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Originally Posted by backman_z
Jaay, congradulations on the baby. Kids are great. I have 4 myself.
Anyway, I too am new to Boxsters and a lot of this tecnical jargon. Though I have done a lot of my own basic car maintenence and repairs, I have never done any performance mods to any of my cars.
Let me see if I can get this streight:
- This gets installed on the exhaust
- I presume it somehow gets hooked into the cars computer?
- It can help the cars computer to improve air/fuel ratios
- It can improve performance and I would also presume efficiency
Anything else missing?
Frans
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Aftermarket wide band O2 sensors include the sensor and a power/converter box that will power the sensor and convert the reading from the sensor to one that you can read. It also includes output signals so that the data can be read and collected by another device, like an ECU or laptop. This box almost always has a readout on it so that you don't really need to get another gauge. The output from a wideband sensor is NOT compatible with that of a narrow band sensor, so you can't just plug a wideband into your car and go. Widebands have outputs from 0-5V in a very linear fashion, narrow bands read from 0-1V and have a very non-linear characteristic.
You can get wide bands on your car in a couple of ways. You can add another bung to the header, as JAAY did and it will be completely independent of the existing feedback system.
They also have versions that will simulate a narrow band signal so that you can remove the O2 sensor that's already there, screw in the wide band, and plug the narrow band connector into the converter box.
Along with the wideband and converter box, you need some way to tune your AFR, either by controlling the DME or by interrupting the MAF signal that goes into the DME with another controller box. This box adjusts the MAF signal going into the DME to richen or lean the mixture for any given running condition.
The wideband is essential for proper engine tuning. It's the best way to know what your AFR is during non-cruising conditions. Having said that, if you're not tuning the car yourself, there's really no point to installing one.