Dynamometer Operation Overview

For Version RHAS 1.7.05

Rev 807 - 2007 - JC

2

Table of Contents

Subject Page

Unpacking and Assembly…...………………………………………………………….…3

Sensors………………………………………………………………………………….…7

Vehicle Installation………………………………………………………………………..9

System Power up………………………………………………………………………..…9

Basic Software Operation………………………………………………………………..13

Home Screen Basics……………………………………………………………………..14

F10 – System Setup Screen………………………………………………………………17

Typical Startup Process…………………………………………………………………..20

F11 - Vehicle Setup Screen………………………………………………………………21

Setup Ratio Screen…………………………………………………………………….…23

Autoplot Setup…………………………………………………………………………...26

Modes of Operation……………………………………………………………………...28

F3 – Speed Mode………………………………………………………………...28

F1 – Autoplot Mode……………………………………………………………...30

F2 – Load Mode……………………………………………………………….…31

Function Keys……………………………………………………………………………32

Home Screen Top Menus………………………………………………………………..34

F8 – File Management Screen………………………………………………………...…36

Graph Screens……………………………………………………………………………38

Company Name……………………………………………………………………….…38

Zooming Functions…………………………………………………………………...….39

Comparison Screen……………………………………………………………………....40

Raw Data Screen…………………………………………………………………...…….42

Removing the car from the dyno………………………………………………………...42

Contact Information…………………………………………………………………...…43

Service and Support……………………………………………………………………..43

Unpacking List…………………………………………………………………………...44

Water hose connection and routing…………………………………………………45 – 46

Automatic Transmission Addendum………………………………………………..47 - 48

3

Introduction:

In the following pages, we will follow a logical order, starting with unpacking and

assembly of the dyno, all the way through running the vehicle. See page 43 for a list of

items packaged with the dyno.

Unpacking and assembly

The crates are held together by either #2 Phillips (or sometimes Pozidrive) head screws,

or Square-drive (Robertson) screws. Use either a freshly charged cordless drill, or get a

corded drill - you have a lot of screws to deal with.

For the crates containing the dyno pods (the two HEAVY ones) it is easiest to remove the

screws around the bottom perimeter of the crate and lift the entire wood cover off in one

piece - this is far easier than taking the whole crate apart – plus you’ll have two nice little

lunch tables left over ☺. You may need to remove the hub adapters from the base of the

crate to access all of the screws. Once you have the cover off, you can take the nylon

straps off of the pods and unscrew the blocks that are around the base of the pods. At this

point, you can either lift the pods off of the pallet or slide them off. The method you use

will depend on the tools you have available to you.

Lifting – The easier method if you have some lifting straps (large HD ratcheting straps

will work). You can put the pallets under a vehicle lift and use a leg of the lift to lift the

pod up while you pull the pallet out from underneath it. You can also use an engine

hoist.

Slide it off - If you have a forklift available, you can set the fork height even with the top

of the pallets and roll the pods up on to the forks (use caution here to make sure the forks

stay low under the pod and don't hurt or snag anything underneath). Then you can just

drop the forks down to the ground and slide them off on to the floor. You can also make

a small ramp out of some scrap wood (or the wood from the crates) and roll the pods off

on to the ramp and on to the floor.

Once you have the pods on the ground, you need to remove the shipping straps inside the

pods. On the outside edge (side opposite the polished pump head) there is a slot for a

pump handle. Under the slot down on the frame, there will be a bolt (17MM I think) that

will need to be removed. This bolt threads into a metal strap (visible if you look through

the slot in the cover above it) that locks the pump into a rigid position for shipping. This

strap needs to be tilted back (bottom swings away from you) in order to free it from its

hole, and can be removed by reaching your hand in between the pod cover and the frame.

Once removed, keep the strap in case it needs to be used later (if you are going to

transport the dyno over a long distance). Thread the bolt (and possibly a spacer, or a nut

that is used as a spacer, that may have been there) into the strap for safe keeping. Find

the Pump Handles (stainless bars with a knurled pattern and a threaded hole in one end)

and thread them on to the stud that is inside the slot on the back side of the pod.

4

Keep all of the packing materials together in case they need to be re-used.

For the electronics crate (the lighter crate – possibly with no wooden top) remove the top

lid if there is one. Remove the individual boxes from the crate and set them aside on a

table. Open the door to the red cabinet and remove any contents that may have been

packed inside. Lift the cabinet out of the crate and set it on its wheels on the floor. At

this point, the crate should be empty. Move this crate aside - keep it in case it needs to be

re-used.

Important note:

If you are unpacking more than one dyno at the same time, make sure to keep all of the

electronics of each system matched together – most of the important parts will have

matching serial numbers. If you mix and match components from different systems, you

can end up with a combination that is not properly calibrated.

You should have several individual boxes for the electronics:

Monitor box - normal monitor box - open it and put the monitor base on to the monitor

like a normal PC.

Computer Box - Normal box - Take the computer out and keep the packing materials

inside the box

Controller box - the Controller box looks like another PC, but is more plain looking, and

has different looking connections on the back. Remove it from the box and keep the

packing in the box.

AWD Controller and Computer (backside)

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Open the cabinet door and place the computer and controller in the bottom of the cabinet.

I usually put the computer on the right, controller on the left.

Remove the back cover from the cabinet - this will allow you to access the connections

on the back of the computer and controller once you have them in the cabinet.

Open the printer box and put the printer on the top shelf of the cabinet. Make sure you

remove the packing materials from the printer. You may need to put the cartridges into

the printer, but you can do that later if you want to.

You should also have a box that contains a number of cables, mouse, etc. (Some of these

items may be in the computer box)

Working from the backside of the cabinet, you can make all of the sensor connections.

Find the printer cable, and connect it to the printer and the printer port on the computer –

this is usually a USB port on the computer. Also place the printer power supply on the

shelf behind the printer. Connect the power supply to the printer, and run the power plug

down to the bottom of the cabinet.

By this time you have noticed that you have some unusual looking power plugs. There is

a barrier strip or power box that all of these plugs will go into - that has a standard US

power plug coming out of it. This barrier strip will fit in the bottom of the cabinet behind

the computer and controller - so the power cable can exit out the bottom of the back of

the cabinet.

On a 2wd machine, there will be a single cable coming out of the controller with a plug

on it. This plug will go into the COM 1 port on the computer (this is usually up near the

printer port - it should be labeled).

AWD Comm Cable

On a 4wd machine, there will be a thin

cable with a large silver plug on one end,

and two smaller serial plugs on the other

end. The large plug will go into the

matching plug on the controller, and the

small plugs will go into the computer into

the Comm 1 and Comm 2 ports – they

should also be labeled. Connect the cable,

making sure to tighten the screws that

hold it in - this is a critical connection,

you don't want it coming loose. Snug is

tight enough – do not over-tighten these

screws.

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You may have two keyboards included with the dyno. One standard keyboard and

separate mouse, and one keyboard that has a touch-pad built-in. Most people prefer the

keyboard with the touch-pad as it is easier to use in the car. Use whichever keyboard you

prefer and keep the other as a spare.

Place the monitor on top of the cabinet. I usually put it all the way towards the back.

You can route the cables through the slot in the back of the cabinet and down to the

computer. Plug the power plug into the barrier strip, and the monitor cord into the

monitor port on the back of the computer.

If you are using the separate mouse, put the mouse pad and mouse on the rear-right

corner of the top lid, and feed the mouse cable down to the computer and plug it in.

There is a stainless steel boom that installs into the top of the cabinet (this is on the

cabinets that are newer than the one shown above). This is usually used to route the

temperature sensor cable (orange cable) and the Vacuum/Boost sensor cable. If you like

the look and functionality of the boom, you can install it. If you like it better without,

leave it out – it’s up to you.

Place the Keyboard on the top of the cabinet on

the front edge (door side). There will be an

extension cable (or two) for you to use that will

allow you to move the keyboard inside the car.

I recommend taping (or heatshrink) the

keyboard cable and the extension cable

together to keep them from coming unplugged.

If you have two cables, you may want to run

them inside some type of sheath or conduit for

a neater installation – or you can tie them

together with zip-ties. Plug the cables into the

keyboard and mouse ports on the computer. I

usually get some adhesive hooks to mount on

the back of the cabinet, and you can coil up the

extension cord there - then run the cable

through the upper slot in the back. It is good to

get several hooks, as you will need a place to

hang other cables. You can use the plastic

adhesive type, or if you want to use really nice

ones, you can use metal hooks - they have nice

stainless towel hooks that work well at Home

Depot (or others) that you can screw on to the

cabinet - they are usually in the section with

the drawer knobs and bathroom hardware.

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The ceramic tip on the cord is the temperature sensor - used to measure ambient air temp.

Do not drop this cable on the floor. The tip is a ceramic element that can be damaged if it

impacts the floor or other solid objects.

Troubleshooting tip:

If the tip on the temp sensor is damaged, the temp reading on the dyno will go to

maximum (200F or 100C) – the same as if the sensor is not connected at all.

The large black cable will go into the

matching plug on the controller - labeled

"Bosch LSU" or similar - this is the cable

for the wide-band O2 sensor. Plug it into

the controller, but don't plug the sensor

into the cable until you are ready to use

it. The sensor is heated, and if you leave

it plugged in, it will get hot when the

dyno controller is turned on - melting the

plastic cap that is on it - and possibly

ruining the sensor. Hang the excess cable

on the back of the cabinet when not in

use (with the sensor disconnected).

There will be an orange cable with a

ceramic tip on it. Plug this cable in to the

back of the controller (only place that has a

matching plug) - it should be labeled

"temp" or "RTD" - coil the excess cable on

the outside of the cabinet and hang it on an

adhesive hook. If you prefer, you can also

route this cable out through boom coming

out of the top of the cabinet and coil it up

on the spring-loaded hangers on top of the

boom.

You will also have a device that looks

like a microphone. This is the Humidity

sensor. Plug it into the matching 4-pin

plug on the back of the controller. There

is usually enough cable to place the

humidity sensor on the top of the cabinet

under the back of the monitor and still

reach down to the receptacle on the

controller. Alternatively, you can just

place it on the shelf inside the cabinet

(behind the printer) if you want to.

