Engine dyno - do or don't?

[fishtail8]

Trying some easily changed parts suchs as carbs, spacers, and air cleaners sounds like a good idea. I have three carbs and two styles of air cleaners I can try. I was also thinking about getting one of those tapered carb spacers from Wilson Manifolds. Who knows, maybe one of these things (or a combination of things) may yield a substantial power improvement.

I've seen good results from SuperSuckers from HVH... Only had one engine that didn't like it... as in it didn't pick up any... lol..

[Yelcamino]

I got my Super Sucker yesterday. It looks like a pretty good quality item but then, considering the typical aluminum spacer at Autozone type stores costs about $20, it better be good quality!

[fishtail8]

Did you get the 4-hole or the open? I think all the cnc machining is part of the price.!!.. lol..

[Yelcamino]

Did you get the 4-hole or the open? I think all the cnc machining is part of the price.!!.. lol..

You know what they say... "You get what you pay for."
I got the tapered 4 hole. I went with the 1" tall version because my cowl hood is only 2.25".

[Yelcamino]

Is anyone interested in making some calculated guesses for hp and tq? If you are, I'll post the specs for both engines and include what Dyno 2000 says they should make. Personally, I think the D2K program is a bit optimistic!

[rocketman]

Like said before, for a race engine you can tune it for op horsepower, it even works for a street engine, and plus you won't have to dry start it or guess it's "right" to start. Let of engine damage happens at start up...

[Yelcamino]

I got the engine out of the El Camino today. Now they're both ready for the dyno on Friday.

[Yelcamino]

I brought the engines to the dyno today. The new one (on the right in the photo) is all set up and ready to go tomorrow morning.

[Yelcamino]

Ok, I made it through a hectic dyno day and nothing broke! I know you want to know the results so I'll get right to it...

AFR headed 468:
Peak HP - 619 @ 6200
Peak TQ - 570 @ 4800



Brodix headed 460:
Peak HP - 505 @ 5300
Peak TQ - 555 @ 4000


The dyno guy said the AFR engine has the potential for another 140+ hp by raising the compression to 13:1, swapping out the hydraulic roller for a solid roller with .700+ lift and 255+ duration @ .050", and stepping up to a 950 cfm carb. Since I want to drive it on the street with the occasional track outing, I'm going to leave it the way it is, though it's nice to know there's room to grow if I want to go wild.

The Brodix engine's cam turned out to be too small for the heads (this one has room to grow too). But, the torque starts low nice and flat. Even at 5300 rpm the torque is still above 500 lb/ft. I'd say this is going to be a sweet engine to cruise around with the a/c on and stereo going.

Overall the dyno experience was well worth the $400 it cost me. I learned a lot and it was mucho fun! I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

[Tiger]

cool Herb.

glad you think it et was worth the dough and that we didnt talk you into something that you werent glad for.

did you try different carbs and spacers and stuff? how were the results?

[Yelcamino]

Hi Andre,

We tried two different carbs and two spacers (one on each engine). The 460 picked up 5 hp with the Wilson tapered spacer and the 468 picked up 15 hp with a 2" open spacer. Out of curiosity we did a couple pulls on the 460 with the air cleaner in place and it didn't lose or gain despite how much hp K&N claims you'll gain with their filters! The dyno guy figured the filter would cost 10 hp so I guess the positive side is that it didn't lose any.