How much Dyno experience do you have?
I'm curious
I’m not much into dyno numbers.
- Thread starter pittsburghracer
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I'm curious
I'll tell you an example, my first pull on my 471 was 601 hp, with dyno tuning it's putting out 682 today. That's incremental small changes with air bleeds, pv's, main jets, transfer slot restrictors, timing changes, distributor curve work, header change, and every time one thing was changed almost everything else needed to be changed.
I'm not bragging at all, just pointing out what Dyno tuning can accomplish.
I'm not bragging at all, just pointing out what Dyno tuning can accomplish.
I agree the dyno tune isn't always the best track tune. But if you're starting with an unknown combination a good dyno setup and a capable operator can get things to a pretty good starting place. The alternative can be an educated guess or sometimes just a plain wild *** guess.
The power left on the table can be less and time it takes to get things dialed in at the track shorter when starting with a tune that has been sorted on the dyno first.
A safe dyno tune may keep you from hurting the motor while trying to get things in the ballpark at the race track. Especially with an unknown motor, unknown carburetor and an inexperienced tuner.
I think the value of a dyno has been proven over the years by the fact that teams racing at the highest levels of competition own and or use dynos.
You may have to do some tweaking when you get to the racetrack.
How long would it have taken you to get from where you started to where you are now if you had to do all that tuning at the race track?
Honestly if I got 4 passes in a weekend a couple months. It may have been much easier with a single 4 barrel but a tunnel ram with 2 850s was much more of a challenge and really if I didn't have Tim to help me id have been semi lost to start with this thing. We have about 20-25 pulls as of today
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Meh....probably about two months worth back in my high school auto shop days. We had access to Mercer University's dyno room for about three years and I spent some time down there peppered here and there. One of the machine shops I use in Macon also has an engine dyno and I sometimes sit in there. It's been a minute, but it's a learning experience every time. Here's his Facebook page.
Extreme Racing Engines
Extreme Racing Engines, Macon, Georgia. 1,978 likes · 2 were here. From dirt to concrete, from drag racing to mud trucks, we can meet your needs. www.extremeracingenginesga.com
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I kinda gave up chasing a number years ago but don’t get me wrong I want my stuff to run good. My car gets me a lot of work. This engine had more compression (deal of a lifetime), different carb, different intake manifold, different cam. I leaned the out of the box carb 3 jet sizes, tightened the valves to where I like them, set the timing, and went racing. My first break in pass was around a 6.05. It’s a bracket car and my RacePak info looked good and safe so I didn’t change one thing since and I mean nothing. It could use a hair smaller jet but a little fat makes a consistent tune. Heck my Ultra 40 spark plug wires are 8 years old. If the stars line up weather wise I may go for a number.
Dynos are great tools. I'm not arguing that. They are extremely subjective because of many factors. The end all be all is the drag strip. I'm not debating their usefulness. I'm just saying one without the other is incomplete.
The guys that don’t use their own headers, carbs, and electrical systems get me.
A lot of them do that, too.
Great looking car and wonderful numbers too!
Running a hemi has always been a Mopaman's dream, BUT.
Most folks only have wedge money and do the best they can with that...
My Dart had a Koffel 547ci 400 wedge with original B1's and made 1000hp.
It ran 8.30 @ 175, back in the nineties till the engine died.
I ran it afterwards with a UK built 440, iron heads and it ran 10.40 @ 130.
How much faster would she run with a hemi???
Food for thought...
Running a hemi has always been a Mopaman's dream, BUT.
Most folks only have wedge money and do the best they can with that...
My Dart had a Koffel 547ci 400 wedge with original B1's and made 1000hp.
It ran 8.30 @ 175, back in the nineties till the engine died.
I ran it afterwards with a UK built 440, iron heads and it ran 10.40 @ 130.
How much faster would she run with a hemi???
Food for thought...
I have run into that before. Sometimes they just want it broke in and don't even want a dyno sheet. They just want to know that the motor is ok and not leaking oil. Not how I would do it but for them it might make sense.
Some customers don't know how to properly set timing, adjust valves or tune a carburetor so they hire someone who does. I encourage customers to watch their motor be dynoed. Some will use this as a learning opportunity but some don't care to learn they just want to enjoy the benefits well tuned motor in their car. Nothing wrong with that either.
Some of the motors I dyno will never see a racetrack. Most will never see a dragstrip. Most of the motors I do are for the circletrack. They are not interested in a time slip from a dragstrip but still want the motor to perform to it's full potential.
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Some of the motors I dyno will never see a racetrack. Most will never see a dragstrip. Most of the motors I do are for the circletrack. They are not interested in a time slip from a dragstrip but still want the motor to perform to it's full potential.
Back around the 1980’s my friend that bought my first drag car (1972 duster) was part of a late model dirt track TEAM. Usually there was the owner, the driver, the team financial guys, and the team workers. My buddy had a sunroom on his house (beer keg room) and along side the keg was their spare engine. Back then it cost 27,000.00 for a local expert to build you one. After a race you sent an oil sample, after a test night you sent an oil sample, if you got hot laps in and it rained you sent an oil sample. If you didn’t this was your last engine from this builder. Being 4-5 miles from Lernerville and hearing what these teams spent would keep me up at night. These guys were nuts.
Back around the 1980’s my friend that bought my first drag car (1972 duster) was part of a late model dirt track TEAM. Usually there was the owner, the driver, the team financial guys, and the team workers. My buddy had a sunroom on his house (beer keg room) and along side the keg was their spare engine. Back then it cost 27,000.00 for a local expert to build you one. After a race you sent an oil sample, after a test night you sent an oil sample, if you got hot laps in and it rained you sent an oil sample. If you didn’t this was your last engine from this builder. Being 4-5 miles from Lernerville and hearing what these teams spent would keep me up at night. These guys were nuts.
Right, typical dyno headers will probably not be fitting into a car, if you don't use your own ****... that's just dumb.
Except to like it says earlier check for leaks and lots of guys need a baseline tune. I never had the extra 500-600 dollars so I had to learn how to do it the hard way. So yes dynos are needed and a good operator can really assist those that need assistance.
I always start with dyno headers. I match the dyno header to the customers as close as possible. The dyno headers have Egt probes and o2 sensors in them. At some point, usually after everything is dialed in close I will switch to the customers headers. I loose my egt data but most cases it's not practical to weld bungs in the customers headers for egt and o2s. I have collector extensions with o2 bungs I can use on the customers headers.
I won’t mention any names but a frequent Moparts poster from I think the Midwest states always wants a double correction factor. He want the dyno correction figures and he wants a factor for the state his engine was dyno’d.
Is it for personal knowledge?
No it’s for a bragging spreadsheet
justinp61
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When I had my engine on the dyno over six years ago it cost $400, the best money I spent on the entire build. My engine was built to run on pump 93. We broke it in and tuned it on leaded 98 race gas, then switched fuel to the 93, it made 30 more hp on the first pull with no tuning. We cooled it off and made another pull, with the same results.
The bottom line a dyno is a tool, just like a tire pressure gauge or a flow bench. I get a laugh out of guys who claim dyno numbers serve no purpose but swear by their head flow numbers and never see the irony.
The bottom line a dyno is a tool, just like a tire pressure gauge or a flow bench. I get a laugh out of guys who claim dyno numbers serve no purpose but swear by their head flow numbers and never see the irony.
Bragging is stupid
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