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The pods will only plug in one way, but you have to make sure that the left and rights are

correct, and that you have the correct pods plugged into the master (rear) and slave (front)

outputs. The color code should help eliminate any confusion here.

At this point, the only thing left should be the power plug for the computer and controller

- these will be power cords that will plug into the barrier strip. Plug these in, and then

plug the barrier strip into the wall outlet, or preferably, into a battery backup power

supply. We highly recommend that you purchase a quality battery backup power supply.

We have had the best results with a model made by OptiUps – Model 1000R-RM. The

battery backup power supply will help protect you against power surges and outages. If

you were to lose power in the middle of a dyno run, the dyno will release its load. With

the battery backup, the dyno will run long enough for you to complete the run and get the

computer properly shut down so you don’t lose the data. You may want to connect the

monitor to a non-backed-up output so you will be visually alerted if something happens –

you usually can’t hear the power supply beeping at you when you are running a car at full

throttle, but if the monitor shuts off, it will get your attention and alert you that there is a

problem.

The Vacuum/boost sensor (unit with black

foam around it) will plug into a matching

cable, and plug into a connector on the

back of the controller - usually labeled

"pressure" or V/B sensor. It should be the

only place on the controller where it will

plug in.

Hang the cable on the side of the cabinet,

or route the cable up through the boom –

whichever you prefer. There should be a

piece of rubber hose and a brass tee to

connect to the pressure input of the sensor

as well.

There will be two large cables (four on

a 4wd machine), with large military

connectors on the end, coming out of

the dyno pods. These connectors go

into the obvious spots on the controller

– they are usually labeled and color

coded. It is a very fine threaded

connector - wiggle it as you tighten it -

it will take a large number of turns to

get it all the way tight.

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Power up the monitor, (it may say no signal at first), and then turn on the computer.

Don't turn on the controller yet.

Wait for the computer to power up.

At this point the dyno software should open up automatically, and it will show you a

software user agreement. Read the agreement, then click "I agree" to proceed. The

agreement basically says that you agree not to copy the software.

After that, you should have the dyno main screen in front of you. Once you are at that

point, you can turn the controller on. When you turn the controller on, you should see the

temperature, baro, and humidity boxes on the dyno display come alive and show the

current measured numbers. This will verify that the controller is on and the sensors are

working.

Note: If you turn on the controller before the software is fully open, you may get an error

message saying that the Com port is already in use. If this happens, turn the controller

off, close the dyno software, wait a couple of minutes, restart the software, then turn the

controller back on. You usually don’t have to restart the computer, but it might be

necessary.

Before we go over the operation of the software, now is a good time to cover the

installation of the vehicle on the dyno. We’ll come back to the software when we are

ready to run the car.

Vehicle installation

In this section, we will walk through a step-by-step process of installing the car on the

dyno.

First off, we need to lift the car and remove the drive wheels from the vehicle. Some

people use a lift to raise the vehicle for this, but we prefer to use a good quality floor

jack, as it makes it easier to precisely adjust the height of the car later on. On a 2wd car,

obviously, we only need to do the two drive wheels, on a 4wd car it is usually easier to

lift one end (or sometimes corner) of the car at a time. For this discussion, we will

assume you are installing a 2wd vehicle and the process is simply repeated a second time

for a 4wd car. Placement of the jack will vary depending on the car, so use discretion

here to make sure that what you are doing is safe for the car and your personal safety.

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The washers are designed for standard tapered seat nuts, but it is usually a good idea to

keep an assortment of different sized nuts on hand in case the customer has something

unusual on their car.

Install the other washers and nuts the same way – snug, then back off a flat. This allows

the hub adapter to float and align itself before you start to tighten it. Once they are all at

the same point, slowly wiggle the hub adapter with one hand as you work your way

around the lug pattern and tighten them up by hand. When they’re all snug, you can use a

hand wrench and tighten them. Hand tight is enough here. You do not need to get them

as tight as on a wheel, and we do not recommend power tools or a breaker bar / torque

wrench for this – a common hand wrench is all you need. If you did all this correctly,

you should notice that it takes about the same amount of wrench movement to tighten all

of the lugs. If one goes tight immediately and another requires 2 full turns of the nut, you

didn’t have them evenly seated – back them all off a little, wiggle the adapter to help it

center, and do it again until it feels right. It may be easier to tighten the nuts if you set

the parking brake or have someone press the brake pedal while you tighten the nuts.

Install the other adapter on the other side, and then when finished, keep the wrench near

by.

Select the appropriate hub adapter for your vehicle

– either 4-lug or 5-lug, and the correct number of

hub washers to match. The hub washers are

usually contained in a white cardboard tube. Place

the hub adapter against the hub face so that there is

a wheel stud at the top. While holding the hub

adapter with one hand, install the hub washer over

the stud and make sure that the washer keys

squarely into the slot in the hub adapter – if it is

crooked it will try to bind up. Install a lug nut on

that stud until it is finger tight against the washer,

then back it off by one “flat” on the nut to the

washer can slide in the adapter. Note: Two issues

pop up here. Some vehicles may have corrosion

on the studs that may require that you use a wrench

to tighten the nuts – follow the same procedure, go

to snug, then back off a flat. Also, some vehicles

may have unique lug nuts that may not work well

with the hub washers.

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Once you have the hub adapters installed, you need to adjust the height of the vehicle to

match the height of the dyno. Roll the dyno pods up close to the vehicle so the hub

adapter is close to the pump head (the shiny part where the hub adapter plugs in).

Important: Take a close look at the axle and the pump head. This is a critical point. Alignment is

everything. If the pieces are aligned, the pods will go right on. If not, they will fight you.

They might go on anyway, but it will make the process much more difficult. There are

four areas that we need to look at:

Fore / aft position – the position of the axle front to rear (think wheelbase of the car). To

judge this, look over the top of the pod and look at the two bolts for the latch. If the latch

is hanging down, these two bolts are your goal posts – the axle should be centered.

Vehicle height – this is adjusted by the floor jack. Ideally, you should be able to roll the

pod up to the car and look at it from behind (or front if the car is front-drive). You

should be able to see the hole and see the axle trying to go into it. With the pod in it’s

natural resting position, you want the axle to be centered.

Toe - Many people make the mistake of looking at the body of the car. Ignore it – look

at the axle. The reason that this is important, as that the body may be curved, or the axle

may have toe in/out –either can throw you off. If you are only looking at the axle, you

are looking at the only thing that matters. Make sure the pod is square to the axle.

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Camber – if the car has an independent suspension, there may be some camber on the

axle – either positive or negative since the suspension is likely at full droop. Use the

pump handle to adjust the camber angle of the pump head to match the angle of the hub.

Roll the pod up to the car as far as it can go. Hopefully, you can get it all the way to the

point where the bearing hits the pump head (if everything was aligned right) – lift the

bearing latch out of the way so the bearing can go all the way to the pump head. If you

can’t get that far, there is a reason why, pull it back a little and look at the four areas we

just went over – one or more of them is wrong. Make the appropriate adjustment and try

again. It’s tricky to do the first few times, but once you get a feel for it, it gets much

easier. When you get the bearing up against the pump head and it is trying to go in, you

want to give a SMALL but forceful wiggle on the handle as you push the pod towards the

car. If you wiggle the handle too far, you’ll be trying to bind it up as it slides.

When pushing the pod, it often works well to hold the bearing latch with one hand and

the pump handle with the other – then lean your body weight into the pod with your leg

in line with the axle. If you are pushing on the pod with your hands, it is easy to try and

cock the pod at an angle and make it more difficult to install. Continue to push and

wiggle and you should see the bearing disappearing into the pump head. If it doesn’t

want to go, try turning the hub with the hand wrench (remember the one I told you to

keep close by? ☺ ). The hub adapter is splined and so is the shaft that it mates to – if the

splines aren’t aligned, they won’t want to mesh – a slow turn of the hub with the wrench

on a lug nut while pushing helps it find its way. It may be easier to have a helper turn the

wrench if you have someone close by. Once you hear the latch drop into its position over

the bearing, you’re in and you can go repeat the process on the other side.

When both sides are done, check the bottom perimeter of the pods and make sure that

there aren’t any cables running under the frame of the pods. If everything is clear, you

are now ready to lower the jack and let the weight of the car rest on the dyno.

Go wash your hands and grab a cold drink and we’ll move on to the software setup.

13

Operation of the dyno

If you don’t have the computer on and running, turn it on now. Wait for the computer to

completely power up and open the dyno software before you turn on the controller.

You should be looking at a screen that looks like this:

This is known as the Home screen. Take a look at the Temp, Baro, and Humidity

numbers – if the controller is on and the sensors are connected, these numbers should be

“live”. If they are static, check to make sure that the controller is turned on and all of the

wiring connections are correct on the back of the computer and controller. This is the

main screen that you will look at while you are running the dyno.

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Home Screen Functions

Layout of the Home screen

In the diagram above, we have divided the screen into color-coded sections to make it

easier to define. We will give a brief description of each section for familiarization

before we cover these items in more detail later on.

Function Keys

Numbered F1 through F12, these are the hot keys for various software functions. These

can be triggered by pressing the appropriate F key on the keyboard, or by clicking on the

button shown on the screen with the mouse or touch pad. You will find that many

functions in the software have both a keyboard command and a clickable item on the

screen. In some cases, there may be two or three different ways that you can accomplish

the same command.

Strip Graphs

Displays user defined graphs in real time – which can sometimes be easier than watching

the numbers in the sensor section (blue box). These graphs are defined by the controls in

the next section.

Graph Controls – Green Section

These controls define the content and scale range of each graph. If the Visible box is

unchecked, then the graph will be hidden and the other remaining graphs will expand to

fill the void. The graph number on the left side is used to select which graph that you are

defining. The available graphs are numbered 1-4 in order from top to bottom.

15

Speed / Load Control – Orange Section

When the F3 mode (Speed Mode) is turned on, then this box will display the engine RPM

where the dyno will apply load and hold. See the operating section on the F3 Mode for

rules of use.

