DIY: Knock Sensor

[Rasteirinho]

Hi,

I found this article which i think is very interesting.

http://www.autospeed.com/cms/article.html?&A=0353

I will make a knock sensor like this just to see if it's more efficient than the det-can.

[GrayW]

There are many specialised knock detection devices available from £50 upwards. The only problem being to be effective if you need to know what you are listening for.
With a correctly setup OEM ECU you will have a real problem actually hearing any DET on cans or sensor.

[Kes]

That's very similar to what I use, it works ok as long as you know what to listen for. From what I keep reading on here though, I won't need it on the Evo...

[AndyF]

To be honest Kes,
The std ECU is that good at pulling timing it is very rare to actually hear any det on a set of cans etc.

This is why certain 'tuners' get away with putting silly timing numbers into the ignition maps. The car will run quite well on it's 1st run before it reduces to running more towards the lo octane map and so you can get some really good rolling road figures to prove your mapping is the best ever.

However without actually knowing if the car is detecting knock or not then the owner will never know. This is one of the advantages of having the CEL flash on knock. People can then see if their car is knocking and do something about it.

Having said that though, quite a few std cars would cause the light to flash so it's not as if it's going to be hugely detrimental to the engine with knock counts that are in the low range (i.e. 0-5).

Andy