Hello just wondering if anyone has swapped out there factory knock sensor for a bosch knock sensor.My tuner said this would be a must swap for proper tuning.Due to the limits of the factory sensors.
Just curious, what are the "limits" of the factory sensors according to your tuner? Knock sensors between manufacturers are made of different piezoceramic materials, each having different response times, output, aging, etc. That stuff is really just technical, nit-picky stuff. Then, there's resonant, non-resonant types, shielded, non-shielded types, etc. I think the Bosch is a non-resonant, shielded type. It's output, in general, will be less than our resonant sensor. But you're going to have a lot of faith in your tuner knowing when knock is expected to occur when calibrating your engine management. Just because they swap in a non-resonant sensor that has a lower "cleaner-looking" output doesn't mean that you'll have protection when knock occurs because the amplitude trigger hasn't been set correctly for this non-resonant type.
If you did want to make it more sensitve and couldn't change it via a programable ECU all you have to do is tq it down more so that the acoustic energy transfers from the block to the sensor with less resistance. (not recommended)
That may not be true on our OE sensors. Most knock sensors have the piezo element torqued separately to the sensor than the mounting stud to the engine. Of course, the more torque you apply past the recommended installation limit, the more risk you have of damaging the transducer and altering the output signal. The piezo material is ceramic and brittle (that's why they're torqued separately). Be careful with them.
They Factory Knock sensor is probably best as it is designed by the Honda Engineers for the Specific Knock frequency the engine generates.
I'm in the process of setting up the New Motec Knock module, first you do a frequency analysis to identifiy the actual knock frequency of the engine.
Just fitting a different Exhaust system or major changes to the Chassis or Engine can change the Knock frequency of an engine.
I agree to an extent. The only way we have in the real world without access to direct cylinder pressure measurement (as the factory probably did) is to test the limit by self-destruction (and maybe the factory did that too). Maybe the factory only identified the theoretical limiting cylinder (cylinder 5 on the front bank due to intake charge, least cooling ,etc) and tuned the ECU knock sensor level to that particular cylinder. Autowave has a 1000HP NSX that's been working for awhile - I would ask them for help or copy what they did since it seems to work.
BTW, check out SAE Technical Paper 900488, Combustion Knock Sensing: Sensor Selection and Application Issues.
You can get an idea of your predicted knock frequency by knowing the cylinder bore. 90mm bore with a speed of sound of 600m/sec leads to a first mode frequency of ~6600Hz. This is a little higher than the valve train frequencies, but the valve train is, in general, pretty loud. Also, you can get an idea of the effect adding crap onto your engine does on the predicted natural frequency by striking the block sharply with a hammer and looking at your knock sensor output before and after any mods (supercharger, turbocharger, or even exhaust changes like whrdnsx said). This will give you some confidence in knowing the add-ons you've done have had little impact on your predicted knock frequency.
Bottom line is this:
If you don't know your tuner well, explicitly trust them, or they don't have an experienced track record with our cars, I would go seek Autowave's advice. Otherwise, I would trust the OEM system (sensors, location, and ECU safeguards) for a modest power increase (less than 500HP) rather than take the blind advice of a tuner I didn't have much reputation with.
My $0.02.
Dave
p.s. This is a cool article for the DIYer:
http://sine.ni.com/cs/app/doc/p/id/cs-398