Question to those running Turbos
 

First of all I know lots about forced induction and the logistics as such...

in your non production turbo applications such as your hondas or whatever you stick a turbo on how do you guys control spark knock or preignition?

On a Buick, Factory designed to have a turbo it has a knock sensor and the computer pulls timing when Knock is detected. we also have gauges and alarms that tell us our engine is knocking, get your foot out of it. not only that we are way ahead of the game because every part on this engine is designed to withstand the vigours of turbo use.. which is why there are slightly modified blocks running 9s.

on another note, we much prefer to keep compression very low and run more boost at the sacrafice of throttle response.


So what do you guys have for detonation safety measures.
For those that don't know what can happen. Detonation in a forced induction application is deadly, if your lucky the heads lift and you blow a head gasket, if your are unlucky and get severe detonation you damage engine bearings or worse break the crank or a connecting rod...

Well I'm in the same boat as you...turbo from the factory. But my EMS allows me to set my 'check engine light' to come on at whatever knock count i set it for. I set my light to come on at 3 counts of knock, so I can quickly back off. I run higher compresson than stock(9:1vs7.8:1), but I have the ability to pull timing to allow me to do so, and the extra octane from the alky injection definalty helps too :smokin:

a good aftermarket EMS will allow you to use knock sensors, and some OE EMS's that are tuneable allow you to keep/monitor the stock knock functions.

Other then that... dyno's, reading plugs, and just good tuning will help keep away knock... there's just not much you can do otherwise. There are aftermarket knock boxes which give you a visual and audible alert as well.