Building an engine dyno.

[Boxersix]

Originally Posted by Dessertrunner

Adam do you find engine dyno's handy, I read one guy say "The engine dyno always comes before the car dyno" what do you think?
Tony

It's personal preference for tuning really, as both can provide proper load for engine tuning. The benefit I find with an engine dyno is the ability to make changes and adjustments to the engine hardware far easier than if it were in a car strapped to a chassis dyno. For example, camshaft choice on a purpose built v8 can be finiky and requires multiple cams to test and find the right choice. On an engine dyno it's clearly easier to make those cam swaps without much down time.

The way we have ours setup is in a modular fashion. the engines are mounted in a mobile cart that has adjustable supports and fixtures to fit multiple motor makes/models. We then have an array of adapters that bolt directly to the flywheel/flexplate on the motor and connect to the water brake via a short(adjustable ~12-14") "driveshaft". The cart rolls up to the dyno and is pinned/locked in place to the actual dyno frame.

This all avoids the multiple, and complicated array of bellhousing style adapters. Starter motor engages a ring gear affixed to the brake itself, so there's never a worry about having to find a way to get the engines actual starter motor to work with the dyno.