If the F2 mode (Load Mode) is turned on, this box will show the current user-defined

load level. See the operating section on the F2 Mode for a description for rules of use.

Sensor Information – Blue Section (above)

This area contains live numeric information from the various dyno sensors. We have cut

this area out and displayed it below in order to more easily explain it.

Blue Box

Power - Displays live (real time) measured power from the axle.

Torque - Displays live (real time) measured torque from the axle, or displays raw

torque/gear ratio to display a torque number similar to most other dynos –

selectable on F10 screen.

Pressure – Displays live pressure reading from the vacuum/boost sensor.

Wheel Boxes – Yellow Box

Depending on the display mode (selected by pressing F6) these boxes can display hub

rpm, load, a combination of rpm and load, or L/R torque split percentage.

Status – Red Box

Displays current status of the dyno or may

describe the display parameters of the

yellow boxes below.

Speed & Tachometer - Purple Box

Speed Box – Displays the calculated

equivalent ground speed by taking the

measured hub RPM and multiplying it by

the user-entered wheel diameter on the F11

Vehicle Setup screen.

Tachometer Box – Displays calculated

engine RPM by taking measured hub RPM

and multiplying it by the user-entered gear

ratio for the vehicle – also on the F11

screen. See the section that covers the F11

screen for more details.

16

Voltage Input Boxes – Grey Box

Displays information collected from Voltage input 1 and 2 on the control box. Typically,

Volt 1 is factory assigned as the input used by the built-in Lambda Meter (AFR Meter).

When you have Volt 1 selected as Lambda (selected on the F10-Vehicle setup screen),

then the box will show either Lambda or AFR numbers. Display will be:

LAP1 - Lambda/Petrol (gasoline) (input 1) AF P 1 - Air Fuel Ratio/Petrol

LA A 1 - Lambda / Alcohol AF A 1 - AFR / Alcohol

LA g 1 - Lambda / LPG (propane) AF g 1 - AFR / LPG

LA d 1 - Lambda / Diesel AF d 1 - AFR / Diesel

If the display is set to Volts, then the box will display the raw voltage coming into

that input. Since V1 is usually pre assigned to the Lambda Meter, then V1 will

usually stay set to Lambda, regardless of whether you choose to display Lambda

or AFR numbers in this box.

The Voltage 2 box follows all of the same rules, except it usually comes

configured as a BNC connector on the back of the control box that will allow you

to feed a 0-5v signal to monitor on the Volt 2 box on the screen. If you had your

machine equipped with dual Lambda meters, then the second meter will be

connected to V2 and it will also be set to Lambda.

Weather Boxes – Orange Box

Displays information from the temp sensor (orange cable), baro sensor (built inside the

controller), and humidity sensor (silver tube that looks like a microphone). This

information is used for atmospheric power correction if you have that feature turned on.

Before we go into a basic operation of the software, we need to go to the F10 System

Setup screen. This is where we will setup the basic parameters of the machine and set the

units of measurement that you are comfortable with. Choose the units you wish to use.

17

F10 – System Setup Screen

Units of measurement

Torque – Can be defined as Pound feet, Newton Meters, or Kilogram Meters

Power – Can be defined as HP, PS, or KW

Pressure – Has 6 possible settings: In Hg – PSI (Gauge pressure)

MM Hg – Kg/cm (Gauge pressure)

KPA (Gauge pressure)

PSI Absolute

Kg/cm Absolute

KPA Absolute

Speed Control – The dyno can be controlled by the Engine RPM or Hub RPM.

Power correction – Determines the atmospheric power correction method that

will be used. SAE is the most commonly used method in the USA. If

None is selected, then there will be no atmospheric power correction

applied.

Power Correction Mode – Set as Manual or Automatic. Normally set to

Automatic. In the Auto mode, the dyno will continuously sample the

sensors to obtain new weather information for each line of data. In

manual mode, you can manually key in the weather data in the boxes in

18

the home screen, and those numbers will be applied to all lines of dyno

data.

Strip Graph Speed – Adjusts the scrolling speed of the strip graphs on the right

side of the Home screen.

Inputs

Voltage 1 – Selects display for voltage input 1 – typically, this is set to

Lambda if you machine is equipped with a built-in lambda meter

(air/fuel ratio meter).

Voltage 2 – Selects display for voltage input 2. Follows the same rules as

Voltage input 1. If your machine has a second built in Lambda

meter, then this would be set to Lambda, If your machine is

equipped with a BNC connector on the back of the controller (most

are) then this input would be set to Volts.

Note: If either voltage input is set to None, then the respective

display will disappear from the home screen.

Pressure input – defines the type of pressure sensor used – the standard

supplied sensor is a Dynamic pressure sensor.

Zero MAP – If the pressure displayed by the Vacuum/Boost sensor

(Dynamic pressure sensor) is set to a gauge pressure value, then

you can click this button to zero the reading to the current

barometric conditions.

Temperature – Assigns a label to the temperature graph – does not

change the function of the temperature sensor itself.

Lambda Type – Chooses the type of Lambda meter being used. If your

system came with a built-in Lambda meter, set to Motec PLM or

Dynapack. This choice will define the Lambda type for both

Voltage input 1 and 2.

Fuel Type – Choices include Petrol (gasoline), Alcohol, LPG (propane) or

Diesel. Selects type of fuel being measured by the Lambda meter.

Display – Changes the display between Lambda or AFR numbers

Torque Display – Set the default torque display to either true measured

axle torque or a display that will show axle torque divided by the gear

ratio when displayed live on the Home Screen.

The difference?

19

If we have an example car that makes 200lb/ft of torque on the crank, and

has a 4:1 gear ratio in the drive train, then we would expect the torque on

the axle to be about 800lb/ft (we’ll ignore drivetrain loss for now). The

gear ratio in the drivetrain multiplies the torque and divides the RPM. In

this case, if you select the Axle Torque display, torque would be displayed

as 800. The problem is, most people will think that number is inaccurate

because they aren’t used to seeing real measured torque numbers. Most

other dynos do not measure torque directly as we do, and they measure

RPM from the engine instead of the axle, so they show you the torque as

being 200 – even though that is incorrect, and not “wheel torque” as

people think it is. We allow you to see actual measured torque, or the

torque/gear like everyone else uses so it is more familiar and less

confusing to your customers. If you select Torque instead of Axle Torque,

the torque numbers will be the measured torque divided by the entered

gear ratio.

Correct Torque with Power Correction – If you have the power

correction turned on, then HP will automatically be corrected for

weather conditions using the correction formula chosen (SAE

correction, etc.). If this box is checked, the torque will be

corrected also. If not, torque will be left as a raw number. In most

cases, you will want this checked.

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Operating the dyno – Typical start to finish process

We’ll walk through the process that you would typically use once you have the car

installed on the dyno. This will be in the order you would usually use for an average test.

We’ll explain the steps along the way and offer explanations for alternative options

shown on the screen at the time.

Since you should be looking at the Home screen right now, the first place you’ll want to

go is the F8 Folders screen. Press the F8 key and you should see this:

This is the file management screen for the dyno software. We’ll go into detail on this

screen later on, but for now we’ll concentrate on getting the dyno running. Many of the

functions in the dyno software make more sense after you have a little bit of experience

with the operation of the dyno. The reason why we want to go here first, is because you

have either run this car before, or you haven’t. If you have run this car before, we can open

our previous saved data which contains all of our vehicle data – saving us the time of

entering it over again. If you haven’t run this car before, we need to create a folder to save

our data into later on. Since this may be the first time you’re doing this, we’ll assume for

now that this is a car you haven’t tested before. In this case, Click on F7 New Folder.

This will pop up a window that will ask for a folder name – enter a name for the folder you

are creating. When you press the enter key, it will automatically take you to the next place

we need to go – the F11 Vehicle Setup screen.

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F11 Vehicle Setup screen

The F11 screen is where we need to enter information about the vehicle being tested.

You can either click on the boxes to enter the information, or you can use the tab key and

keyboard to make changes.

Vehicle Type – This box changes the control characteristics of the dyno making for a

more or less aggressive control. Your choices are: Light, Custom, and Heavy. Typically,

most vehicles will operate fine in the Custom (medium) mode, but if you find that the

dyno is not controlling the car as smoothly as it normally does, you may want to switch to

one of the other control types. If you do this, Try all three control types and use the mode

that works best – i.e. Light control is not always best suited for a light vehicle.

Wheel Dia – This is where we enter the total tire diameter of the vehicle. This is needed

for the dyno to be able to correctly calculate ground speed. If you don’t care if the

indicated ground speed is correct, you can ignore this box, as it doesn’t affect the control

characteristics or loading of the dyno.

22

TC Factor (Total Correction Factor) – In some sections of the software, there will be

places that show “Axle” torque and HP and in other places it will just say Power and

Torque/Gear. If you want to make a ESTIMATE for what the flywheel numbers would

be and estimate a loss factor, you can enter it here. If you enter a TCF or 1.0, there is no

correction made. If you use a TCF of 1.15, then the dyno software would add 15% (x

1.15) only to the numbers that are labeled “Power” (not Axle Power) and Torque (not

Axle Torque). Keep in mind that this will always be an estimate to be used at your

discretion. Most of the assumptions that people make about drivetrain losses are based

more on hearsay than actual science, so be careful here. If you’d rather not deal with all

of that and just leave the power numbers alone, then leave it at 1.0

System – On the home screen, the yellow wheel data boxes along the side of the car can

show the master pods set to either the front of the car or the rear of the car. This simply

changes the display on the screen and displays the master pods on the appropriate end of

the car.

Drive Ratio – This is probably the most important box on this whole screen, as a number

of the dyno’s software functions use the number that is entered here as a basis for

calculating other displayed information. The number that you enter here will be the

TOTAL drive ratio from the crankshaft to the axle. On many cars, you will want to use a

gear in the transmission that is a 1:1 gear – then you only need to be concerned with the

final drive ratio. A 1:1 transmission gear is often ideal to test in because it reduces the

amount of torque going into the dyno (compared to 2nd

or 3rd

gear for example). An

overdrive gear in the transmission may not be very strong, and may translate to

excessively high hub rpm (ground speed) that could cause other issues. Either way, the

number entered will be the total gear ratio for the gear you will use for the test.

