Chassis Dyno opinions? Options

[RJMII]

My point and click adventures today landed me on a chassis dyno on eBay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/PORTABLE-DY...omotiveQ5fTools

I've been contemplating the idea that there aren't any chassis dynos within 160 miles of where I am sitting; and that there *might* be enough people in the area that are potential customers. Oh, and if I go for a portable system that could be loaded up in a small trailer, or at the front of the trailer in front of my 914... (pipe dream here, back to the dyno)

What say ye? quality of dyno? company's reputation? Accuracy of dyno? company website http://www.dynocom.net/index.asp

Other dyno options (portable chassis)?

[r_towle]

You need to be pretty good with tuning to have enough value add to get a business going.
If you think you are, go for it.
Get a very well written waiver or liability...cars can die horrible deaths on a dyno.

Rich

[RJMII]

point blank questions and you still go off on a tangent. aside from the business idea/pipe dream aspect;

dyno and company quality? are there standards for measurement?

What say ye? quality of dyno? company's reputation? Accuracy of dyno? company website http://www.dynocom.net/index.asp

Other dyno options (portable chassis)?

[r_towle]

pardon me...
It seemed on topic.

I have no idea what dyno is good or bad, but I did get another post out of it.

If you really want to go off topic, I can hijack the thread for you...

Rich

[RJMII]

OH, alright; I'll give ya that one. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Thanks for the input.

so how's life on the east coast?
(I'll help hijack it, if someone wants to post answers to the original questions still, that'd be awesome)

[d914]

No expert, Ive always heard the numbers are the numbers to the Dyno.. Comparing to others is tuff.

[monkeyboy]

I have seen guys around here that do that, but I agree, it is of very limited use if you can't tune with it.

There is a guy that goes to bike nights and sells dyno runs for bragging rights.

Do go to a lawyer and have a waiver made exempting you from damage. The only thing uglier than watching a motor blow on a dyno, is watching the owner blow.

[Jake Raby]

Works like a Dyna-Pac, looks like a knockoff.. Never heard of that company.

Its hard to beat a Dyno-Jet chassis dyno, thats what I have and I love it.

[RJMII]

Jake;

I found this video of comparison between the DynaPack and DynoJet...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZXbk3o-xHg

There certainly seems to be variations in results displayed. :S

[Andyrew]

Those bolt on dyno's just dont appeal to the average consumer (like me). Im lucky to have 3 dyno's in my area (only a handfull of 4wd dyno's though in Cali...). Lets just say that if it was me spending the money, it would be a dynojet or a mustangdyno. and it would have to be a rolling dyno...

Thats me, as a consumer's opinion.

[scotty b]

First off I have no knowledge of this brand . So what I have to say isn't DIRECTLY related to your question

BUT

I can tell you of 4 shops in the Richmond area I know of with Dynos. One is an engine dynop that doesn't get used, is sitting in his garage at his house, and he has been trying to sell it for 3 years .

One shop shut down due to attracting ( intentionally ) the wrong crowd, for customers. Plus the guys running the shop were morons when it came to cars

One is still open but has told me specifically there is no money to be made in doing runs only. Unless you plan to do all of the tuning, or as Jake does, the actual engine building it is a HUGE risk to take from a business standpoint.

The other I do not know if they are still around or not.

You almost HAVE to get in with the drag crowd, or if there is a real race circuit near you get in with them. Autocrossers do not count. Most of them don't care about actual h.p. they just want to get through the cones. Road racing is what you need to get in with. One of the Dyno shops in Va. Beach has a traveling ( on a 5th wheel trailer) unit he takes to car shows and races, charges 100.00 per pull and , then tells the owners he can get them an extra XXX h.p. for $$$$$

Think this through ALOT before making this plunge, I don't want to see you throw your money away.

[MrLeeS]

I ran a dyno tuning shop for five years using a Dynocom (same company as those pods) inertia dyno. For starters, the dynocom units are very high quality units, and the software interface is hands down better than anything that mustang, dynojet, or dynomite (land-and sea) have out there. that being said. Dynojets are notorious for reading high numbers, sometimes 10% higher than a comparable unit from a different manufacturer. For that very reason, dynocom has a feature in their software to correct for dynojet numbers. So the video above is right on target comparing the two systems.

