Is Dyno Tuning a Good Value?

[gimmesomeshelter]

For those of you who have paid to have your engine dyno tuned, would you recommend it? How much HP were you able to squeeze of your engine?

Cheers,

Paul

PS Here's a pic of my case on the way to my machinist.

_________________
"I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned."

Richard Feynman

[motofly196]

If you are racing...yes, dyno tune. You don't want to leave free horsepower on the table from timing/ jetting issues.
I just started using a wideband gauge last year on a mild engine in my bus on the recommendation of a friend. HUGE difference in drivability using the gauge to jet the carbs. The more I use it, the more I like it.
We have a dyno class offered at the Community College near me, class instructor is a VW drag racer. Maybe your Community college has one too? This class he teaches is $500 for unlimited pulls on a Mustang Dyno.

[andk5591]

I have the luxury of a buddy with a chassis dyno (which used to be in my shop before I bought it). There are many that are knowledgible on here (and many that think they are) that can get you pretty close for things like jetting. BUT nothing compares to actually having the car on a chassis dyno and you can drive and duplicate various driving conditions and optimize your tune.

Perfect example is my 65 with a 1200 big bore. Where I ended up with my jettiing was way fatter than I would have even attempted, but it works VERY well. Have seen gains of 20HP just in jetting on a 1776 that the owner thought was set up pretty well.

So - spend a couple hundred to dial it in or throw lots of time and parts at it. Obviously there are alternatives like A/F monitors that will do a lot for you as well. But I am a believer in using available tools instead of guessing.

And I totally disagree that using a dyno is for racing applications only. In those cases, most runs are just wide open throttle. Carb synch, timing curve etc are not as critical. I have strapped cars down that had issues in different RPM ranges or certain load conditions that we could sort out easliy on the dyno.
_________________
D-Dubya Manx clone - 63 Short pan,1914.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Cindy's daily driver.
Max - 73 standard Beetle hearse project - For sale
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...

[turbotype1]

Is dyno tuning a good value? It's worth every penny.....
_________________

[JeeWee]

there is no point in investing in nice engine parts and then not paying for a dyno tune. An improper adjusted engine will fail sooner, run hotter etc.

so every change you make from original needs to be dyno'd in my opinion.

your car will run smoother/better and have a better MPG.
_________________
1192CC WW okrasa
48,2 DIN PS (58SAE HP)@4430rpm - 83Nm@3610rpm

[Formcar 179]

Just did a dyno run on an Okrasa 36HP 77 x 69.5 using mostly WW parts. Got a genuine 53 HP at the wheels at about 4,000 RPM. Changes were made to the jets, timing was moved until we got the best out of it. At 200 dollars an hour, this was no bargain experience. Well worth it to get things just right.
_________________
Porsche 356
'56 VW Beetle Okrasa
'70 Beetle Convertible
1944 VW factory Zollner Dynometer

[Gearfinger]

What value do you place on knowledge?

[74 Thing]

[Alstrup]

On the last 2 cars I had on the dyno, 1 a 1776 type1, and 2 a 1958 Lotus Eleven (1460 cc) On the 1776 I found 9 hp and 10 NM torque and much better fuel efficiency with LESS ignition timing than it came with in approx 2½ hours. I could actually have made the fuel curve even better in the lower rpms, but I ran out of time.
With the Lotus we went from 109 hp to 121 hp in just under 4 hours, coffee break included. We also got rid of a dreadfull flat spot it had between 3500 & 4000 rpm.
One of my colleagues was recently working with an Alfa Romeo 2,0 GTA engine that came in due to the engine having misfires in certain rpm ranges. After locating and solving that problem they began playing with the settings and jetting. In an afternoon they went from 192 hp to 205 hp. The owner was happy before, apart from the misfires, but he is thrilled now.

19 out of 20 times it is worth it. The twentieth time you run into someone that has really done his homework and you can find maybe 2 hp. or straighten the torque curve a bit, or something like that. In those cases the dyno time is almost oinly for academical use. We see what the engine can do and the owner gets reasurance that what he did was right, and hopefully we learned something.

[andk5591]

[Low Bräu]

Dynos are worth it if you have the ability to make changes. Whether its on a lap top or by changing jets, carbs, timing, distributors, exhausts, etc. Years ago I worked for a race shop that specialized in Porsches and new engine builds were almost always dyno'd whether on a chassis dyno or Stuska. Some dyno sessions were just to get the jetting right and to see that things were working as expected other times we would focus on one particular component like the exhaust and tweak everything else as needed.

I didn't check the numbers but that looks like an early aluminum case. How'd you get it looking so nice? Was it vapor blasted?

Josh
_________________
Independent German Auto
671 Fern Drive
Merritt Island, FL 32952
(321) 449-4665

Specializing in repair and maintenance for Porsche, BMW, Mini, Audi, and Volkswagen.

1952 Standard Beetle
1960 SO-23 Westfalia
1961 L-380 Turkis Deluxe Beetle
1985 Vanagon Country Homes Camper (work in progress - EG33 swap)

[gimmesomeshelter]

Yes, I had the case vapor blasted by a place called https://www.restocycle.com/ in AZ. It cost ~ 275 USD including shipping.

Cheers,

Paul
_________________
"I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned."

Richard Feynman

[Low Bräu]

[gimmesomeshelter]

Before I shipped off my case I gave it a good scrubbing and lightly wet sanded the exterior. The shop plugs all the oil passages prior to blasting, but I'm going to assume that there's all sorts of crap in there.

Who does ceramic tumbling? The only place I've heard that does that is Competition Engineering in Lake Isabella, CA. I've also heard that there have been management changes, and their latest work hasn't been up to their old standards.

Cheers,

Paul Vickerman
_________________
"I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned."

Richard Feynman

[Low Bräu]

I don't recall who did but it was probably Ollie's. It's on the very bottom of their price list. http://www.olliesmachine.com/uploads/ollies_price_list_March_2019.pdf
_________________
Independent German Auto
671 Fern Drive
Merritt Island, FL 32952
(321) 449-4665

Specializing in repair and maintenance for Porsche, BMW, Mini, Audi, and Volkswagen.

1952 Standard Beetle
1960 SO-23 Westfalia
1961 L-380 Turkis Deluxe Beetle
1985 Vanagon Country Homes Camper (work in progress - EG33 swap)