Crank Angle Sensor type question

[Ben Fenner]

Yah, I realize it is the controller itself which makes or breaks the O2 
sensor, but I'm going to put my trust in VEMS, and assume, at the very 
least, that their digital WBO2 controller is halfway decent. I don't 
plan on using race gas ever, so I don't have to worry too much about 
fouling it up.

I've been reading through the factory service manual, and I found the 
bit about the cam angle sensor. Like you said, it's optical, and has 360 
degrees of resolution. So, that's the cam angle sensor. Awesome. But is 
it a VR type, or Hall type? Wikipedia says:

"Soon, however, even these contact breaker points were replaced by an 
angular sensor of some kind - either optical, where a vaned rotor breaks 
a light beam, or more commonly using a Hall effect sensor, which 
responds to a rotating magnet mounted on a suitable shaft."

So... our optical sensors are not Hall type. I guess. But are they the 
VR type? Or something Nissan specific? I only ask because MegaTune has a 
specific setting for Nissan type sensors... =/

After reading quite a bit about distributor and distributorless 
ignitions, it seems there's no need for a crank angle sensor if you're 
running a distributor. I plan on going to passive coil-on-plug ignition 
after initially getting things working with the stock distributor. I'll 
have to do something about crank angle sensing at that point. I may have 
to build my own... But I'd rather not. How does the stock ECU get its 
tach signal if its not using a crank angle sensor? From the ignition, 
which is subsequently controlled by the cam angle sensor?

I'll keep looking for these answers, but if any of you know the answers, 
just chime in. Also, do we know of anyone in the Nissan community who's 
really familiar with these sort of things, or am I blazing the trail? I 
guess Calum would know this stuff. Maybe it's time I hit the forums... =/


-Ben Fenner
1994 Black SE-R (going turbo)
1994 Black SE-R (with sunroof)


mike kojima wrote:
> Its an optical sensor with 360 degree resolutuion.
> 
> One thing you should note from my test is that the
> circuitry controling the bosch wideband is not all
> created equal between different makes of controlers. 
> These test results were so divergent that it shook my
> faith in the lower priced units, so that I will only
> trust inovate in the future.
> 
> It also is the only unit that can  take sensor
> deteoriation into consideration, important if you
> sometimes run or tune on race gas.