Anybody have any experience using an AFR gauge?

[ARTEE]

I've been reading a bit about Air/Fuel ratio gauges and I'm wondering if anybody has had any real world experience using one to help dial in a carbureted EVO. I don't have easy access to a dyno and I'm thinking it could be a useful tool to give me some meaningful feedback other than the seat-in-saddle guesstimates. I can get a local fabricator to install the bung for the O2 sensor. Narrowband? Wideband? Thanks in advance for the thoughts.

[Heatnbeat]

Ah Ha! This thread is relevant to my interests!!!

I have no experience but I hope to in the next couple days.

I just bought an AEM wideband AFR. Hopefully I'll have a mount fabricated for it tomorrow and get it installed.
I'll post back when I know more

[whetsel.m]

I have one installed in my TC. It's a wideband hooked up to a lean shutdown switch for my nos. It displays afr in real time.

[98fxstc]

I used a dual input Innovate AFR meter
18mm bungs in the headers about 6" from the head
go to the Innovate site and do a bit of reading

[sbaumann14]

I put V&H Big Long Shots on my 99 Heritage.  They came with the bung already in em, had to get a plug to block them off.  would be useful to know

[ARTEE]

whetsel.m- Is your TC an EFI? How steady are the readings off the AFR gauge? I'm wondering if a wideband sensor is a bit much for trying to get a carb dialed in....though the majority of the setups I have seen are wideband.

98 fxstc- Yes, I was going to find a decent position in the head tube pretty close to the port. Did you use a heated sensor or is that close enough to the port to not need that? I've read around on several commercial websites, but they mostly seem "tuned" to the automotive group (pun intended); whose needs (and capabilities)are a little different. The amount of control available in a modern computer-controlled engine is amazing.  I've got tiny holes in brass fittings where gas gets pulled through with a vacuum, and I can maybe tweak the advance curve.

[whetsel.m]

My TC is efi, it's an '08. You can control how fast the afr's "refresh" on the gauge.

[tmwmoose]

I bought one online around 140.00 welded a 18mm bung in the front pipe on both my tc and evo .Course it fits in the Flht fairing so that's easy. yet to mount it on the evo .There fun to watch.I found If you have a lite spring on a cv carb it will fluctuate quite a bit were as on my Mikuni's they stay steady.I found it to get me pretty close but on my dyno its the final word on what the motor wants .

[Heatnbeat]

Well I have mine mounted and operational. I now have information, what I need next is knowledge.

So far I found my light throttle was pretty rich, light pulling 2500-3000 pretty good but harder pulling like on the 4 lane, running lean. I dropped from a 45 to a 42 on the pilot, light is great 2500-3000 border line lean. Now I need to fatten the mid/upper. Put washers under the needle? Does the main have any affect at all in the mid and upper, or only WFO? Stay tuned!

[JamesButler]

Well I have mine mounted and operational. I now have information, what I need next is knowledge.

So far I found my light throttle was pretty rich, light pulling 2500-3000 pretty good but harder pulling like on the 4 lane, running lean. I dropped from a 45 to a 42 on the pilot, light is great 2500-3000 border line lean. Now I need to fatten the mid/upper. Put washers under the needle? Does the main have any affect at all in the mid and upper, or only WFO? Stay tuned!

Maybe you'll nee to add a Thunder Jet to get the proper upper rpm circuit...

[ARTEE]

Well I have mine mounted and operational. I now have information, what I need next is knowledge.

Now I need to fatten the mid/upper. Put washers under the needle?

It's my understanding that the mid throttle is influenced mostly by the needle. There are thousands of opinions out there on how to go about it. Shim it, different taper on the needle, different emulsifier tube? I won't get into that mosh-pit.

[98fxstc]

98 fxstc- Yes, I was going to find a decent position in the head tube pretty close to the port. Did you use a heated sensor or is that close enough to the port to not need that? I've read around on several commercial websites, but they mostly seem "tuned" to the automotive group (pun intended); whose needs (and capabilities)are a little different. The amount of control available in a modern computer-controlled engine is amazing.  I've got tiny holes in brass fittings where gas gets pulled through with a vacuum, and I can maybe tweak the advance curve.

The early efi bikes used narrowband sensors that didn't have heaters in them and were generally placed about 4" to 6" from the head to take advantage of the heat
The widebands I used were heated but I still had them about 6" from the head
Try to get outside radius of pipe but options are generally limited
Good idea to have sensor angled slightly below 90* so that condensation doesn't settle on them
The 12V supply is used to heat the sensors and the bike shouldn't be run without the sensors heated or they will carbon up
Index the throttle grip for logging data
You can use throttle blip or pull in clutch to check back in log for specific events