NO CLIFF NOTES or skimming...read it all because the one thing you fail to learn about may be your downfall.
I've learned when in a debate one of the best things u can do is argue for the opposite side. The thing about this is...i was never on a side. I believe a great plan for tuning a car is to street tune to get the basic a/f ratios downpacked, get idle and cruising parameters corrected with no surging, coughs, or weird drops in power, and set the ignition timing to where the car actually DOESN'T feel powerful (conservative timing). However, Forced Induction wise there is absolutely no amount of tuning that can prevent ringland failure especially with the stock pistons...none. The amount of cylinder pressure you subject your internals to is completely up to you the user. All horsepower is not good horsepower.
Dyno Tuning:
Dyno Tuning is by far the best way to show power output and notice potential problems with detonation, pinging, and etc. under wide open throttle conditions. I highly recommend it to everyone. However, valuable information about your engine can be overlooked if you do not know what to pay attention to. One thing is peak hp and tq. For instance when companies give hp claims about a product that gains 7whp...they neglect to mention the rest of the power curve where lots over power could have been lost. The area under the curve is most important. I'll try to get a couple of calculus equations to aid in the comparison from one powerband to another. If gain 7whp like 200rpm before redline but lost power everywhere else under the curve you may be able to claim your car has more hp...but it will be slower. Other mistakes would be only taking a print out of the dyno sheet. Although u may not be able to see it with the naked eye there could be very small fluctuations in your power curve that could indicate pre-ignition or detonation. I've witnessed this in person. In Atl, Ga. i was watching a GSX make 378 All-wheel hp. We were so excited, the power curve looked smooth, the car sounded great, and we thought that was the end and everything was cool...wrong. The technicians working the dyno saw a very very small fluctuation at about 7000rpm that was barely noticeable. After magnifying the curve about 100x-1000x the true nature of the engines performance showed itself. What seemed small and irrelevant at first turned out to be a very rapid and utterly repulsive spike pattern. It wasn't even a straight up and down spike it kinda moved left to right and did look terrible. Its not something you could feel in the car or hear from the engine. It could only show up on the dyno (possibly a knock sensor also). There was another guy with a gsx i believe that dyno'd his car as well. His car was street tuned just like the previous one but this guy wasn't nearly as knowledgeable about street tuning and it showed. You could hear his car miss firing, stumbling, and 25psi+ boost spikes...and other weird noises that should really never come out of an engine lol. His dyno graph looked like they'd given a 3 year old a crayon and a sheet of paper and told him to draw (yes...it was that bad). The techinicians could do nothing with the car until the power was somewhat stable.
Dyno tuning can also be used to make more usuable power given the accessories. One such accessory that comes to mind is a cam gear. Cam gears have the ability to move the torque curve around. Remember the area under the curve i was talking about? Follow closely. I've datalogged my engagement points on the track:
1st gear shifting at 6000rpm = 4000rpm 2nd gear engagement
2nd gear shifting at 6000rpm = 4150rpm 3rd gear engagement
3rd gear shifting at 5800rpm = 4235rpm 4th gear engagement
What this means to me is if my engine is only running between 4000rpm and redline on the track...guess where i'm going to pay the most attention to on the dyno graph? If peak torque for the f22 is made at 4100rpm and you are able to move that curve well into the 5000rpm range then you now have more usuable torque on the track because the area of the torque curve is stretched well into the middle of powerband that you use on the track and not just the very beginning. There is such thing as going overboard with adding to and subtracting from these bands. This is once again up to the user's discretion. In this case you run the risk of making too much power and burning the valves from opening or closing to early during the crank cycle.
Assuming your a/f ratio is already where you want it to be another accessory is an adjustable fuel pressure regulator. This unit has the ability to raise the fuel pressure coming out of the injectors. What you want is a "misting" effect out of ur injectors not a spitting effect. Misting fuel covers the entire combustion chamber evenly and allows for a much cleaner and well rounded burn in the chambers resulting in more power. The idea isn't to add more fuel but rather spread it out.
Ignition timing has a major MAJOR influence in power. Too retarded of ignition timing can cause very high exhaust temperatures resulting in burned valves, melted pistons and other internal failures. Too much ignition can result in spikes of detonation and knock. Power is found in advancing the ignition(usually). And safety can be found either in running conservative timing patterns or in running race gas with slightly advanced ignition since it has a very high combustion point ( i think its called "kernal" or "kindel" point... i've forgotten)
I think it would be best to use a combination of the above mentioned strategies to make power rather than just one. All power is not good power. Although say lean mixtures may add power it also comes with great risk and stress to your engine. The combination of correct a/f ratios, cam timing, fuel pressure, ignition timing, and air velocity is where you will make the best, safest, and well-rounded power. Dyno's are done with 4th gear pulls usually starting in the 2000rpm range. But through my latest experiences i've learned that in different gears you get different air fuel ratios among other things...this my friends is where dyno tuning ends.