Examples: A Mustang in 4th

gear (1:1) gear and a 3.55 rear end would be a total of 3.55

The same car in 3rd

gear (1.3:1) would be 1.3 x 3.55 = 4.615

Some cars (especially transaxle cars) don’t have a 1:1 gear, so you will always want to

think about the total gear ratio – not just the ring & pinion ratio.

If you are using an automatic transmission, see page 46 for setup and testing tips. In

general, we recommend learning the operation of the dyno with a manual transmission

first, as they are easier to learn with. If that isn’t an option for you, then you will want to

follow the addendum on page 46 while you are working through this section.

What if I don’t know the car’s gear ratio? Well, glad you asked. That brings us to……

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Setup Ratio – this function is used if you don’t know the actual ratio of the vehicle you

are testing. Whenever possible, you want to enter the ratio manually as described above,

but if you don’t have access to that information, this function will allow you to measure

the effective ratio of the gear you are testing in. When you click the Setup Ratio button,

it takes you to another screen. The Setup Ratio screen looks like this:

To perform this test, we need to have an accurate way of measuring the engine RPM.

The dyno takes all of its RPM readings from the axle, so the Engine RPM that is

displayed, is simply the measured hub RPM multiplied by the number in the Drive Ratio

box. There are a number of ways we can measure Engine RPM. Probably the least

accurate method is to use the tach in the dash – these are known to have varying degrees

of accuracy. If that’s all you have available, it will work, but be advised that the gear

ratio you measure will only be as accurate as the RPM measurement device you use.

Better tools to use for RPM measurement would include a Digital timing light with a

Tach display, an OBD scan tool, Laptop based ECU tuning software, etc.

Will it affect my power numbers if the gear ratio is off? In a word, no. The reason is

because the measured power and torque are based off of the measured axle torque and

RPM. What will be off, is the RPM labeling on the graphs. For example: your power

peak may actually be at 5350RPM instead of the indicated 5435 shown on the graph.

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We also need to choose a Control Speed, or “target speed” for the test. This is the RPM

that we are intending to hold at – it will probably not be the actual RPM where the dyno

applies load – at least not to start with. The RPM you choose depends on the

characteristics of the vehicle you are testing, but the default on the screen is 2000RPM. I

usually bump it up to 3000RPM – especially if it is a car that will be revving to

6000RPM or more, but it is up to you.

To perform the test, we need to start the car and put it in the gear we are going to use for

the test. There is no need to start in first gear and drive the car up to speed first – this is

because the dyno will not apply load from a stop like a roller dyno will. If you are using

4th

gear, just go straight into 4th

and let out the clutch as if you are leaving a stop sign on

the street (as you would in first gear on the street).

Bring the Engine RPM up until you feel the dyno apply a load and hold you at a

certain RPM. This will probably not be at the RPM shown on the screen unless the gear

ratio on the dyno is already correct. Once the dyno is holding load, apply a little extra

throttle to hold the car up against the load point – don’t try to adjust the Engine

RPM with the throttle, let the dyno control the engine RPM by applying enough

throttle to keep the car up against the dyno hold point. If you can go to high RPM

and the dyno does not apply a load, then back off of the throttle (maybe hold it around

2500 with your foot) and use the Up Arrow key to adjust the gear ratio closer to your

actual gear ratio and try again. Repeat until you can get the dyno to load and hold at a

reasonable RPM.

Now that we have the car holding, we need to look at our vehicle’s actual engine RPM –

using whatever tool you have at your disposal. For the purposes of this tutorial, I’ll

assume that you’re using a dash tach – even though we’ve already mentioned that it is not

the best tool, the principle is the same.

If we have set the Control Speed to 3000RPM and the car is actually holding at an

indicated 3500RPM on the dash tach, then the gear ratio on the dyno screen is too low

(numerically). To remedy this, we will use the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys on the

keyboard to change the gear ratio on the screen. As we do this, the vehicle RPM will

change. We want to adjust the gear ratio so the Engine RPM and Control Speed shown

on the dyno will match the RPM shown on the dash tach. The easy way to remember

how to do this is to remember that the arrows on the keyboard will work opposite of the

dash tach. For example, If the engine is holding at 3500RPM under load and our Control

speed is 3000RPM, then the dash tach needle needs to come down, so we use the up

arrow key to adjust the ratio. When we adjust the ratio using the arrow only, the engine

RPM change is very slow. You’ll notice the green box says “Shift for Course Adjust”. If

you hold down the Shift key while you are holding down the Up Arrow key, it will move

ten times faster. Typically you’ll hold down the Shift and Arrow key to quickly get the

actual engine RPM close to your target (Control RPM) – then once you’re close, let off of

the Shift key and use the arrow key only to fine tune it. Using a digital display on a scan

tool or laptop makes this process much more precise than trying to eye a needle on a tach.

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Try it out. It’s a lot easier to do than it is to explain. Once you have the gear ratio

adjusted so the dash tach matches the indicated RPM and Control Speed shown on the

dyno screen, then the gear ratio number shown on the dyno screen should be correct. If it

isn’t correct (and you are sure of it), then the device you are using to measure engine

RPM is wrong. Once you have the ratio correct, let off of the throttle and put the car in

neutral to stop the hubs. Once the hubs are stopped, click OK and you will exit the Setup

Gear screen, and the measured gear ratio will be placed in the Drive Ratio box on the F11

screen for you. Now that we’re done with that, we can go back to looking at the

functions of the F11 screen. Go ahead and shut the car off, we have some more learning

to do before we are ready to run the car again.

Gearbox – This is a function that will allow the user to select an automatic transmission

program that is currently under development – as of now, this box is locked to manual

mode. That isn’t to say that you can’t test a car with an automatic trans – you can, but

there is not a special mode for it right now. For tips on testing with Automatic

transmissions, see the addendum on page 46.

Gear – This is just a place to note the gear you are using for the test – it doesn’t change

anything in the software or dyno control.

Weight – You can enter the vehicle’s weight here so the dyno can calculate approximate

acceleration rates on the road and G-force and display them on a graph. This does not

affect the loading characteristics or acceleration rate of the dyno – that is defined by the

user elsewhere. If you don’t care about the calculated acceleration rate on the road, then

you can ignore this box and it won’t have any impact on the way that the dyno loads or

controls the vehicle being tested.

Setup Wheel – This button will take you to a screen that will allow you to measure a tire

diameter based on a speedometer reading. It works exactly the same way as the Setup

Gear screen, except you are adjusting the tire diameter to match the speedometer – as

opposed to adjusting the Gear to match the Tach. You can either use this screen, or just

grab a tape measure and measure the tire yourself.

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Autoplot Setup

At the bottom of the F11 Screen, we have the Autoplot Setup section. This is the area

where we define the parameters of the Autoplot test, also known as the F1 mode. This

could also be called a sweep test, or acceleration test. Here we can define a start and

finish point for our test, and how the vehicle will be controlled in between these points.

There are three types of Autoplot tests that we can perform. The tests are selected by the

box that says Control Type.

Ramp Test – the ramp test section looks like this:

In a Ramp test, we have a steady linear acceleration between the Start and Finish points.

The rate of acceleration is defined by the Ramp Time. This is defined in seconds. In the

screen above, we would be accelerating from 1500 to 3000RPM in 6 seconds. If we

wanted to accelerate faster, we would decrease the ramp time, if we want to accelerate

slower, we would increase the ramp time.

Tip: Many people ask where to set the Ramp Time. It really depends on the type of test

that you are trying to do. For example, if you want to simulate what the car does in a

lower gear (even though you are testing in 4th

) – you would use a faster ramp time. To

simulate a high gear top-end run, you’d use a slower ramp time. It depends on what you

are trying to do. A good place to start if you don’t have anything specific in mind is to

set the Ramp Time to about 2 to 2.5 seconds per thousand RPM you are covering

(500rpm per second). In the above example, we are covering a range of roughly 4

thousand RPM, so 4 x 2 = 8 seconds, 4 x 2.5 = 10 seconds – so 8 to 10 seconds is a range

that would give an acceleration rate that seems normal to most people when you are

running the car.

There is also a function called Initial Settle Time. At the beginning of the run, we need

to stabilize the car before we release it and start the test. This is so we can release the car

consistently each time for consistent and comparable data – especially at the beginning of

the run. The Initial Settle Time is a period in seconds that we will hold the vehicle steady

at the beginning of the run. The default time is 4 seconds and that is where we

recommend you leave it – at least initially. Once you are more comfortable with the

27

operation of the dyno, you can shorten it up if you want to. If the Lead-In RPM is set to

zero, then we will hold at the Start RPM. If we set the Lead-In RPM to 100, then the

Initial Settle point will be 100RPM below the Start RPM. If we have the Lead-In set to

100 on the screen above, the dyno would hold at 1400RPM for 4 seconds, then release

and start the sweep. When the vehicle hits 1500RPM, the dyno would start logging the

data and continue until it hits 3000RPM at the end of the run.

Launch from F3 mode – This function was designed for cars using SMG type

transmissions. To use this mode, you set your Autoplot functions like normal, but you

begin the test in the F3 mode. Either under load, or not under load, you can have

unlimited time to upshift the car into your test gear and get it to hold under load. Once

you have the car in the correct gear and stabilized, press F1 to start the Autoplot. From

that point on, it acts like a normal Autoplot.

We’ll run through a brief description of what would happen on an autoplot using the

Autoplot information on the Vehicle Setup screen shown above.

