Kauffman Motorsports Dyno Day

[merc]

After an hour and a half drive to Kauffman Motorsports from Chantilly Virginia, Mad –3R (Phil) and I (Mark) were eager to get some real world Dyno numbers. I originally planed to attend the event sponsored by Northern Virginia Mustang Club to support Phil and his quest for the sub-fourteen-second quarter mile time. As most of the MM.net users know, Phil has a stroked motor, mechanically engineered by VT motors. On the other hand I have very little performance adding parts. My modifications are listed below.

Merc:
Best Dyno Results: Max Power 262.3
Max Torque 286.3


Diablo chip
4:10 gears
12 inch conical K& N air filter
Mac performance mufflers

Note: MAD-3R had less then 45 minutes before exiting the highway to placing the car on the Dyno without ice. My run took place 2 hours later that evening.

Mad 3-R:
Best Dyno Results: Max Power 280.1
Max Torque 311.1


FordChip Dynotuned
VT Stroker
http://www.vtengines.com/marauder1.htm
http://www.mercurygallery.net/mmnet/showphoto.php?photo=927&password=&sort=1&cat=998&page=1


We wanted to provide information to the M.M. net users on how modifications make a difference on the baseline Marauder vehicles. The most common modifications on this site seems to be Dennis’s Stage 1 setup. Notice: I didn’t replace the thermostat or factory plugs, SergntMac has a thread (http://www.mercurymarauder.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1783&highlight=dyno ) were he states 266 RWHP, 285 RWTQ on his first non-supercharged Marauder. In the next couple of weeks we have a scheduled event on the drag strip, weather permitting, we will be able to reproduce some of the excitement that MadMan 1 and SergntMac felt last year as they blasted down the track. We had lots of fun and food at Kauffman's and it was a pleasure to see a great group of professionals at work. I would also like to thank Mad 3R for talking me into making it out for this event, sorry you couldn’t remain for the entire day.


:rasta: :rasta: :rasta: :pimp: :pimp:

[MAD-3R]

Sorry this is so late, but I had companyall weekend and had to get home and this is the first chance I've had to post.

Though I was hoping to break 300 RWHP, I was pleased with the results. My engine hits the upper 10% of it's max TQ at only 3500 RPMs, and runs flat out across the entire power band.

Curve? What curve?


Anyway, New 1/4 mile times in two weeks.

[merc]

That curve you are talking about appeared on my charts. I don’t have a scanner at home, but I will post the dyno results online later this week. It was very interesting to see similar cars at the same location with deferring results. What I found amazing is Mad 's flat power band and Air Fuel Ratio. My Max Power occurred between 4.2 and 4.4 RPM, much differently from Mad’s.

On the other hand my first run was at 3:15 P.M but my second run occur less then two minutes later and the results differed.


Second Run: 3:16pm
Max Power 257.7
Max Torque 292.3

Third Run: 3:20pm
Max Power 260.0
Max Torque 292.1


I had posted some results from my first dyno runs and to my surprise the numbers didn’t change much from the SAE corrects in the thread (http://www.mercurymarauder.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4498&highlight=mach). Logan posted some (http://www.mercurymarauder.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5053&highlight=dyno) results from his installation of kook headers. Now I feel somewhat confused about the meaning of dyno measurements since his torque rating was not much higher then my own. On this site we use dynoruns as an indicator of how the car performs due to a particular modification. After spending time reviewing other dyno results posted, I found myself more confused then before. Is Max Power more important then Max torque or is it the other way around? What are the important numbers to look for ?

[RF Overlord]

merc: Nice numbers, bud!

To answer your question, torque is generally considered to be more important than HP as torque is what "pushes you back in the seat"...however...a flat torque band like MAD-3R has is more important than a "peak" number. If one car makes a higher peak torque, but it's over a narrow RPM range, a car with a much broader RPM range, even if it has somewhat lower torque, will pull harder than the first car. So you can see it isn't as simple as just reading numbers, you have to look at the curves as well...

[MAD-3R]

Hmmm Curves......

Header can be a tricky proposition. sence they smoth out the air, it can decrease back preasure and decrease torque while increasing HP. So the trick with them is to design them to miimize the lose, while maximizing the gains.

[merc]

I found myself this weekend searching for answers on why dyno results should be used as a comparative figure and how they equate to true performance gains. The more I read about this subject, the less confident I feel about their value as a selling tool. I found an article ( http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/986/ ) detailing some of the measurements that can be reviewed as a result of a dyno run. Although most people focus on Max Power & Max Torque, there are many more factors to consider in measuring performance.