AEM No Weld O2 Sensor Mount

Cool product... equally cool is that flex head Snap-On ratchet. I have the same one and it is definitely my favorite hand tool.

this is exactly what i've been waiting for. it's such a hassle to get an o2 bung welded on if you don't have a welder.

but, are these any disadvantages to this no weld sensor mount? i feel that maybe the gasket could degrade over time and cause leaks or something of the sort.

I imagine if you kept the gasket at the middle of the car or further back you probably wouldn't have a problem with temperature and longevity. I don't think the gasket would last very long on a down pipe especially on a track car.

"Being able to quickly attach a bung for a wide band 02 sensor is a big pain in the ass."

???

Definitely a cool idea if you live in an area where you can't find a good welder (esp. for stainless). For me though (since I have a welder), just keeping a few bungs in stock would probably be easier and cheaper. It is nice to know the option is available.

" Every car guy needs one, it makes a lot of hole drilling chores much easier. I use mine all the time."

Hehe. You said...

Seriously though, the $15 pack of HF step bits are awesome. If you commonly drill stuff thicker than 16g metal, I highly suggest the single $30 bit at Home Depot, since the HF ones burn up before they even get through something like 3/16" plate.

BTW, I wouldn't worry about that gasket material. Nissan used that material to seal the exhaust manifold to the cylinder head, and the only time I've seen them fail is after losing a stud, even with 200k miles on them, and there isn't nearly as much material around the ports as is used here.

That is of course assuming the gasket material is identical to the OE Nissan material. Even if it were this clamp arrangement doesn't provide the same amount of clamping force as an exhaust manifold with 8 studs and machined surfaces. Nevertheless it is a great solution for the DIY guy, but I still recommend it is kept on the bottom of the car.

Collectors, turbine housings, wastegates, and downpipes are far hotter than the head flange of an exhaust manifold. This is because individual cylinder runners get a chance to cool during the other cylinders' exhaust strokes. The collector and back is constantly heated by the exhaust stroke of every cylinder. If you see a pic of a glowing turbine housing you can see its the collector and back glowing and not the individual runners by the head.

Not welding an O2 bung in the proper place is lazy and half-assed. That product is for people who do not modify their cars properly.


Before my first generation car (four years ago) even ran, I had a proper wideband. There is no excuse for owning a modified turbo car without a wideband. Spend thousands on mods and not have a wideband??>>>!?!?!???one!!one

Dunno, I consider myself to be a serious tuner and I could have used one of these many times on other peoples cars. I would not worry about having it anywhere post turbo. I will probably have a few of these around for those occasions:

Eric,

True, I didn't even think about that. Those would be a lot hotter than the head to manifold gasket would get.

Luckily, since we're talking about something that's meant to be easy to install, it would lend itself to be installed on the underside of the car. No one would want to install this right after the turbine, it'd be too hard to get the bung close to the turbine, and all of the bends near there wouldn't give enough straight length to install anyway.

Which reminds me: I take it on a street car, you'd want to unbolt the cat from the downpipe and either shake the shavings out, or start the engine up and blow them out, correct?

so the ideal place to install the sensor is on the underside of the car so that the gasket doesn't melt/degrade, yet isn't the best place to have the o2 sensor closer to the engine (ie downpipe area)?

and would this difference in location make a difference in terms of tuning? i suppose the further away the o2 sensor is from the engine the more delay in relaying AFR info.

looks like i'll stick with a conventional welded o2 bung just to be safe.

There's nothing wrong with putting a sensor on the bottom of the car. The delay in AFR info is in the order of milliseconds. Besides if the logging/tuning software has no control of the logging rate anyhow then it isn't going to make much of a difference where you put the sensor anyway. On top of that if you are using a consumer grade wideband 02 then you might already working with a sizeable delay and don't even know it. Delay on top of delay on top of delay we're probably still talking less than 50ms largely depending on the quality of the wideband amp's design, the sensor's health, and the sensor's tip design. Any experienced tuner can work with a sensor underneath a car without major drama if everything is in working order.

Another thing to consider is that the Bosch LSU series is only accurate to 850°C so you may not want that sensor that close to the turbo anyhow depending on how the car will be driven/raced.

ok. thank you for the info eric. i really appreciate your input.

it's always good to get reliable and accurate info from a real expert as opposed to a FFF (as you so aptly put it).

I'm really glad AEM dropped this product; it should make the tuning process one step simpler for those of us with limited resources.

Hmmm... 36ish bucks for this vs. 4.95 for a SS O2 bung and 10 minutes of welding? Just do it right, once, and get it welded!

Eric, not really important, but the individual runners don't get their cooling from pulse spacing and cooldown time, but from the head and flange itself, which has a temperature ceiling based on the gasket, coolant passage proximity, flow, etc etc.

I'm not so sure about that. So if your engine is using a non-metallic or composite exhaust manifold gasket, are you saying the cooling of the header runners is transmitted through the through the exhaust manifold studs?

Coolant passages around the exhaust ports and nowhere near the exhaust manifold mounting face are designed to cool the exhaust manifold? Sorry man, I find it hard to believe unless the cylinder head is specifically designed this way. One of the few heads designed this way is the Olsbergs' Duratec engines that rely heavily on anti-lag. Coolant passages in this head practically surround the exhaust ports and are brought right out to the edge of the head where the exhaust manifold flange bolts. OE heads are not like this.