i know it's better to have this than a regular a/f gauge running of the stock narrowband, but just how much better?

 

its better if your wanna know your ACTUAL a/f ratio

they are kinda pricey however

dont buy one of those narrowband ones....thats rice son

 

yea, i've been looking around... they're all cheap (the narrowband ones) but after consulting with the techs who are helping with my turbo install.. they say to wideband... i've already spent so much on this... blarg

 

narrowband - this type of sensor will tell you if you are running rich or lean
wideband - this type of sensor will tell you HOW MUCH you are running rich or lean

with a gauge hooked up to a narrowband, you will see the light/arrow pointing all the way rich or all the way lean. with a gauge hooked up to a wideband, the light/arrow will point to the actual a/f ratio you are running.

 

yup! autometer a/f gauge= worthless. I laugh everytime I see someone with one!

 

Narrowbands work off of 1 volt. Anything below 14.7:1 will show rich, anything above 14.7:1 will show lean. So while tuning, you could actually be at 14.1:1 a/f and read rich but in actuality you are running lean.

Widebands work off of 5 volts allowing you to accurately read from 9.99:1 a/f up to 20:1 a/f. These allow you to accurately see exactly where your a/f's are.

 

Go with the wideband. I learned the hard way with my turbo setup by purchasing a narrowband (didn't do enough research) and it basically read rich all the time. I finally realized it was crap and bought an AEM UEGO and found out I was actually running in the 14-13:1 range. It's a miracle that my motor didn't blow up.

The moral of the story is, do it right the first time.

 

are regular a/f gauges compatible if i get a wideband sensor seperately?

 

You'll pay an arm and a leg for just a sensor alone.

Get the plx m300, GREAT wideband for only 299 plus shipping

 

PLX (or maybe it's another company) makes a converter to convert a wideband signal to be used on a narrowband gauge, but in my opinion, it's not very useful. Most wideband gauges give an LED display read-out of the exact A/F along with the sweeping LED lights while the narrowband gauge doesn't, leaving you to "guess" what the A/F is by which sweeping LED is lit up at the time.

Save your money and buy the right parts the first time. I recommend this ebay seller, AEM EUGO with everything you need, brand new in the box for $289 w/ free shipping.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...66787

 

thats the same one as this right? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...&rd=1

 

Looks like it

 

My aem uego can put out the 5 volt signal as well as the converted 1 volt signal.. I run the 5 volt to the ecu and the 1 volt to the autometer guage. I still dont trust the autometer guage though.

Anyways, I'd buy the aem guage type unit and have an accurate guage also and should be compatable with a stock or aftermarket ecu.