I was told they are different, just wanted to confirm?

 

Yes, they are different.

 

OK damnit. What do I tell them I need the KS off of to get the right one? He looked up a truck of that year but the truck he looked up didn't have one.

 

Tell him whatever engine and computer you're using. If its TPI its more critical to get a knock sensor for a 85-89 or a 90-92 as those are the year breaks. 85-89 measures 100k ohms and 90-92 measures 3900 ohms.

 

Not TPI, it's got a Quadrajet carb (CCC I guess?) and an HEI distributor. It's on an '85 El Camino. I know this is an F-Body board but most stuff crosses over...

 

Supposedly if you put a 305 knock sensor on a 350 your ECM will pull all kinds of timing. If that is true I guess they have to be different.

 

I see...I guess I will have to get the right one then before I fill this up with Coolant then. I wish we would have just gone with the new carb and distributor from the get-go, would have saved a lot of stupid vac lines, wiring, and misc parts.

 

I'm having a **** load of trouble finding the right knock sensor for this thing. Since she's eventuall going to ditch the Computer-Controlled-Carb and HEI for a "regular" setup, I can just not hook up the KS for now right?

 

get a knock sensor for an 81 camaro with a 350 or for any early 80s chevy truck with a 350. Those had CCCs.

 

and if you have a knock module, you will need the module to match the engine as well

 

*sigh*. Any harm in just leaving it unplugged?

It's not worth the money to buy the KS and possibly a KM just to get it to work right when it's going to be convereted to a non-computer-controlled setup in the future...?

 

It'll chuck out the dreaded "check engine light" if you leave it unplugged.

I know the sensors are different but I'll be damned if I can figure out HOW they are different. I've reused the stock knock sensor from both 305s and 350s in whatever engine I installed. 350, 383, 400- all of them got the sensor out of whatever motor happened to be in there before. Can't say I've EVER had a problem that would indicate the sensor was incompatible. They pretty much just kept working like they used to- no weird behavior.

I did make sure I installed it with plenty of teflon tape around the threads and that I didn't over-torque it when installing it (failure to do that WILL cause problems).