Dyno InformationOkay, so for all of you that are confused about dyno results, I’m going to break it down for you in simple, plain English. There are two types of dynos: single roller and double roller. With the single roller version, the cars drive wheels sit on top of the single roller; on the double, the drive wheels sit between the two rollers. The double roller version is much easier to handle and safer to use (less chance of the car jumping off), but that said, the single roller more closely matches driving on the actual road. Dynos also come with or without an integrated braking system. The ones without brakes are the most common and cheapest dynos available. Measuring only takes a few seconds as the car does not really have to work hard and they often produce exaggerated results. The resistance provided by a breaking system reproduces on road driving conditions so you can see every small performance error in the resulting power curve; therefore, these dynos produce the most realistic and accurate results.The biggest challenge is getting enough air to the car during testing. Most dyno shops have fans that were purchased at a hardware store. Don’t be fooled, these fans cannot generate anywhere near enough air for the intake or for cooling the engine. Some cars may need “ram air” not just a little air for cooling, these powerful fans are the only thing that can produce the desired effect during testing. A proper dyno fan system can produce over 125mph winds, which is equivalent to driving on the road. The conditions in the dyno must mirror actual driving conditions as closely as possible to attain the most accurate results.All dynos measure the horsepower and torque produced by the drive wheels. This is usually done in the second highest gear (direct gear). What is called Rear Wheel Horse Power in the US is in fact only the basis of a correct measurement. In the US they calculate an estimated power loss of x%, for example: 20% in addition to the Rear Wheel Horse Power. The resulting formula is then Rear Wheel Horse Power + Estimated Power Loss (x%) = Engine Horse Power. The problem with these measurements is that the values are estimated, not accurately measured. They are inaccurate due to conditions not taken into account such as gearbox oil temperature. A cold gearbox may lose up to 40 horsepower, while a hot gearbox may lose only 20 horsepower. Something as simple as a different wheel setup can alter the results of a dyno test. The only way to be exact is to accurately measure the power train loss (including the alternator, water pump, oil pump, etc . . .). Power train loss is measured by allowing the car to roll out of the dyno in the neutral position after testing; during this “roll out” the real power train loss is measured, not estimated. The resulting formula for accurate measurement is then Rear Wheel Horse Power + Measured Power Train Loss = Engine Horse Power. To further refine the results, the Engine Horse Power is corrected to standards provide by
DIN (German Institute for Standardization) or
ISO(International Institute for Standardization). Organizations such as the DIN and ISO take into consideration other factors that influence car performance such as air temperature and atmospheric pressure. They calculate these elements to a “norm” making results anywhere and under all conditions comparable. The final numbers of an accurate test may at times be disappointing, but they are facts, not estimates. This is the difference between estimating and measuring, fact vs. fiction. This fantasy formula of Rear Wheel Horse Power + Estimated Power Loss (x%) is the reason why some tuners come up with such impressive numbers that cannot stand up to a truly accurate test. The Dyno Queen?Some tuners will make adjustments to a file while the car is on dyno which is not set up correctly, in return the car might seem impressive on the dyno but doesn't perform well on the road because the dyno was never set up for real driving conditions.I hope this helps.
A Supercar sound may be the main reason most drivers choose a Sports Exhaust system for their Audi R8.With QuickSilver they will also appreciate the performance benefits and, in particular, the huge weight saving of over 18 kgs (40lbs), taken from the very rear of the car. Most R8 owners will have bought their car for fun and so behind the wheel they will enjoy an enhanced experience, the sound being such an important part of driving a high performance sportscar. The rise and fall through the gears the blips on down-change, the pops on the overrun – all add to the fun. The QuickSilver system has a Titanium silencer and thin-gauge stainless steel tube to achieve a combination of the lightest possible weight with strength and durability. At lower engine speeds it produces a wonderful deep tone, with volume and pitch increasing in direct proportion to rpm climaxing in a robust racecar howl at the red line. QuickSilver enable personalisation of sound & appearance and an improvement in performance by using components and materials that are more expensive than the OE specification. The QuickSilver system is a ‘bolt on’ fit, designed to complement the original specification without compromising emissions or reliability. It comes with QuickSilver’s usual 25 year guarantee.Original Weight is 63 lbs QuickSilver is 22 lbsOriginal Sound is 98 dB QuickSilver is 105 dBOrginal Power is 414 bhp QuickSilver is 424 bhp
The BMW M3/M5/M6 can now be programmed via OBD2. We first started programming the M5's back in 2005 and the only way it could be done was by removing the ECU and bench flashing the processors. Now that we can programme them via OBD2 it only takes a couple of minutes for the download/upload. Having spoken to the driver of this car he said there is huge difference in the power and shifting on this car, there’s no more delay when changing gears.
Just to let the Lamborghini Gallardo and Murcielago owners know who are using cat bypass pipes that we can disable the oxygen sensors when programming the ecu's. This service can not be done by mail-order (unless it’s the LP560 or a car with the ME9 ECU), we have to physically work on the car. This gets rid of the annoying check engine light.
Here at 3S Autosport it's hard for us to post pictures of every car we work on so we try to post some cars that we don't come across everyday. The Ferrari 575 Pininfarina. It's a great car and like all exotics there is plenty of room for improvement. You probably hear some exotic car owners saying their car is tuned for maximum performance from the factory and those of us who know better just stay quiet because there are certain topics that should be avoided like politic's, religion, music, de-tuning of a vehicle, etc, etc.
We now offer the performance software upgrades for the Mercedes SL65 AMG Black Series, for the ECU (engine control unit) and TCU (transmission control unit). It is a very difficult car to test on the dyno, the highest gain was just over 41hp (we're sure its more though).
Just to let you guys know and we should have listed this along time ago but we're also able to programme the TCU (transmission control unit) in all the Mercedes 55 AMG Kompressor's. We can raise the tq limiters, etc. in the control unit. This is included in the 55 AMG Pulley/Software Upgrade.
Just to let the Porsche owners know that Porsche have been changing their choice of ECU's for a while now. We programmed a 2009 Porsche 997 C2 a couple of weeks ago and it had a SDI-3 ECU, the only way we could programme this ECU was to remove it and bench flash it. All the new ECU's don't have eproms anymore, they now use processors.
A vehicle manufacturer will often change ECU types or the way ECU's are installed. I have never come across this (maybe because we do a lot of business through mail order) but the ECU on this car was secured by a security screw and for the average car owner this could be a pain to remove. When we originally tested the 63 AMG engine we got 33hp and about 30lbs tq, you can check the dyno sheet for the C63 AMG on the previous blog.
We finally finished the intake for the Audi R8, for those who know the R8 understand its not just a case of adding an air filter... we had to make the intake mount which connects to the MAF out of aluminum and designed it to give you maximum air flow.
