SBC 350 Knock Sensor

Bart

Registered User
Location
Arm Utah
While taking my motor out I noticed the knock sensor was about 1/4" from the collector on the headers and the connection was melted, but still attached. I'm not even sure it was working because the symptoms for failure are low power at higher RPMs and leaning the fuel mixture causing heat, both of which I was suffering. After doing some research this is a common problem with the block hugger headers this came with. This pic is on the passenger side and the factory placement is where the bolt is in the center of the block, just above the oil pan. I don't want to have a problem again so my options are:

Putting it back in the same spot and covering the wire, connector and sensor with heat protection
Getting 90* pipe fitting to move it further from the header collector flange
Drilling and tapping the hole to the right and up a bit (closer to the rear) and moving it there
Buying different headers and changing existing exhaust to clear the current location (at least $500)knock.JPG

Thoughts and recommendations would be appreciated.
 

Pile of parts

Well-Known Member
Location
South Jordan
I can't really tell from your picture and I'm not home to look at mine, but I'd go with cheap and easy. Because that's how I like 'em... (Solutions, that is)

Reroute as best as you can. Also, can you get/make a heat shield of some sort? Similar to what's on the stock manifolds. I made a little heat shield to protect the slave cylinder on my clutch that seemed rather close to my exhaust.

Knowing this is a problem, you could start off simple and keep an eye on it.
 
Top