I've learned when in a debate one of the best things u can do is argue for the opposite side. The thing about this is...i was never on a side. I believe a great plan for tuning a car is to street tune to get the basic a/f ratios downpacked, get idle and cruising parameters corrected with no surging, coughs, or weird drops in power, and set the ignition timing to where the car actually DOESN'T feel powerful (conservative timing). However, Forced Induction wise there is absolutely no amount of tuning that can prevent ringland failure especially with the stock pistons...none. The amount of cylinder pressure you subject your internals to is completely up to you the user. All horsepower is not good horsepower.
Dyno Tuning:
Dyno Tuning is by far the best way to show power output and notice potential problems with detonation, pinging, and etc. under wide open throttle conditions. I highly recommend it to everyone. However, valuable information about your engine can be overlooked if you do not know what to pay attention to. One thing is peak hp and tq. For instance when companies give hp claims about a product that gains 7whp...they neglect to mention the rest of the power curve where lots over power could have been lost. The area under the curve is most important. I'll try to get a couple of calculus equations to aid in the comparison from one powerband to another. If gain 7whp like 200rpm before redline but lost power everywhere else under the curve you may be able to claim your car has more hp...but it will be slower. Other mistakes would be only taking a print out of the dyno sheet. Although u may not be able to see it with the naked eye there could be very small fluctuations in your power curve that could indicate pre-ignition or detonation. I've witnessed this in person. In Atl, Ga. i was watching a GSX make 378 All-wheel hp. We were so excited, the power curve looked smooth, the car sounded great, and we thought that was the end and everything was cool...wrong. The technicians working the dyno saw a very very small fluctuation at about 7000rpm that was barely noticeable. After magnifying the curve about 100x-1000x the true nature of the engines performance showed itself. What seemed small and irrelevant at first turned out to be a very rapid and utterly repulsive spike pattern. It wasn't even a straight up and down spike it kinda moved left to right and did look terrible. Its not something you could feel in the car or hear from the engine. It could only show up on the dyno (possibly a knock sensor also). There was another guy with a gsx i believe that dyno'd his car as well. His car was street tuned just like the previous one but this guy wasn't nearly as knowledgeable about street tuning and it showed. You could hear his car miss firing, stumbling, and 25psi+ boost spikes...and other weird noises that should really never come out of an engine lol. His dyno graph looked like they'd given a 3 year old a crayon and a sheet of paper and told him to draw (yes...it was that bad). The techinicians could do nothing with the car until the power was somewhat stable.
Dyno tuning can also be used to make more usuable power given the accessories. One such accessory that comes to mind is a cam gear. Cam gears have the ability to move the torque curve around. Remember the area under the curve i was talking about? Follow closely. I've datalogged my engagement points on the track:
1st gear shifting at 6000rpm = 4000rpm 2nd gear engagement
2nd gear shifting at 6000rpm = 4150rpm 3rd gear engagement
3rd gear shifting at 5800rpm = 4235rpm 4th gear engagement
What this means to me is if my engine is only running between 4000rpm and redline on the track...guess where i'm going to pay the most attention to on the dyno graph? If peak torque for the f22 is made at 4100rpm and you are able to move that curve well into the 5000rpm range then you now have more usuable torque on the track because the area of the torque curve is stretched well into the middle of powerband that you use on the track and not just the very beginning. There is such thing as going overboard with adding to and subtracting from these bands. This is once again up to the user's discretion. In this case you run the risk of making too much power and burning the valves from opening or closing to early during the crank cycle.
Assuming your a/f ratio is already where you want it to be another accessory is an adjustable fuel pressure regulator. This unit has the ability to raise the fuel pressure coming out of the injectors. What you want is a "misting" effect out of ur injectors not a spitting effect. Misting fuel covers the entire combustion chamber evenly and allows for a much cleaner and well rounded burn in the chambers resulting in more power. The idea isn't to add more fuel but rather spread it out.
Ignition timing has a major MAJOR influence in power. Too retarded of ignition timing can cause very high exhaust temperatures resulting in burned valves, melted pistons and other internal failures. Too much ignition can result in spikes of detonation and knock. Power is found in advancing the ignition(usually). And safety can be found either in running conservative timing patterns or in running race gas with slightly advanced ignition since it has a very high combustion point ( i think its called "kernal" or "kindel" point... i've forgotten)
I think it would be best to use a combination of the above mentioned strategies to make power rather than just one. All power is not good power. Although say lean mixtures may add power it also comes with great risk and stress to your engine. The combination of correct a/f ratios, cam timing, fuel pressure, ignition timing, and air velocity is where you will make the best, safest, and well-rounded power. Dyno's are done with 4th gear pulls usually starting in the 2000rpm range. But through my latest experiences i've learned that in different gears you get different air fuel ratios among other things...this my friends is where dyno tuning ends.
Comment