Fitting a camshaft position sensor

[24OZ]

Has anyone fitted a camshaft position sensor to an L Series engine?

 

My plan is to go fully sequential, I already have a trigger wheel fitted to my crankshaft and have LS1 Individual coil packs, just need to figure out the cam shaft sensor, so my ecu will know at what cycle the engine is in.

 

Advice, tips etc.. appreciated.

Edited July 26, 2010 by 24OZ

[vantage]

Has anyone fitted a camshaft position sensor to an L Series engine?

 

My plan is to go fully sequential, I already have a trigger wheel fitted to my crankshaft and have LS1 Individual coil packs, just need to figure out the cam shaft sensor, so my ecu will know at what cycle the engine is in.

 

Advice, tips etc.. appreciated.

 

You can always fit a Lumenition OptronicsOS50 pickup, or Pertronix Ignitor I to your (now unused) distributor, and remove all blades or magnets except the one to trigger on the first cylinder in the sequence (the exact configuration depends on what your ECU wants to see). This is how the engine phase was identified in the first fully electronic injection systems in the beginning of the eigthies, such as with the Marelli IAW based systems.

[24OZ]

You can always fit a Lumenition OptronicsOS50 pickup, or Pertronix Ignitor I to your (now unused) distributor, and remove all blades or magnets except the one to trigger on the first cylinder in the sequence (the exact configuration depends on what your ECU wants to see). This is how the engine phase was identified in the first fully electronic injection systems in the beginning of the eigthies, such as with the Marelli IAW based systems.

 

Interesting vantage, I am quite a novice in this field and did not think that could be possible to take the cam position reading from the distributor, but what you say makes sense. So how would you set the Optronics or the Petronix to know where the cycle ends, I understand the slit will denote the start, or is that your ECU's job?

[vantage]

If you are a novice in the field of fuel injection and ECUs then you have quite a journey in front of you

 

The distributor axle is in sync with the camshaft, so when you install a sensor on the distributor axle to indicate a specific point (first cylinder TDC as example) you can use this signal to tell your ECU about the phase. (Keep in mind that you need a rigid distributor axle, for a conversion of a standard distributor you need to remove the weights and weld the axle together at that point).

 

Check the manual of your ECU to determine what kind of signal/angle is required for the cam phase identification, it was common to use a two teeth approach where one teeth was 90º or 180º before the TDC and the other on TDC.

[Bernardd]

You can use a turbo oil pump/drive and install a either a z31 cas which one slit larger than the others to denote cyl 1 or you install a z32 cas which has a different sized slit for each cylinder.

[Tony D]

Similarly there are early V6 Ford Products with a very tasty cam position sensor which can be adapted to the drive of the distributor.

 

The easiest place if you have a true crankfire capability off the crank someplace is to use the old distributor as mentioned with a single pulse to indicate TDC #1. The timing is really not all that critical, phasing angle is pretty wide---it's 'trigger return' usually so all it needs to do is be close on #1 and all events subsequent to it will fall into place nicely.

 

I believe the Ford uses a large open gap so you have a rising and falling pulse as mentioned. Your ECU will determine what you need. As mentioned, an optical conversion like Lumenition with two of the slits taped over will likely give a perfect digital pulse if that is all the ECU requires, and it's a robust unit which should last a LONG time given the Opto now is seeing 1/3 the normal duty cycle!

[260DET]

I've seen one fitted to the front of the cam cover, facing back inside towards the cam sprocket. Have not seen inside but the installation looked neat from the outside and not too hard to do.

[randy 77zt]

if you can find a 81zxt dizzy you can put a magnet in the bottem of the rotor and use a industrial hall sensor with as threaded body.very easy to do