Either way comparing results from two different days is comparing apples to oranges, due to atmospheric variatons, let alone 2 different systems. And although the software supposedly correects for these variations a small difference will almost always be noted. (1-5%). If you are looking for a dyno for personal use, measuring hp and torque, you would save lots of cash by buying a roller style inertia dyno. The pods are a good deal if you want to do steady state tuning and measure HP. but in my opinion are a bit pricey for personal use.

Either way, nothing beats having your own dyno. And if you are in the market, the dyno I ran is in storage and for sale.

[r_towle]

Thread was getting to low on the page.
To help you out.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) with everything that has been said.

ILBT

Rich

[MrLeeS]

Oh Yeah, when you go to put one on a trailer, keep in mind that what makes a drum type inertia dyno work is the weight of the drum. The unit I mentioned, just the roller weighs almost 3k lbs, so the front of a trailer is probably out of the question. normally they are mounted between tandem axles.

[Jake Raby]

I bought a Dyno-Jet for many reasons.. The unit has repeatability that is unbelievable from either of my engine dynos.. Its not uncommon to get numbers within 1HP from the same car with 6 months between the tests..

Dynapac has some benefits, but none of those appeal to me, for the things a Dynapac does that the dyno jet doesn't, I use one of my engine dynos... I needed a unit for testing our M96 powered cars more than anything else and the Dynojet works awesome. I could not be any happier with it.

It also installs easily, never breaks, never crashes and is overbuilt. Roll the car on, strap it down and you have data in less than 15 minutes..

The other reason I chose Dynojet is because most of the competitors in the industry have their engines tested with a Dynojet, so the files can be compared absolutely with great repeatability.

[Gint]

Bumpity (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_bump.gif) so I can find this and read it on the morning. Been up since 02:30... must sleep.

[RJMII]

Jake, is yours an in-ground unit? the Dyno-Jet

Also, what are the Dynapac benefits that you noticed? If you don't mind spelling them out for me, I'd like to see a little more detail on what you noticed for features and such. More than likely you've noticed something that I haven't contemplated yet.

MrLeeS; thank you again for the input and the PM.


Rich; thank you for getting your post count up and bumping my thread. Would you mind posting a couple more pictures in your thread of the 914 that you've got with the 'gills'? Your projects are always fun to check out.

[Jake Raby]

Yes, it is in ground.. We did the entire install ourselves when I built building #2.. That included cutting a huge hole in the floor, pouring the walls and floor of the pit and etc.. Not fun, but its done right.

I'd never do a dyno jet above ground, seems half ass, not as safe and takes away from the super fast set up time that we like so much.

Being able to apply a load to the unit much like an engine dyno is about the only benefit I saw with a dyna pac... But like I said, if I want to do that I'll rip the engine out of the car and throw it on the engine dyno.

Don't get all caught up on features, they just confuse the software and get in the way of real work.. As long as the unit can accept 0-5v analog inputs you can put most any feature you will need right in to the software, we can even log variocam operation and plot it into the graphs using an analog input.

Dyno Jet is real hard to beat all around, plus the consistency between Dyno Jet units is great... They are easy to operate as well.

[RJMII]

Of the features that apeal to me:

Pod style: AWD by adding two more pods later, this will allow tuning 4wd trucks which are rather abundant around here. The wheel bases on these range from Short Jeeps to full mega cabs. This will benefit a friend's dad's Diesel shop that's gaining quite a reputation for good upgrades.
Portability is easier to manage, just roll them into an enclosed trailer, and head to WCR or other events where I can charge just enough to help pay for gas to get there.

tumbler/inertia type: no taking tires off, just drive on and strap down. 4wd trucks... not all of them are full time 4wd. Co$t. Can be integrated into trailer for portability.

as to tuning: yes. as to lawyer and waiver, of course. as to giving it lots of thought first. yes, of course! This is in pipe dream/hash it out in a forum stage with fellow enthusiast.

[RJMII]

pardon me...
It seemed on topic.

You win; it's very on topic now. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drunk.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)