or anytime you're at 0% throttle.

I'd guess you're picking up engine noise. aftermarket valve springs often cause valvetrain noise that the knock sensor thinks is knock, this is a big reason why knock threshold is adjustable in most tuning platforms.

 

You can't really use ground strap for timing. It is inaccurate. The porcelain would reveal detonation better.

Ground strap reading is to be used for proper spark plug heat range selection.
I know a lot of people will disagree but it is what it is...

 

in that case the porcelain is clean once you get into the plug all the way down. just a bit of fuel additive deposit in the part that protrudes from the plug


that said what about the tiny spots on the piston top that are carbon free. I was under the assumption that detonation was the cause of knocking the carbon off.

 

Carbon always comes on and off on the piston top. It's a normal cycle. Don't worry about knock in neutral since it's extra noised picked up by knocksense.

 

I agree with motoxxxman.

 

thanks for the help guys, i think im all set. i turned the sensitivity just about all the way down and the light stayed off. plugs verified no detonation there are no specs etc on the porcelain especially the bottom 80% of it. i guess i became too used to just trusting the light and not the spark plugs...this forged piston motor sure is noisier than the previous motor i had the knocksense on thats for sure.