Progress has stalled a bit on the GTO, although I managed to take an interesting and useful detour. I was working with a local customer a couple of weeks ago and I noticed that his 5.4L Mustang GT500 engine had a very interesting looking sensor on the fuel rail. After some digging around I figured out that it is Bosch 0 261 230 093. What caught my eye is that one side of the sensor was in the rail while the other side had a vacuum nipple on it.
As I suspected this is a differential pressure (Delta P) sensor. It outputs the difference between rail pressure and manifold pressure (positive or negative).
You may wonder why we should care. I am glad you asked, because differential fuel pressure is actually what we really care about, not rail pressure. Another way to think of the differential pressure is the pressure across the injector discharge. Let's do an example:
Let's say you have a fuel system that is set to 60psi at the rail and there is no vacuum or boost reference on the regulator, or the regulator is not adjustable. This is a fairly common scenario with a LS swap, simple in-tank pump, and a Corvette style regulator. Let's also say that you have a moderate performance cam and the engine idle around 50kPa, which is about 15in/Hg, which is also about -7psi. Note that the units are all different, but they are describing the same thing, which is the amount of vacuum in the intake manifold when the engine is running.
In this scenario the rail pressure doesn't change, but what happens to the pressure across the injector discharge when the engine is running? Because of the vacuum that is generated by the engine, the differential pressure across the injectors is actually 67psi. In other words, the injectors act as if they flowed more. That is exactly what this sensor will read, because it measures differential pressure directly.
Consider a different scenario. Turbocharged engine, adjustable regulator with a vacuum line hooked up to it. Let's assume the same base pressure of 60psi. When the engine is running under the same conditions, a normal pressure sensor would show 53psi at the rail, but this sensor will still read true differential pressure, which in this case is 60psi. Take the same scenario under boost. Engine is making 10psi, rail pressure sensor will be reading 70psi, and this sensor will still read 60psi. The purpose of having a vacuum/boost referenced fuel system is in fact to maintain consistent differential fuel pressure.
This is a fun topic and if anyone has any questions, please post them.
Here is sensor mount that Vic machined.
It attaches right to the back of the rail with the AN-6 female to female union.
The eagle eyed will notice that it is mounted to the Cougar. I am using the Cougar to do the testing for the sensor.
Andrew