Building an engine dyno.

[Dessertrunner]

Matt it has wheels on it, it is pretty common to be aable to wheel them around. The problem were to find the flywheel.
Tony

[dynomatt]

No wreckers in Griffith?

Subaroo Dismantlers in Mitchell may have one but it's been a while since I spoke to them.

Can you pull one out of your spare cars? Any of them (except the Vortex) would work.

M

[Boxersix]

We have a host of bell rings(part that the engine bell pattern bolts to) and various flywheel/flexplate adapters to attach the drive portion of the shaft. Total shaft length is adjustable from 11.5 to about 16" Starter battery is located below the stand.


I built the stand from basic steel, lagged to the floor(~8" concrete). Exhaust vented up through the hood to the outside, while a squirrel blower provides a fresh air inlet to the carb or airbox via ~7" flex hose coming from the ceiling.

Fuel is provided by a multi pump(selectable) fuel cell setup located outside the dyno room(fuel lines come in via wall bulkhead)

Engine cooling provided by water supply and bespoke radiator/fan setup in separate room to the right.

If you have more questions just ask. I'll get to them as soon as I check back in

-adam

[Boxersix]

Originally Posted by Dessertrunner

Adam do you bolt the engine solid or with the engine mounts?
Tony

One of my pictures above shows the stand configuration. Engine is bolted solid to the bell rings(which are firmly attached to the carts). Then the engine legs are adjustable for/aft and vertically with both clevis pins and turnbuckles. Rubber mounts in the cart absorb some vibration yes.

The carts and very base of the dyno can be purchased. Includes the latch mechanisms to firmly affix the carts to the dyno cell itself. Carts are free roaming, but the dyno itself is lagged to the concrete floor via six 3/4" lags, full depth into the 8" thick floor.

[Dessertrunner]

Adam you now got me scared. Do you know the distance from the centre shaft to the load cell at the end of the arm please?
Great info I really apricate it.
Tony

[Trevor]

Kia ora Adam,

You have provided excellent and really helpful photos for Tony.

It would appear that when in operation, the torque arm is connected to the hefty bracket above and the two white components are used in this regard. The involved angle is hugely important and further detail on this aspect of the set up would no doubt help Tony a great deal.

Cheers, Trevor.

[Boxersix]

Tony, I will have to measure the angle/distances. Not something I know off the top of my head at the moment but can get it for you ASAP. I'll be at the machine shop tomorrow in the early AM to machine and weld up a set of TGV's for an Sti.

Trevor, Yessir. Torque arm transmits load to the red support through the S-beam load cell(white object). Simple is good

[Dessertrunner]

Adam do you guys have a procedure to calibrate the dyno?

Tony

[Boxersix]

Tony, center of water brake axis to centerline of mounting point on torque arm for load cell is exactly 12.5" on our dyno.

The calibration for the load cell was done through our software and control interface. We use various scaled weights on the torque arm to register a specific load and set the calibration through the software.

[Trevor]

Tony, calibration represents a real problem, as there is no international standard definition of horsepower. The closest definition is that one horsepower equals between 735.5 and 750 watts of energy. Basically the power measured relates to the amount of work delivered over a given period of time.

Manufacturers tend to quote their outputs on the basis of what best flatters their product. As a result it is difficult to be sure of what is fact, when making comparisons between what is marketed.

From a practical point of view, you are only interested in being able to accurately record reliable, repetitive comparative figures, so that you are exactly aware of the effect of adjustments and modifications. There is no real requirement to express a figure in horsepower, so that as a basis you can work on the figures I have given, using known weights as Adam has described. Quote your figures as Tony HP.

[Dessertrunner]

Thanks Adam that makes sense, the calibration process is as I expected it to be. Do you adust for air pressure $ tempreture during test?

Trevor we will get an accurate torque figure and rpm, it may then be required to measure air pressure & temp as well to control variability. At the end of day as you say we just need something to be able to comapre improvement to.

As a learning excersise the engine dyno will be able to give us all a vast knowledge jump.

Have a great day.
Tony

[Dessertrunner]

I have been working on the project at the same time as a couple of work jobs.
I finally got my head around the drive shaft issus last weekend and as such I now have a number of parts being built and awaiting there delivery. These all relate to the drive shaft. I expect they will all be here next week to install.

What I plan to do now is start mounting the engine wiring system which means pulling it out of the half cut. I want to be able to get a complete SVX wiring system to run the stanard ECU in the first place. The Wolf ECU I have has a adpter that plugs direct into the stanard harness.

I still have to sort out the starter. I am going to do as Adam suggested and mount direct on the retarder shaft.

I have the power supply to control the retarder organised, need 112 amps at 24v so I cheated and got a electric fork lift battery charger. The ones used on pallet jacks output 24v DC. to be able to get variable load from the retarder I can divide the load in increments of 4 as there are 4 sets of coils. Inaddiation to this I also have a Varic (voltage controller) to vary the voltage feed into the chager from 0 to 240v AC which then results in the output varing between 0 to 24v dc.

Also have the PLC (Programable Logic Controller) parts and the wiring figured out in my head. I am waiting on the load cell but have the converter that changes the signal from the load cell into a 0 to 10v output so I can read it with the PLC.

All the engine data will be read throught the standard ECU or the Wolf. In the case of the latter I can make all the tunning chages as we go as well.

Have a lot to go but progress is forward so that's what counts. Will keep you posted.
Have a great day all.

Tony

[Boxersix]

Do you plan on using this dyno soley for the EG33?

If so you can just utilize the front diff case from a 4eat as the engine mount and just use an OE flexplate and gutted torque converter with Oe starter and your adaptor.


just another idea.

[Dessertrunner]

Adam I was wonder about that way, the only thing I thought was that the transmission side of the torque converter may have a support bearing.

Does anyone know if it does? Would a gutted torque converter hang on the flex plate?

Tony

[Dessertrunner]

I finished pulling the engine from the half cut and the wiring harness from SVX half cut. Had to sort the ECU wires from the rest which I have done now. (Ron see your Part).

Tony