First, you would go back to the home screen and turn on the Autoplot mode by pressing

the F1 key on the keyboard, or by clicking the button on the screen. We’ll assume that

the car is already running and warmed up. Put the car in the test gear (4th

in this case)

and bring the engine RPM up until the dyno applies a load and holds at 1500RPM. When

you feel the dyno apply the load, you roll the throttle to the position you want – typically

full throttle – and the dyno will continue to hold the car at 1500 for 4 seconds from the

time where you first reached 1500RPM. At the end of the 4 second Settle Time, the dyno

will reduce load and allow the car to accelerate to reach the Finish RPM of 3000 in 6

seconds from the time the sweep started. When we reach 3000RPM the dyno will apply

load and hold you at 3000 – preventing you from going any higher. Also at this time, the

Home screen will change to a Torque and Horsepower graph to visually alert you that the

run is finished and you can take your foot off of the floor and decelerate the vehicle.

Once the hub rpm comes back to zero, then the dyno resets itself and is ready to start the

next run. There is usually no need to touch the brake unless the car has an automatic

transmission.

Step Tests – A step test is conducted in a similar way to a Ramp test. The difference is

instead of a linear acceleration between the start and finish RPM points, the dyno has

steps that it will hold at between the two points. They way the dyno does this is defined

as Step Size and Step Time. The Step size determines the amount of RPM between each

step point – i.e., a Step size of 100 would mean that the dyno would step through the

RPM range in 100RPM increments. The Step Time is the amount of time that the dyno

holds on each step before proceeding to the next one. There are two step tests, Big Step

and Small Step – the difference is the Small Step program uses a fixed short step time,

and the step sizes are smaller.

I recommend that you just use the Ramp program to start with, as it is easier to use and

understand. After you gain some experience and feel comfortable with the way the dyno

operates, you can go back and experiment with the step tests if you want to.

28

Now that we have an understanding of what the controls do, Enter the information for

your vehicle in the applicable areas on the F11 screen, - including the Autoplot Setup

parameters. We don’t need to go for maximum power here; we are just trying to learn the

operation of the dyno, so go with a conservative setting on the Finish RPM to start with.

Once you have entered this information in, either click on the F11 OK button at the

bottom of the screen, or hit the F11 key to exit this screen and return to the Home screen.

If you don’t see the Home screen (and see a graph instead) hit the Home key on the

keyboard and it should return you there (See why we call it the Home screen?)

Modes of Operation

There are three control modes for the dyno. Any time you are running a vehicle under

load on the dyno, you will have one of these three control modes turned on. The control

modes are:

F1 – Autoplot Mode

F2 – Load Mode

F3 – Speed Mode

Each of these modes is turned on by either pressing the corresponding function key at the

top of the keyboard, or by clicking on the appropriate button on the screen. To exit a

control mode, you use the same method. You must turn off the control mode you are

currently in, before you can enter another. You also cannot enter or exit any control

mode if the hubs are turning – the vehicle’s hubs must be stopped. This is to prevent

accidentally or dangerously engaging or releasing a control mode.

In order to understand how the modes work, we need to understand the principle of how

the dyno applies load and how it responds to the car. The dyno pods themselves are

basically an oil pump, with a computer-controlled valve on the outlet. By varying the

valve, we can change the resistance on the pump, and the load on the vehicle. Because

we are providing resistance only, we cannot do anything that will “back drive” the

vehicle being tested. The dyno monitors the RPM of the axle and adjusts the load to

whatever it needs to be to accomplish the task at hand.

We’ll review the control modes out of order to make them easier to understand and learn.

F3 – Speed Mode. In this Mode, you will set a speed in the Speed box near the bottom

of the screen. Go ahead and turn on the F3 mode by pressing the F3 key. When the

vehicle is running (turning the hubs) the dyno will allow you to go up to the RPM shown

in the speed box, but not exceed it. Once you reach the set RPM, the dyno will apply the

amount of load necessary to keep you at that speed. If you apply more power, then dyno

will apply more load automatically to keep you there. This mode is very useful for

holding a steady RPM while mapping an engine – while you adjust the engine load level

with the throttle position. Note that power and torque are displayed on the screen in real-

time.

29

Exercise: With the F3 mode on (the F3 button should be green on the screen), set

the hold speed to 2500RPM. There are a couple of different ways you can change

the set RPM. You can use the up and down arrow keys on the keyboard to

increase or decrease the set speed. The arrows work in these increments:

Up / Down Arrow – Changes made in 100 RPM increments

Shift – Up / Down Arrow – Changes made in 10RPM increments

Ctrl – Up / Down Arrow – Changes made in 1 RPM increments

The other way you can set the speed is to click on the display box on the screen

and type the number into the box and press Enter. When you have the speed set

to 2500, start the car, put it in your test gear and let out the clutch smoothly.

Bring the engine RPM up to 2500RPM and feel the dyno apply load when it gets

there. When the dyno applies load, the Tach box on the screen will change to

blue to show that load has been applied. Note that there is no load applied by the

dyno below the set speed. If it is flickering between blue and while, then you are

barely applying enough throttle to get to 2500, apply a little more throttle and the

vehicle will stay smoothly up against the load point and the box should stay

steady blue. Roll out of the throttle and this time be a little more aggressive with

the throttle going back into the load point – you’ll find that the dyno does not

shock load the drivetrain immediately at the set speed, the more aggressively you

come into the load point, the more that the dyno will allow you to overshoot the

set point and will smoothly apply load and bring the car back down to the set

point. Do this a few times while applying the throttle with varying levels of

aggressiveness and get a feel for how the dyno applies load under these

conditions.

Bring the car up to the set speed and apply a little extra throttle to keep the car up

against the load point – maybe use about 2/3 throttle. While the car is at the

steady speed, press the Up Arrow key once. Notice that you raised the set speed

and the corresponding vehicle speed by 100RPM and the car is now holding at

2600RPM. Try it again and we are now holding at 2700RPM. Press the Down

Arrow key twice and we are back down to 2500RPM again. We can do all of this

without changing the throttle position, in real time. If you’re still holding at

2500RPM, click on the box on the screen and CAREFULLY type in 2700 and

enter. You are now holding at 2700RPM. Now key in 2500 and you are back

down again. You can apply whatever amount of throttle you want and the dyno

what apply the amount of load necessary to keep you from exceeding the set

speed. Experiment with this control until you feel comfortable with the control

and loading and the way the car responds to it.

30

F1 – Autoplot Mode. This the acceleration test that we discussed earlier when we

covered the Autoplot Setup on the F11 Vehicle Setup screens. The dyno will allow the

car to go to the start point and hold – just like we did previously in the F3 mode.

However, the dyno will only hold for the Initial Settle Time (usually 4 seconds) then it

will allow the car to sweep to the Finish RPM in the amount of time entered in the Ramp

Time box. The dyno will then hold at the Finish RPM until you back off of the throttle

and stop the hubs. Once the hubs are stopped, the dyno resets itself and is ready to do

another Autoplot. You can do up to 6 Autoplots before you need to save the runs, and

clear the screen so you can create another set of up to 6 runs.

Exercise: For the purposes of this exercise, we’ll assume that you have entered

the Autoplot parameters when we discussed the F11 screen – if you haven’t, go to

the F11 screen and enter in your Autoplot information and make sure that the

Drive Ratio is correct for the gear you will be using (usually 4th

gear).

If you sense anything wrong with the car while conducting the Autoplot test – lift

off of the throttle. We don’t want you to do anything that will damage the

vehicle. If you create what we call an “Aborted Autoplot”, you can either keep it

or you can delete it by pressing the F9 key.

Start the car, engage your test gear and bring the vehicle up to speed on the dyno.

Just as you did on the F3 mode, bring the car up against the load point at the Start

RPM (note that the Tach box on the dyno screen turns blue when under load). If

you wish to do the Autoplot at full-throttle, roll the throttle down to full when you

first see the Tach Box turn blue. Keep the throttle there as the dyno stabilizes the

car and goes through the Initial Settle Time. When the Initial Settle Time is up

and the sweep begins, the Tach Box will turn green. Keep the throttle at full the

whole time as the vehicle sweeps up to the finish RPM. When the dyno reaches

the Finish RPM, the dyno screen will change from the Home screen to the Axle

Torque and HP graph. When you see this screen change, roll out of the throttle

and put the car in neutral – just as you would if you did it on the road – there is no

need to touch the brake pedal. The hubs will stop very quickly. Once the hubs

have stopped, the dyno is ready to do another Autoplot if you want to – just repeat

the same procedure over again.

If you’ve looked at the graph, you’ve probably noticed that the torque numbers

seem high. That is because this is the “Axle Torque” or the actual torque

measured on the axle. What you are probably used to seeing, are approximated

“flywheel” torque numbers – we can show you that too. If you want to see that,

hit the Page Down key a few times to scroll down to the Torque/Gear Ratio and

Power graph. We’ll explain the differences later on. If you want to get back to

the Home screen – hit the Home key on the keyboard, or press the Up or Down

Arrow keys until you get back there. Repeat the Autoplot process until you feel

comfortable with it and you are ready to move on.

31

Remember: You can only do 6 Autoplots at a time until you need to save the file

and clear the screen. To do this, go back to the home screen if you aren’t already

there (Home key) then hit F5 to save, enter a file name and press Enter. Then go

to the top of the screen and click the Reset menu, and then click Reset Live

Autoplots to clear the screen. You can now do another 6 autoplots until you need

to clear the screen again. Saving the Autoplots is optional, but resetting the

screen is necessary to continue. When 6 Runs are completed, you’ll see the Status

bar on the top of the dyno screen flashing purple saying “Run 6 of 6 complete” –

this is your cue to save and reset the screen.

F2 – Load Mode. The F2 Mode provides a fixed level of load (resistance) to the axle

that you can vary the RPM against. In the F3 mode, we had a fixed RPM, with a variable

load – load was varied by the computer to keep you at that fixed speed. The F2 Mode is

the opposite – it provides a fixed load level that is user adjustable, that you can vary the

RPM against. The F2 mode behaves just like driving up an incline – more load = a

steeper incline. With more load, you will accelerate slower and decelerate faster – just

like an incline. This is not the same as inertial load – where you accelerate and decelerate

slower. When the F2 Mode is turned on, the load level always starts at zero. You cannot

apply load until the axle speed reaches at least 200RPM – this is to prevent the user from

applying a load from a dead stop. When you have reached at least 200 RPM on the axle,

you can start to add load to the vehicle. You control the load just like you controlled the

RPM in the F3 Mode – by either using the Up / Down Arrow keys, or by clicking on the

box and keying it in. The load numbers shown are referenced to the torque level in

Newton-Meters. If the hubs come to a stop, the load will automatically reset to zero. If

you have load applied, and you lift completely off of the throttle, you may stall the car

(everybody does it a few times until they get used to it). Remember to push in the clutch

as you lift off of the throttle – just as you would if you were driving the car on an incline.

