You could use a knock sensor & have it turn on a light or whatever, that is better than not having one.
That would be great!

I would personally like to run as much compression (for a turbo app) as possible & run less boost, why?

Because this type of set-up would be a more enjoyable car to drive on the street, less turbo lag, better throttle response.

But ultimately as far as making the most amount power, I believe if you run less compression & a lot of boost on top, that will net you the most power.
But building such an engine for the street would be a dog, turbo lag up the ying yang, \:D , you really would not like it IMO, sure when boost comes in it will be crazy power, but off idle & mashing the gas pedal it will be disappointing..

My Syclone has 8.4:1 compression, it is lazy down low, plus that low compression will give you worse mileage.

Snowman, If I were you, I would run a compression ratio of 9 - 9.4:1 & just plan on using a little bit less boost.

When you build your short block, make sure you have the most & best quench area available.
On my current engine my pistons come out of the block .002-.004" having done this allowed me to run 12.0:1 compression , this was a N/A engine @ the time.
Just saying it is the utmost importance to have an excellent quench.
http://racingarticles.com/article_racing-10.html


When you run low compression, you can most likely run higher boost pressures.

For the average consumer, (any person that will drive a turbocharged car, floor it, put cheap gas in the vehicle, drive it like they stole it etc, etc,,,) manufactures take this type of a driver into consideration when choosing an engines compression ratio.
This is why you would see in the older turbocharged cars, they would run anywhere from 7.5:1 -8.4:1.

With running that low of compression, the engines would have a fighting chance to stay alive & not detonate itself to death.

Now, w/more modern turbo & supercharged engines, they run higher compression, why, better electronics, direct injection, (injector is located in the combustion chamber), higher fuel pressures of 2,200 psi instead of the old typical 40-60 psi.

Timing Is Everything
This adjustability in when the fuel is added to the cylinder is the holy grail of power production. Designers of early carbureted/distributor ignition and port fuel-injected/distributor engines only had one tuning variable that could be adjusted dynamically based on engine rpm and load: ignition timing (with counterweights on the distributor and a vacuum line from the intake manifold, respectively). Later port fuel-injected engines were developed with camshafts that could be phased (advanced or retarded) 20 or so degrees based on rpm and load. Now, DI allows the fuel application timing to be added to the cam phasing and ignition timing as another dynamic tuning tool. The DI fuel application is defined by two categories: fuel apply rate and fuel timing.

MBHD

12 port SDS EFI