Which additional sensors to add (FI e85 Motec ECU)
 

Hi All

I've installed my Motec M150 whilst awaiting the arrival of my turbo kit. Given I have a bunch of extra ECU I/O I was looking for opinions and advice on what extra sensors to add. Here is a list I've settled on but wondering what I'm missing that adds value - I don't necessarily want to add sensors just because I can, but only where they aid tuning or for use with trackday optimisation.

- Fuel Pressure (measured at the output of the surge tank to the common fuel supply lines)
- Ethanol Content Sensor, also provides fuel temperature
- Engine Oil Pressure
- Gearbox temperature
- Differential temperature
- Lambda (measured post turbo but before catalytic converter)
- Exhaust gas temp (x1 measured at the turbo input)
- Water-to-air intercooler water temperature
- 3 axis accelerometer (via Motec C125 dash)
- 10Hz GPS
- logging

I was thinking the following but not sure they'll be worth the extra $$

- 4x EGT (one per cyclinder). My tuner has EGT probes and suggested if I tap the ports into the exhaust manifold we can use individual exhaust gas temps during the dyno tune and plug them after. The 1x EGT sensor before the turbo stays in and is there for protection from any over-temps from anti-lag
- inlet manifold temp. The OEM MAF has temperature but that is pre-turbo.

So what am I missing that will be helpful?

Fuel temp

Ethanol content sensor does fuel temp also (pulse frequency is Ethanol, duty cycle is temp - or the other way around I don't recall).

Didn't see that. Not sure if the W2A charge cooler is really worth doing as the important factor is the CAT. Diff temp also seems a little unnecessary as the diff doesn't seem to suffer on this car, gearbox is much more important but again doesn't seem to be an issue with MT cars. You could suggest that the gearbox and diff temps are likely to be proportional so you could save yourself the hassle with a wire and sensor at the rear.

Could you please elaborate on this?

The temp sensor was to measure the water temp of the “hot” side of the intercooler water before it heads to it's dedicated radiator, not to measure the air temp.

What do you mean by CAT? Exhaust temp at the catalytic converter?

charge air temp I suspect

Map sensor

Charge Air Temp.

So what exactly are you going to use the W2A water temp for? There is no point in having something if you're not going to make use of it and the data you need is CAT which will be directly related to the water temp of the W2A system anyway. It's not like you can change the system efficiency in the tune or that it has a direct impact on the running of the car. It would be an additional cost that then is not used IMO.

My bad. The MAF sensor is post-turbo just before the intake manifold so it still measures air temp in the manifold (turbo kit hasn't arrived yet so can't eyeball it). 100% agree that air temp as it enters the cylinder head is essential but think the MAF just before the inlet manifold is an OK place to measure it.

W2A temp (and diff/gearbox temp for that matter) are just for safety / system health logging, not used as a control input for tuning. Maybe to make decisions on future on external coolers.

Forgot to mention I've swapped the 1.3 Bar MAP for a 4 Bar MAP.

Wondering if anyone gets value from measuring individual cylinder exhaust temps outside of on the dyno during the initial tune?