So, long story short, I did an immense amount of playing around with the knock sensor vs rpm table in the Lebaron, trying to find a happy medium between engine/combustion noise and accurate knock sensing to tune from last year, without much success. Pretty much ended up just about disabling it and going by ear/seat of the pants/educated guess work.
I am using a new knock sensor, but do not have Teflon tape on the threads. Is this causing it to be overly sensitive? I know many people have put it on theirs to keep it from being so, but was it that way from the factory? Is this a good way to make it usable?
I know also that the type our cars use is very primitive and designed with specific parameters in mind. Possible that at higher than stock boost and power levels that it's no longer useful at all? I have been told as much by some accomplished tuners on other sites. I do plan on making a wideband knock sensor setup (as has been described in other threads) for it to compare against, so I may be able to answer my own questions at that point.