I got the call from the freight forwarders yesterday that Canada Customs had released the marvellous New Zealand made dyno machine, and immediately set off my way to pick the trailer up (where it was in the middle of having the decals applied – will have to return the trailer for that!), and head for the airport. Of course in my hurry I forgot a drill and a crowbar might be a wise idea, as the dyno would not load in my trailer on the crates – a forklift would destroy the ramp door.
I ended up sitting at the Air Canada Cargo terminal for an hour and a half removing each wood screw with a ratchet. The kind security guard offered me his drill but sadly it was a jobmate drill and even after charging for 30 minutes the drill could only remove 2 screws before the battery died. It was a slow and silly process, but it sure was exciting. I made the race ramps do double duty to get the dyno pods off of the crate, and then packed up the dyno computer and the rest of the gear and headed home. By this time it was late and it wouldn’t be until tomorrow when we would finally try the machine out.
Earlier today I loaded up Kels on the dyno and everything went smoothly – loading it that is. Dynapack has made some great changes to their machines in the last 6 years, and you notice other small details like different finishes on the parts, a different controller case, different casters that roll better etc. One thing Dynapack changed that I was un-aware of, is there are now different control strategies for different types of vehicles. There are settings for heavy big engines, with factory sprung clutches, and there are also different settings for light weight engines with tiny clutches and flywheels with very low inertia. Well, the default setting was heavy and the Z just would not run at all. The dyno was applying load too aggressively for the inertia of the engine and drive train, and was then oscillating as it tried to compensate for its initial over-control. Needless to say at this moment I started to get pretty stressed out!
After 45 minutes of fooling around I discovered the alternative control modes, and after selecting “light” the problem went away entirely. You could certainly notice the dyno was more gentle with its control – it seemed to add and remove load slower, in an effort to not upset the extremely sensitive drivetrain.
A few pulls to 8000rpm and the result was… 4whp different than a year ago on a totally different Dynapack. How’s that for accuracy? Oh – and Kels is now running oxygenated VP 109 rather than non oxygenated fuel, so that would account for more or less all of that horsepower.
On a different correction setting (SAE Adapted) the dyno did read 392whp – if only this were true!
So we are now officially open for business, and booking appointments. There is some more work to be done organizing the trailer and the exhaust ducting for dyno vehicles, but otherwise everything is in order. Looking forward to your dyno party!