Exercise: Turn on the F2 Mode, put the car in gear and bring the car up to speed

– use the throttle to hold the car around 2000RPM. With the Up Arrow key, bring

the load level up to 100. Vary the throttle position and run the vehicle up and

down the rev range. You’ll notice that this is a light level of load for most cars,

and the car revs up easily.

Now while holding the engine RPM steady, bump the load level up to 200 and rev

the throttle up and down again. You’ll notice that the engine revs a little slower,

and decelerates a little faster, and it requires more throttle to hold a steady RPM.

Try the same thing at higher load levels and feel the difference until you are

comfortable with it.

You have now used all three control modes of the dyno. Most all of the testing you do

with the machine will be with one of these three modes. There are no preset guidelines

for when you will use a certain mode for a test – let your experience be your guide.

Think about the work you need to do, and contemplate how each control mode might be

useful for the task at hand. In other words, don’t assume that you do all of your tuning in

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the F1 mode. If you have the ability to tune the vehicle in real-time, it is often better to

do most of your tuning in the F3 mode and use the F1 mode to generate a final graph.

Reviewing the Home screen

In this section, we will review and detail the functions of the Home screen. Since you

already have some experience with the Home screen and we have already covered some

of the home screen information, we will be brief in our description of items we have

already covered or used, and go into more detail in areas we have not already discussed.

Function Keys – in order

F1 Engages / Disengages the Autoplot Mode

F2 Engages / Disengages the Load Mode

F3 Engages / Disengages the Speed Mode

F4 Odometer / Speed – Switches the display between an odometer display or

a vehicle speed display on the corresponding box on the screen.

Shift + F4 Displays raw numerical data from Autoplot runs or Log Data (see pg. 41)

F5 Saves the current live data to a user designated file in the Active Folder on

the F8 screen. (See the section on the F8 screen for more detail on the

Active Folder)

F6 Display function – changes the display of the yellow “wheel boxes” at the

top of the screen. The display in these boxes represent Hub RPM, Hub

Load, RPM on one side and Load on the other, or Left/Right torque split

percentage. When a control mode is engaged, the F6 key cycles through

these various displays. A label above the boxes will tell you which

display mode you are in. On a 2wd vehicle, two yellow boxes are

displayed. If a second set of pods are connected on a 4wd machine, and

wheelspeed is detected on the second set of pods, then the second set of

boxes will appear and all four wheels will be displayed.

F7 Data Log – Creates a data file when running in the F2 or F3 modes. When

you are generating Autoplots, a data file is automatically generated, but

since work performed in F2 or F3 may cover a long period of time, a data

file or a Log File is only generated when the user presses the F7 key.

When the F7 key is pressed, the user can enter a time interval (data

sampling interval) and the dyno will log the data until you either press the

F7 key again to stop logging, or until the hubs stop. When the log stops,

you will need to enter a file name for the Log File. The Log File will be

saved in the Active Folder.

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F8 Enters the F8 File screen. This is the screen used for file management –

see the section on the F8 screen for more detail.

F9 Delete Plot – Used if you wish to delete a live plot (shown as solid lines

on the graphs). You can either delete the most recent plot, or all of the

plots. If you have done 4 plots, you cannot go back and delete plot 2 – if

you want to delete plot number 2 only, you need to delete it right after it is

created, or before you generate plot 3. Although you cannot go back and

delete plot 2, you can Hide it – see the section on the Autoplot menu at the

top of the screen. The Hide function doesn’t delete the data, but it does

remove it from view, which is often an acceptable alternative.

F10 System Setup screen – covered in detail earlier. This is the section where

you configure the system sensors and units of measurement.

F11 Vehicle Setup screen – also covered in detail earlier. Used to establish

vehicle parameters and Autoplot setup. Also allows access to the Run

Notes section where you can create notes for each Autoplot for future

reference. These notes are saved with the data when the file is saved.

F12 Statistics Screen – displays peak HP and Torque for each plot, Mean

(average) HP and Torque numbers for each plot, and differences between

mean numbers from plot to plot – displayed both as the numeric value and

the percentage of the whole. This screen shows the “area under the curve”

for the Autoplot, and is useful in determining when an overall gain has

been achieved – even though the peak numbers may have decreased. Note

that the data shown on the screen is selected by the control on the bottom

left corner of the screen. Data selected can be either Live, Source, or

Comparison data – see the section on the F8 screen for an explanation of

the differences between these data categories.

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Home Screen – Top Menus

The pull-down menus at the top of the screens offer several options – some of them are

duplicates of other buttons or keyboard shortcuts on the screen.

File Menu

Print – Prints the image shown on the screen. Configure the data the way you

want on the screen, then click print and the printout will look like the

image on the screen. Some screens have a print button on the screen

instead.

Quit – Exits the Dynapack program – followed by an “are you sure” box.

Display Menu – Selects various graphs and screens available. Many of these screens can

be accessed by using the Page Up / Page Down keys, or there are also keyboard

shortcuts noted next to some of the items.

Setup Menu

Vehicle – Accesses the Vehicle Setup screen – same as the F11 key

System – Accesses the System Setup screen – same as the F10 key

Company Name – Allows the user to enter a company name to be displayed on

the dyno screen and printouts, also allows the user to upload a bitmap

image into the dyno software that is displayed on the screen and on the

printouts. This bitmap image is usually used to display a company logo.

Upgrade Software – Some software upgrades are supplied on a cd. If this is the

case, you would insert the cd into the drive and click this button to

activate the upgrade process. The software should install automatically.

Other software upgrades may be installed via remote internet connection

and may not require this function.

Calibration – Allows access to calibration functions in the software – for factory

use only. Requires a password to enter.

Reset Menu

Reset Odometer – Resets the odometer in the Speed/Odometer box.

Reset Strip Graph – Resets (clears) the Strip Graphs on the right of the screen.

Reset Last Autoplot – Clears the most recent Live Autoplot generated.

Reset Live Autoplots – Clears all Live Autoplots.

Reset Source Data – Clears data loaded as a Source file (see F8 screen section)

Reset Comparison Data – Clears data loaded as a Comparison file.

Reset Log File – Clears the data in the Log file (Data log function).

Reset Everything – Resets all of the above.

Autoplot Menu – Hide functions allow you to hide (temporarily remove) lines of data

from the graphs. Autoplot data is labeled as Live, Source, or Comparison.

Live Data – Data generated from this session – not loaded from a file.

Source Data – Data from a file, labeled a Source file by the user when opened.

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Comparison Data – Data from a file, labeled a Comparison file by the user when

opened.(see the section on the F8 screen for info on Source & Comparison

You may want to hide lines of data to make other lines of data easier to see, or to remove

unnecessary data lines from a printout. If you hide a line of data on the screen, it will not

show on the printout – the printout will match what is on the screen. To make the lines

reappear, click on the same item in the menu again to un-check it.

Keep Aborted Autoplots – When this item is unchecked, an Autoplot run needs to reach

it’s Finish RPM in order to be graphed and kept in the file. Otherwise, no graph is

displayed and a Run Aborted message is displayed at the top of the screen. If the Keep

Aborted Autoplots function is turned on, then the run will be displayed and logged. You

will have to manually delete it (using either the F9 or the Reset Last Autoplot command

in the Reset menu) if you do not want to keep the data. Remember: if you want to delete

the aborted autoplot, you need to do it before generating another autoplot. Otherwise,

you will only be able to hide the data from view, or delete the whole file.

Help Menu – Opens the PDF help file in either English or Japanese, and the About

function displays the software version, and Dynapack contact information. The software

version number is also usually displayed in the blue bar at the top of the screen.

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F8 File Management screen

The F8 screen is where we can manage our data files, or open them. Data files generated

are stored in Folders – which are displayed on the left side of the screen. Files that are

contained within those folders are displayed in the middle section of the screen. The Run

Notes (accessed by going to the F11 Screen, then pressing F2 – see the bottom of the

screen) for each file are displayed on the right side of the screen. Since you can only

have six autoplots in a file, there are six Run Boxes on the screen. Note that on the

screen shown above, the first three are lit up, the last three are dim – this is because there

are only three runs in the file that is selected (highlighted in blue in the center). Note that

a date and time are automatically generated into the file name when the file is saved.

Autoplot files are displayed as .abf files, Log data files are displayed as .lbf files.

The Active Folder button assigns which folder is the Active Folder – this is where the

autoplot data will be saved when you press F5 on the Home screen. To assign a

particular folder as the Active Folder, click on that folder, then click the Active Folder

button. When you do that, the Active Folder will be highlighted and have brackets

around it. I recommend verifying the Active Folder on this screen.

F2 – Delete – Deletes the selected file or folder. All files in a folder must be deleted and

the folder must be empty in order to delete a folder.

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Rename – Allows you to rename a file or folder.

F7 – New Folder – Generates a new folder and asks for a folder name.

Import File – Imports a file from a floppy disc or USB flash drive.

Export File – Exports a file to a floppy disc or USB flash drive.

F8 – OK – Exits the F8 screen and returns to the previous screen.

Comments in the Run Boxes can be edited and re-saved using the appropriate buttons

below the Run Boxes.

To open a file, select the folder that contains the file, then double-click the file in that

folder to open it. When you open the file, you will see a pop up window that asks you to

“Load Data as Source (1) or Comparison (2)”. Files fall into four categories when

displayed on the screen:

Live Data – New runs generated – not opened from a file. Displayed as solid lines

Source Data – opened from a file. Displayed as dashed lines.

Comparison Data – opened from a file. Displayed as dash-dot-dash lines.

Log Data – Data generated from the F7 Datalog function.

