where do you monitor air temps?

[andycaca]

following on from the thread about measured temperatures with a FMIC, this leads on to the next question which is....

where do you monitor the temperatures and what kind of equipment do you use?
i'll start off!

1. sensor inside the airfilter, sandwiched between the filtercone and the intake hardpipe.
2. sensor inside the inlet manifold, brazed into a blanking cap

both sensors were originally 5volt PC temperature sensors, regulated to 12volt to suit car usage. they are of a plastic type resistance thermosensor. i dont know the technical term for this kind of thing so please excuse my ignorance

[duncan]

K type - I think is the technical term but please correct me if I am talking balls

Mine is a K type probe in the air stream going into the throttle body measuring Air Charge Temperatures. The Subaru ECU has a air intake temp sensor within the MAF aswell.

[RX7]

Only 1 sensor on the Rex I believe, its in the Intake Manifold.

Not sure what type or voltage etc it is I'm afraid.

Scccoooooooottttt, can you shed some light.

[duncan]

I am sure that Scott has a sensor post turbo that is non standard.

[alexb]

Actually unless he's changed it recently it's standard. Scott wrote a useful piece showing how the standard AIT sensor is *very* slow reacting, also in it's stock position it heat soaks like you wouldn't believe.

Actually I got a compatible high speed AIT sensor the other week (made for Triumph motorbikes!) but haven't got round to fitting it yet. I'll be putting mine in the elbow pipe between the intercooler and thottle body as it's less affected by heat soak there.



Cheers,
Alex

[PhatBob]

I use either a k-type thermocouple or a thermistor based sensor, for the Toyota 4A-GE engines running ITBs I use a thermistor on its own as they react quite fast to heat changes. Anything that has any covering over the sensor or a mounting boss will heat up and dampen the rate of change.

For speed and accuracy you want the thinnest k-type thermocouple you can find, a suitable compression fitting will give an air-tight threaded method of positioning the sensor where you want it.

As for where to position them, I'd go for two places, measuring the temperature on the turbo outlet will provide you with the info on where you are with regards to the turbine efficiency map. Measuring the temp post intercooler will tell you the temperature of the air that the engine is injesting.