you know, I was thinking, is there any possible way that you could use a knock sensor to actually listen to an engine wile you are driving a vehicle?
A knock sensor is just a microphone [that's what i've been told].
If you had a small amp. and a set of headphones maybe this could work.
Afterall, the whole issue with an advance curve is to avoid "knock" . Even better would be a way to record it along with the other engine parameters at the same time. Then you could really figure out the optimum advance curves along with the saftey margine for the knock. I know this might sound crazy but I was just wondering if anyone had tried this yet?
I've got a feeling that you cannot hear all the knock that is happening by listening to the engine while you are driving. I know some oldtime mechanics probably can tell when detonation occurs just by the feel of the engine and reading sparkplugs but just trying a new way to do this might reveal some interesting results. Oh well just my .02 worth.
Any comments welcome!...........ENJOY!..........

_________________
1979 W150 Shortbox
225, NP435, 9 1/4, Dana 44

The Good Life.

I have a knock sensor for my set up (Ford 4.2 L) set I would be interested if someone gets this to work.
Frank

_________________
Scrapple: Because a mind is a terrible thing to waste.
73 Duster - Race Car
66 Dart Wagon - DD
178" FED
82 D150
All Slant powered

We have a setup like this - it's some sort of Bionic Ear type thing wired to a knock sensor. Works a bit better than most filtering circuits if you know what to listen for. Still, you often have a long ways you can advance the timing between where it makes peak power and where it knocks - on a lot of engines, the "advance it till it knocks, then back it off 1-2 degrees" school of tuning makes significantly less power, and is a lot riskier to the engine.

_________________
"Mad Scientist" Matt Cramer
'66 Dart - turbocharged 225
My blog - Mad Scientist Matt's Lair

Matt
I would agree there. I just would want the computer to sense any knock and shut it down.
Frank

_________________
Scrapple: Because a mind is a terrible thing to waste.
73 Duster - Race Car
66 Dart Wagon - DD
178" FED
82 D150
All Slant powered

Yeah, you don't want to hit knock while tuning - I was kind of responding to a couple different questions at once.

_________________
"Mad Scientist" Matt Cramer
'66 Dart - turbocharged 225
My blog - Mad Scientist Matt's Lair

thanks for reply.
how much "cruise advance/ light throttle" is a good starting point for a slant. Does the 3.4 bore need a lot of advance. . The only reason I was wondering is because I had a slant that liked to "knock" alot but the other ones I have owned did not do this.

_________________
1979 W150 Shortbox
225, NP435, 9 1/4, Dana 44

The Good Life.