Source files and Comparison files are the same – they are just names that you choose to

assign to the file being opened. Since you can open two files at once, you need a way to

be able to tell which is which. You do this by assigning them names of Source or

Comparison. Sometimes the Source and Comparison names are abbreviated. For

example, Source Autoplot #1 may be shown as SAP2, Live Autoplot #3 may be shown as

LAP3, etc.

There is no need to re-save a file after you have opened it, as you cannot modify the data.

To clear the loaded data from the screen, use the Reset menu at the top of the home

screen.

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Graph Screens

When you have either live data or loaded data from a file, you will most likely want to

view the data on a graph. Several graphs are available to view. We will review them in

order starting from the Home screen. If you are not looking at the Home screen, go there

now. Starting from the Home screen, press the Page Down key once.

Axle Torque and Axle Power Graph – This is the default graph that comes up when an

Autoplot is finished. This graph shows the amount of AXLE Torque measured on the

left, and the Axle HP is shown on the right side of the screen. You’ll notice that the

torque numbers probably look high. This is because this is the actual measured axle

torque, and you probably aren’t used to seeing this because most dynos do not show it to

you – see the section on the other Torque and HP screen for a more thorough explanation.

On the left side of the Torque graph, there is a color code displayed. This color code

represents the order of the runs – from top to bottom. Red being the first run, green the

second, etc.

There are also yellow and green crosshairs shown on the graphs, and by default, the

yellow cross is placed at the peak of the first run, then green is placed at the peak of the

most recent run. The data and RPM for these points are displayed in the appropriate

colored boxes below the graphs. If you manually move these crosses (with the mouse),

the data shown in the boxes will represent the new location of the crosses. These

crosshairs appear on most of the graphs and function the same way on each graph.

By default, the graphs shown are auto-scaled – meaning that the highest and lowest

recorded numbers in each axis will automatically form the scale of the graph. This

allows maximum resolution in the graph and exaggerates small differences. This can be

both a Pro and Con. It allows you to see much more detail, but it can make the graphs

look unusually dramatic in some cases. If you want to manually adjust the scaling,

double click the graph with the mouse and a pop up box will open that will allow you to

manually define the minimum and maximum numbers for the scale of the graph. To do

this, uncheck the Autoscale box for the appropriate scale, and then enter the numbers you

wish on the left. You can manually scale one axis and autoscale another if you want to.

To return to autoscaling, re-check the box. This scaling function works on all of the

graphs. Each graph (in this case, each side of the screen) must be scaled individually by

the user if the Autoscale function is unchecked.

The Ratio box is the gear ratio used for the test.

The Gain box shows the difference between the yellow and green crosshairs.

Note that you company logo can be placed in the box in the bottom left section of the

screen. This is done in the Setup – Company name function at the top of the screen.

This logo can be imported as a bitmap of the size specified on the screen.

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The Zooming Function allows you to zoom in or out on the selected graphs. Each graph

must be zoomed individually. The graphs are zoomed using the mouse position as a

center point. The Zoom functions are:

Ctrl + left mouse – Zoom in Ctrl + Shift + left mouse – Drags the graph

Ctrl + right mouse – Zoom out Space Bar – Resets the graph

When you are done playing with the Zoom Function, press Page Down again. You will

now be on the 4WD Torque Split graph. This graph shows the individual front and rear

torque curves on a 4wd machine. On a 2wd machine (or a 2wd test on a 4wd machine),

the second set of graphs aren’t visible because they are all overlayed on the zero line.

The two graphs are labeled as Master and Slave. Master is the primary input. It is

usually the rear on a 4wd machine, and the input used in a 2wd test as well. The Slave

input is a secondary input - usually the front pods on a 4wd car. There is usually no

Slave input on a 2wd machine. The Master torque line is the darker line, the Slave torque

is the lighter line. Zooming, Scaling, Crosshairs, etc. all work the same as the previous

graph. Press page down again and we get:

Temperature graph – Displays the temperature recorded by the RTD sensor (orange

temp cable) during the course of the Autoplot. Sometimes the temperature lines can look

very dramatic, but look at the scale on the left. The increments on the scale are usually

very small, so what looks like a temperature curve that is jumping all over the place, may

only be deviating by less than one degree. Of course, you can change that in the

Autoscaling, but a flat line doesn’t tell you much. Press Page Down again.

Manifold Pressure graph – this graph displays the pressure recorded by the

Vacuum/Boost sensor, and is split into two graphs – positive pressure on the top, negative

pressure (vacuum) on the bottom. This is done because sometimes different units of

measure are used for positive and negative pressure – for example, in the USA we often

use PSI as our unit for pressure, but use inHg (inches of mercury) for vacuum. In that

case, you would have a inHg scale on the bottom graph, and a PSI graph on top. If the

measured pressure transitions from negative to positive pressure (compared to

atmospheric) then the line would transition from one graph to the other. If an absolute

pressure scale is used, then the display will be on the top graph only. Press Page Down

again.

Torque (torque / gear ratio) and Power graph – this graph displays the power and

torque as approximate flywheel numbers. The reason approximate is emphasized, is

because this is not true measured flywheel data – it can’t be, we aren’t measuring it there.

No other chassis dyno gives accurate flywheel data either – that is the job of an engine

dyno. But we have a situation where most other chassis dynos give you wheel torque

numbers that are incorrect. Yes, you read that right. Think about it. In a car’s drivetrain

has gear reduction between the crankshaft and the drive axle. The purpose of this gear

ratio is to multiply the torque to make the car accelerate better. If you have a car that has

300lb/ft of torque on the flywheel, then you may have a 1:1 gear in the transmission, then

maybe a 4:1 gear in the final drive gear (differential in a RWD car), you would expect to

have 4x torque multiplication in the drivetrain, and an RPM at the tire that is divided by

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4. So we would have approximately 1200lb/ft of torque on the axle. Most conventional

roller-style chassis dynos would display the drive wheel torque as 300 – even though we

have shown that this is incorrect. (There would be some loss in the drivetrain, but for the

purpose of explaining the concept we have left this out). Why do roller dynos display

torque this way? In the case of an inertia style roller dyno, you have another gear ratio

between the tire diameter between the tire and the roller. The roller dyno isn’t measuring

the car, it’s measuring the roller, measuring the spark (RPM), and then displaying a

calculated torque number. A long time ago, somebody decided to show you a number

that looks more like a flywheel number than the actual drive-wheel number and

everybody got used to those numbers – probably because they compare easily to flywheel

numbers. In our case, we ARE measuring torque directly at the axle, so we can show you

real measured numbers, but we also show it to you both ways so you have a choice. To

get back to the “flywheel” torque numbers that you are used to seeing, we simply divide

the measured axle torque by the vehicle’s gear ratio, which is what most other dynos have

already been doing without telling you about it. Because these numbers are often more

“consumer friendly”, you may want to use this screen for the printouts that you give to

customers.

On the Torque screen, the axle torque is divided by the gear ratio to generate the numbers

displayed. Horsepower is the same, as the gear ratio and torque reduction cancel each

other out. If you have entered a TCF (Total Correction Factor) of other than 1.0 on the

F11 screen, then the numbers shown on this screen will have that compensation added in.

TCF is displayed in a box on this screen so you will know if it is there or not. We don’t

want anybody to think that the TCF is being used to deceive, it’s right there in the open.

If you don’t want this screen to appear at all, you can check the “Hide Flywheel” option

on the bottom right of the F10 screen, and this screen will be hidden. (Page Down again)

Torque vs. AFR / Lambda graph – Displays torque on the left graph and the AFR or

Lambda graph on the right side. (Page Down again)

Acceleration graph – Displays calculated vehicle acceleration based on your inputted

tire diameter and vehicle weight. The axle torque for that gear is plotted in a number of

different ways. Tractive Effort, Acceleration in G-force, Distance vs. RPM, and RPM vs.

Time can all be plotted on this screen. (Page Down again)

Comparison screen – All of the graphs we have discussed up until this point have been

pre-defined screens, meaning that the basic parameters shown on the graph are defined

for you. This is fine, except – what if you want to see Boost overlayed on top of AFR?

The Comparison screen allows you to overlay any data category over another to create

your own graph. You can also compare two runs over each other using the Plot 1 and

Plot 2 boxes. The bottom axis is most often set as Engine RPM, but it can also be set as

Time, Hub RPM, Road Speed, or Distance. If you are viewing Log Data, it usually

makes more sense if you set the bottom axis as Time.

41

If you have the Show Data box checked, then a data box will open on the right

side of the screen that shows the data for all categories at the RPM location of the

vertical Yellow Cursor, and if applicable, the Purple Cursor.

There are two vertical cursors – the primary cursor is yellow, the secondary is

purple. The cursor can be positioned by using the left/right arrow keys on the

keyboard. Holding the shift key makes it scroll faster. You can also position the

cursor with the mouse – look for the dot where the cursor crosses the data line,

grab it and drag the cursor. Often it is easiest to drag the line close to where you

want and then use the keys to get to the exact RPM point you are looking for.

If the Show Ave box is checked, the data displayed in the data box is the average

number between the two cursors – for all data categories.

If the Lock Cursor box is checked, the yellow and purple cursors are locked

together so both data columns (if you have two autoplots displayed) are always

locked to the same RPM point. If unchecked, then the data can be displayed at

two different RPM points if desired.

Definition of terms in the Data Box:

Time Elapsed time of Autoplot or Log Data

Hub RPM RPM of the drive axle

Torq Total axle torque (front + rear on 4wd)

Torq M Axle torque of Master input (main on 2wd or rear on 4wd)

Torq S Axle torque of Slave input (front on 4wd)

Torq Fly (Total torque divided by the gear ratio) x TCF (if any)

PC Ratio Power Correction Ratio – atmospheric correction multiplier

MAP Manifold Absolute Pressure (Vacuum/Boost sensor signal)

Temp Temperature read from the RTP temp sensor

Air Dens Air density

Baro Barometric pressure

RelHum Relative Humidity

Volt 2 Measured voltage from Voltage 2 input (if equipped)

Lambda Lambda signal from O2 sensor

AFR AFR signal from O2 sensor

Speed Calculated ground speed

T Effort Calculated tractive effort

Accel Calculated Acceleration in G

Distance Distance traveled from beginning of sample period

Press Page Down again and you will be back to the Home screen again. If you use the

Page Up and Down keys, you will scroll up and down this list of screens and back to the

Home screen again. Alternatively, you can click on the Display menu on the top of the

screen.

