Looking for some tips on regarding the installation of my new wideband that I just picked up, the AEM UEGO set. I'm bringing it to a muffler shop this week to get the welding done in the downpipe; basically I'm trying to get some personal experience tips about where to have it welded. Is it safe to have it placed on the downpipe?

 

My socket was welded on to the header, passenger side, just before the cat joint. Just needed a little of the galvanized heat shielding cut back to make room.

S

 

Be careful who you bring it to. Cast iron is not the easiest thing to weld on. If you have a racepipe or hi-flow cat, I would remove the stock wideband from the downpipe and install your aftermarket WB in its place. Then weld a bung right in front of the cat and put your stock WB there. If you still have the stock cat there isn't room for a bung though. In which case you'll have to get it welded onto the downpipe.

 

If you have the stock cat, put the bung on the flare that is on the leading side of the cat. I had mine there and never burned-up an 02 sensor.

 

I have a SR motorsports hiflow, but I'm considering buying a new one as this one is gutted and the smell is killing me. I'm almost certain I'm going to have it welded on the downpipe, I'll make sure to protect the O2 sensor with thermal take a the copper heat shield.

 

hey bart do you have any sound clips of your set up? i have the sr hf cat with the sp2 and im looking for something deeper like the borla..

 

I have one before I went turbo if you want.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5BUc7FriMw

 

Okay, I found adrians O2 sensor installation picture - and there's one thing I noticed about how it's installed.

In this picture you can see that the O2 sensor is what looks to be at a <20 angle although with the cable pointing down.



Aren't you supposed to have it welded at a <10 degree angle with the cable facing upward to prevent the collection of liquids between the sensor housing and sensor element during cold starts?

Did adrian simply not do this because he didn't know, or is it because he lives in a warm climate?

 

Okay well, the downpipe welding was not such a good idea.. I pictured it in my head to have a lot more room, soon as it was on the lift I discarded that idea. Absolutely NO room to weld it on the downpipe, and even if I did.. it's extremely thick. Onto plan b.. considering the fact that my cat is somewhere on the highway, I decided to slap the wideband sensor into the pipe. I ran the cord over the transmission, onto the drivers side and up near the coil packs. I'll have pics/video fo my guage in action soon.

Time for some better tuning, Scott where are you

 

I did my original install B.T. (before the turbo) on the car on the factory exhaust manifold.
Just drilled into it and welded on the bung. Took about 30 minutes on my back in the garage.
When I went turbo, I moved it to the inlet of the midpipe. I went through a sensor a month for a while there (even with an extender and a heat sink), until I moved it to the spot between the midpipe and the resonator.
The sensors seem to be fine there.

 

Hmm, scary. I'm getting my new cat sometime within the next week or two so perhaps I won't have that problem. Here's a question for ya; is the stock cat any good for a turbo setup?

 

Not for long.

 

i just gutted mine..better to have 2.5" all the way back then a $300 3" pipe leading back into a 2.5" exhaust

I'll make or buy a midpipe when I replace my exhuast and downpipe with 3" components

 

How mad does it smell?

 

Of course, you don't have 2.5" all the way back - you have 2.5" with a 4" swirl chamber stuffed in the middle of it.
When you gut a CAT, you are supposed to install a midpipe inside to smooth the flow. The turbulence you've created with the suddedn expansion and re-restriction is worse than going down in pipe size.
The purpose of gutting the CAT is to fool the emissions folks, not cheap out.

 

Here's a video of the AEM UEGO gauge starting up (car is turned off)..

http://www.bartmatusiak.com/videos/aem_uego.wmv