How can I dyno test the engine in my car?

I own a 1968 Mustang GT with a 390 and 4 speed. We used it for developing some or our products and the carb sat dry for about 4 years. When I tried to start it after that, there was 0 accelerator pump shot. Rather than rebuilding this 650, I just bought a cheapie 4 BBL and installed it. At least it had an accel pump shot and the car ran OK for moving it around, etc. Well then I started “driving” it and it seemed really low on power, but I wasn’t sure.

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Besides CFM Flow, what can you measure on a Flow Bench?

Our Port Flow Analyzer for flow bench testing has several features for making several measurements of cylinder head performance.  For head flow, pretty much anything that improves CFM flow improves the HP potential of the head. But after measuring CFM, there are several other measurements which can give better insight into one particular head runs well on the dyno or the track, and another head with equal or sometimes even less flow can run much stronger. These are the hard earned “black arts” of head porting which many engine builders are reluctant to share. Questions these engine builders are looking to answer include: Continue reading “Besides CFM Flow, what can you measure on a Flow Bench?”

Why do we flow heads at 28″ water?

There is nothing magic about 28″ water. Famed engine builder Smokey Yunick picked this pressure (about 1 psi) many years ago (probably in the 1960s) as what he thought was reasonable, and it stuck. It is now the industry standard.
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Correcting for Engine Inertia during Dyno Tests

An engine dynamometer is used to measure the engine’s power. Dyno tests can be done different ways, but the most common method in the racing world is a sweep test. A sweep test is where you slowly (or quickly) accelerate (or decelerate) through the RPM range with the engine at full power. This must be done somewhat smoothly and slowly, taking about 5 to 10 seconds for good accuracy.

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More to Heads than just CFM Flow

Recently a well known racing head porter asked for some graphics (pictures) for an article on head port design.  His article dealt with there is more to a head’s performance potential than just CFM flow numbers.

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Big Drag Race Win for Ford and Ramey Motorsports

Blaine Ramey
Ramey Motorsports

Blaine Ramey of Ramey Motorsports is a Ford Engineer and long time friend of Performance Trends.  Lately he’s been working with us on his 2010 Ford Cobra Jet Mustang.  In just their 4th outing, they won their NHRA Super Stock SSBA class (which is a Bracket Racing class) at Mid Michigan, July 11 with Charley Downing driving.  This is the FIRST win for the “Drag Race specific” Cobra Jet in this division. Continue reading “Big Drag Race Win for Ford and Ramey Motorsports”

Compression Ratio Calculator v2.3

When building or modifying an engine for all-out racing, street/strip performance, trailer towing, or most any application, there are many variables to consider. One critical variable is the Compression Ratio or CR. Compression ratio is the amount of “squeeze” the piston puts on the air fuel ratio before it lights  the fire.  And, more importantly, it is the amount of expansion or “push” these hot, high pressure, combusted gases put on the piston.  The more amount of expansion, the more amount of heat and pressure energy can be extracted from each combustion event. Continue reading “Compression Ratio Calculator v2.3”

What’s Going on Inside the Engine

Our engine performance simulation program (Engine Analyzer Pro) produces what we call RPM Data like torque, HP, fuel flow, BSFC, etc at each RPM of the run.  It also produces Cycle Data which are things like cylinder temperature, cylinder pressure, piston thrust on the wall, intake valve lift, intake valve flow, etc at every 4 degrees of crankshaft rotation. (Behind the scenes the data is being calculated at something more like every .1 degrees, but we only report it at every 4 degrees.) Continue reading “What’s Going on Inside the Engine”