I'm going back and forth on ordering an Innovative Motorsports MTX-L AFR gauge/sensor kit off of Amazon.....the price is good, around $155.

I'm thinking about getting one just to keep an eye on my AFR's to make sure I don't wreck a motor. I have a 2003 JCW that is pretty much stock......and I'm going to be putting a 17% pulley on it soon. I know there are tons of people out there that run 17% pulleys on stock MCS's with no issues.....but I figure that it might be nice to see what kind of AFR's I'm actually getting.

Who else runs an AFR gauge? Was it worth it? Where did you install the sensor? Did you notice the stock MCS tune to be really rich, or really lean?

 

thats the one ill be using, came with my byteronic kit, havent installed it yet tho, i need to put it on my new header

 

you are gonna need to weld in another bung before that cat. if you are cat less doesnt matter but make sure its not too far away from the collector.

i plan in getting a afr gauge as well just waiting to get my exhaust system situated first.

the stock s tune is rich but does lean out at wot with mods like a pulley and exhaust, ect..

 

I have one also (AFR Innovate), I bought it off eBay from Real Street Performance for 150.oo works good, I was originally looking at the Byteronic tuner also, but ultimately did not go with it.

Is it worth it? - If you want to see whats going on Yes it is worth it.

Sensor is installed in the end of the Header collector.

A little Rich at WOT

If you are going to do logging, I would really look at the AEM unit, as it is USB and not serial, my Laptop is Win7 64bit and finding a USB to Serial that works well with 64Bit OS is not always easy. The other advantage is the AEM can be calibrated with having to take the sensor out of the pipe.

 

My AFR meter plugs straight in to the Bytetronic flash gadget, with the add on cable.. The Wideband set-up Byetronic sent me is from "Innovate"

Trying to get a "bung" welded "Pre Cat" in California is nuts!! In the end, a buddy did it for bottle of Scotch...

 

OK I could see using the Innovate if it plugs right in to the Bytetronic setup.

I had to deal with a little bit of the same crap, we dont have the emission crap, but I had a shop I know quote me on it, and they said 2 hours, ended up taking all day, the header had to come out, yadda yadda they lost on that deal and in the end the tech did not even put all the factory wires back in the right places.

 

So you have to pull the header off of the motor in order to install the bung for the wideband o2 sensor? There is no other location for it? I would think a muffler should would be able to get up under the car and weld one in pretty easy, without taking anything off the car.

 

It has to be above the 3 or 9 o'clock position, hard to weld the upper part of the bung without removal

 

Why does it have to be mounted up high like that (just trying to educate myself). Thanks!

 

You have to keep moisture out of the sensor.

And nothing wrong with educating yourself, some people on some of these forums, are not really willing to share information and get rude about answering questions, there is no need for that.

I have no problem answering questions, as i had to learn also.

 

Ditto on ^^this ^^ of its below or at horizontal moisture will collect on the sensor base instead of falling/dripping off.

I of course use the Innovative/Bytetronik setup too, but Innovative does offer their own software to log & read, just doesn't cover the same info as Bytetronik, but it is an option.
IMO a really good thing to have if you're engine modding, saves you from running to a shop w/ a sniffer every time you make a change, and gives you real time/real world info on the fly even w/o logging, esp. since our fuel systems are vacuum regulated, too big of a vacuum leak and your car will lean out under WOT @ higher RPM. (my gauge actually saved me on this point.)

 

Thanks for all the info guys. That's one thing I love about NAM, people are always willing to help others out.

As far as pulling the stock header off....how big of a deal is that? Will I need all new gaskets, or can I reuse the old ones? I'm in the process of doing some other work on my car right now....so it would be a good time for me to have a bung welded in for a wide band sensor.

 

It's 10 bolts, And a set of jack stands. 8 bolts for the header 2 for the exhaust..
Undo the header from the top, disconnect the rest of the exhaust. Pull the header out from the bottom. Gaskets are cheap.. get a torque wrench, serpentine the tightening sequence when you put the header back on, you don't wanna warp your header.

Edit: you will need a sensor wrench.

 

nGauge will get you AFR without the rest of the install hassle. Reads the OBDII. The whole thing installs in 5 minutes.

 

That won't work on an R53 (1st gen) mini. They only have narrow band O2 sensors from the factory, whereas the newer MINI's have wide band O2 sensors from the factory.

No matter what....for a 1st gen R53 mini, you're going to need to install a wide band o2 sensor into your exhaust.

 

The PLX can replace your narrowband sensor with a wideband, and offered a buffered narrowband output for the ECU. So no need to drill and weld. All you need to do is safely hook up some 10W resistors to fool the OEM plug heater circuit.

You can either go DM-6 + AFR box kit for $250, or the OBDII touch + AFR module route at about $500 total and get a lot more features.

 

Where can I get the wideband replacement sensor for the R53?

 

Since R53 shipped with a narrow band sensor, the wideband sensor would be something that was added aftermarket.

I'd go with a BOSCH WB sensor assuming your aftermarket WB AFR meter supports it, which it should.

 

taking the stock header off is not terribly difficult. comes out fairly easy, and you probably can re-use the gasket; its metal.i could have prolly reused mine (had 100k on it) it still looked just like the new one i bought (which are only like $13 anyway).

now if your putting a new set of headers in, be prepared for some bleeding and cursing! lol. i had to shove mine in through the TOP of the engine, as i could not get the headers past the front sway bar. amazingly there is room to do just that, and knowing before hand will save you some time on the install.

 

I picked up an Innovate LC-2 sideband sensor. It includes one analog channel to simulate a narrowband sensor.
Does anyone know which wires should be connected to what for this one? Which of the 4 wires on the MINI narrowband sensor is the signal wire?

 

Great find. Having an additional bung installed on to an exhaust pipe has always been a pita.

 

Don’t try this with stock ECU. It won’t like it. It won’t even run correctly with non-NGK/NTK narrowband sensor.

Add a bung.

 

****. I was all stoked about this. Well, thanks for the heads up.

 

Recently got some Scorpion headers which have the extra bung already there so thought I'd take advantage of it and install A/F ratio monitoring since at some point (likely after cam install), I will be getting a tune and I think it'd be crucial to be able to know what's what as far as A/F goes.

At first I was looking at the popular Innovate unit,
but after research I started leaning towards the AEM:

https://www.aemelectronics.com/produ...el-controllers

:


Even further research though led me to other appealing alternatives as well,
like I highly doubt I'd be looking at the actual gauge while spiritedly driving with intensity,
so I'm more interested in the datalogging aspect...

...I like the simplicity of this bluetooth unit:

https://pe-ltd.com/product/wideband/

Any opinions on such a setup?

I learned about it on GRM,
they installed one on an MR2:

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/pr...el-ratios-and/

:

:


Other (more expensive) options are:

https://www.bmotorsports.com/shop/pr...oducts_id/2337

&


https://www.fuelairspark.com/gasolin...le-sensor.html

:

Would love to hear more opinions and advice on this topic!

Thanks.

 

Have the 2nd 02 turned off in your tune and use that spot then for the wideband.. BAM !