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Raw Data screen (Shift F4) - Displays the raw numerical data for each data category.

Data columns can be arranged in the order you choose. Raw data can be printed, or

saved to a disc in raw text (.txt) format. Data displayed can be all of the data collected, or

displayed in 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250RPM increments. When other than All Data is

selected, the data between the display points is hidden. Use care here, as there may be

valuable information hidden between the display points.

Removing the car from the dyno - Removing the car from the dyno is pretty much the

reverse of the installation, with a few exceptions:

Place the jack under the vehicle in the same manner you used during the installation.

Make sure that the placement of the jack will not interfere with the installation of the tire.

When you lift the vehicle, watch the inside of the pod frame, where it meets the floor.

You want to lift the vehicle until the pod frame raises approximately ¼ inch off of the

floor (either on one side or both – depending on the vehicle and the jacking method). We

want to remove any downward pressure from the pod frame (on the inside edge) but not

lift the car so high that we start trying to lift the pod. We are aiming for neutral pressure

on the bearing here. Once you have the vehicle jacked to the appropriate height, lift the

bearing latch so that the bearing can come out and do the “wiggle & pull” thing on the

pump handle. Sometimes I find it easiest to place my leg in-between the vehicle and the

pod and lean my body weight into the pod as I hold the bearing latch with one hand, and

wiggle the pump handle with the other. It’s easier to do than it sounds. When the hub

adapter comes out of the pod, it should not drop or jump upwards – either of those things

indicates that the jack height is not correct. If this happens, adjust the jack height before

removing the other side. Once both sides are removed, remove the hub adapters and

reinstall the wheels using normal accepted practice. Setting the parking brake may make

it easier to loosen the lug nuts and install the wheels. Remember to properly torque the

lugs and make sure that everything is clear underneath the car before you lower the jack.

43

Summary: It is difficult to address every aspect of the operation of the dyno and it’s application to

every vehicle situation. Some of it comes down to practical experience and hands-on

learning. We’ve covered all of the basics and the general operation of the machine, but

you will learn more as you gain experience as a Dynapack operator. If you use this guide

to get you started, and as a reference tool later on in conjunction with the help files that

are built in to the dyno software, you should be able to become proficient in a short

amount of time. Of course, if you’re not sure of something or have additional questions,

please contact us. We’ll be glad to assist you in any way we can.

Contacts: USA office – (559) 292-3800 9am to 5pm Pacific time

Scott Lampkin – USA sales and support

Slampkin@dynapack.com

John Card – USA sales, support, and service

Jcard@dynapack.com

New Zealand office (as dialed from the USA) – 011 644 587-0484

NZ time is one day ahead of US time, and:

Winter – subtract 3 hours from Pacific Time

Summer – Subtract 5 hours from Pacific Time

Tech support for electronics and software – Bruce McWhirter – ext 810

Tech Support for Computers – Fraser Simpson – ext 811

Service: If you have technical difficulties operating you machine, please try calling your closest

Dynapack representative. We have most likely heard your questions before and should

have an easy answer for you. If you have an issue that requires service to a component of

the dyno, then we require you to fill out a Service Enquiry Form – which you can do at

www.teamdynapack.com and click on the link at the bottom of the page that says

“Service Enquiry”. We ask you to fill out this form because it creates a paper trail for the

issue and helps us keep better records and be more thorough in our follow-up. Please fill

out this form with as much information as possible as well as your contact information,

and someone should be in contact with you shortly.

44

Unpacking list:

2WD Machine 4WD Machine

Pods Pods

1 Left side pod 2 Left side pod

1 Right side pod 2 Right side pod

2 5-lug hub adapter 4 5-lug hub adapter

2 4-lug hub adapter 4 4-lug hub adapter

10 hub washers 20 hub washers

4 Water hose fittings 8 Water hose fittings

2 pump handles 4 pump handles

Control cabinet Control cabinet

1 Rear door 1 Rear door

1 Cable boom 1 Cable boom

2 cable hangers 2 cable hangers

1 Power distribution box 1 Power distribution box

Computer Computer

1 HP computer 1 HP computer

1 Monitor 1 Monitor

1 monitor cable 1 monitor cable

1 Keyboard w/ touchpad 1 Keyboard w/ touchpad

1 HP standard keyboard 1 HP standard keyboard

1 HP mouse 1 HP mouse

1 HP printer 1 HP printer

1 printer cable 1 printer cable

4 power cord 4 power cord

1 serial cable 1 serial cable

2 USB memory flash drive 2 USB memory flash drive

1 recovery disc 1 recovery disc

2 Keyboard extension cables 2 Keyboard extension cables

Controller Controller

1 Controller box 1 Controller box

1 RTD (temp) sensor 1 RTD (temp) sensor

1 Humidity sensor 1 Humidity sensor

1 Lambda cable 1 Lambda cable

1 Lambda sensor 1 Lambda sensor

1 MAP sensor cable 1 MAP sensor cable

1 MAP sensor 1 MAP sensor

1 MAP sensor tee & hose 1 MAP sensor tee & hose

1 Comms Cable

45

• Use ¾” hose and fittings for all connections

• Hose Lengths are variable depending upon application

• We recommend individual water exit lines so individual outlet flow can be monitored

• Keep hose lengths as equal and symmetrical as possible to help equalize flow

• Use cast-brass “high flow” Y fittings from a plumbing department – pot metal Y’s

with small valves (found in garden departments) are usually restrictive.

46

• Use ¾” hose and fittings for all connections

• Hose Lengths are variable depending upon application

• We recommend individual water exit lines so individual outlet flow can be monitored

• Keep hose lengths as equal and symmetrical as possible to help equalize flow

• Use cast-brass “high flow” Y fittings from a plumbing department – pot metal Y’s

with small valves (found in garden departments) are usually restrictive.

47

Automatic Transmission tips:

Automatic transmissions require a slightly different test procedure than what you would

use with a manual transmission. The exact procedure will vary depending on the vehicle

and what you are trying to do, but here are some general points and tips that should make

things much easier.

1) Automatic transmissions have a “mind of their own”. By this, we mean that an

automatic transmission (AT) will shift when it wants to – as opposed to staying in

one gear like a manual transmission will. While this sounds obvious, it means

that we need to learn the behavior of the transmission in order to know how we

can test the vehicle. Because of this, we usually need to do some preliminary

testing before trying to dive right into a full-throttle Autoplot.

2) See if there is a way to lock the car in one gear for testing. If the car is a “manu-

matic” type, this may be as simple as engaging the manual mode. If it is an older

(non computer controlled) car, you may be able to disconnect a kick-down

linkage to keep the trans in high-gear. On a computer controlled car, you may be

able to use a scan tool or other electronic interface to control the transmission to

keep it in one gear. If you do not have any of these options available to you, the

car can most likely still be tested, but these things will make your job easier –

Effectively you can make it act like a manual transmission.

3) When using the Gear Ratio Setup Screen to measure the gear ratio, you may need

to test at a higher RPM point in order to keep the converter locked or at least keep

slippage to a minimum. It is usually best to start at a medium RPM and load to

get the gear ratio close, then raise it to a higher RPM and higher load to check it a

second time and check for converter slippage. You may also want to do a quick

check to make sure that the RPM matches at the peak RPM you want to test to.

The torque converter gives you somewhat of a variable gear ratio, but it is

generally more important to have the RPM match at max RPM than at the

beginning of the Autoplot – from a safety standpoint. If you have a little slippage

at the beginning of the Autoplot it is not usually a problem.

4) Once you have a gear ratio measured, it is usually best to test in the F3 mode to

determine how to perform an Autoplot. The F3 test will allow us to find the “kick

down point” of the transmission and will tell us how low we can start an autoplot

and still have the transmission stay in one gear. To do this we will enter the F3

mode and set the RPM somewhere in the medium range. 3000 RPM is usually a

good start point, but this can vary depending on the car. Gradually bring the RPM

up on the car and let the transmission upshift into top gear (turn off overdrive if

possible) and bring the car up against the load point. Once you have the car up

against the load point, gradually roll the throttle down and see if the transmission

kicks down. You do this gradually because it is less likely to induce a kick-down

than if you stomp the pedal. If the transmission kicks down, lift off the throttle,

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bump the control RPM up maybe 200 RPM and try again. If it didn’t kick down,

lower the RPM and try again. You will find that at some point the transmission

will kick down, and above that point it won’t. Now you know the point where

you can set the Start RPM of the Autoplot test and the transmission will stay in

one gear.

5) You may see some converter slippage at the beginning of the run, but the

converter should tighten up or lock at some point during the run. Large amounts

of slippage under heavy load should be avoided because this places a lot of stress

on the torque converter. Use your best judgment here. If you are in doubt, err on

the side of caution and raise the start point to reduce slippage and reduce the

stress on the converter.

6) Don’t be surprised if you see peak torque at the beginning of the Autoplot, or see

a “double peak” type of torque curve. If the converter is slipping, it is trading

RPM to multiply torque. Because of this, the more the converter slips, the more it

multiplies torque (to a point). The more slippage you see early in the run, the

more likely it is that you will see maximum axle torque at the beginning of the

Autoplot. Often times it will be at max in the beginning, then drop down to the

converter lock point, then raise back up to the torque peak, and then fall off again.

7) It takes a little practice to get a feel for it, so don’t get frustrated if you don’t get it

right away. Spend some time practicing on a few personal cars before trying to

do it on a customer car. This way, you can get your learning out of the way in

private and help prevent a potentially frustrating or embarrassing situation in front

of the public. Once you get a feel for it and understand it, Automatic

transmissions aren’t a big deal to do. Sure, they put up a little resistance

sometimes, but it usually isn’t anything that can’t be overcome.